Last Name of Student 1 First and Last Name Dr. Last Name Class Title XX Apr.

20XX Title This template is designed to provide the most basic formatting for a 2009 MLA style paper and this text offers some limited guidance on how to approach academic writing. First, it is important for any academic paper to have a focus or purpose. This will help to prevent going off-topic and rambling. This focus should be broad enough so that there is enough material to write on but limited and specific enough to avoid generalization. It should provide a detailed and coherent argument or explanation. The introduction should simply provide the reader with the basic elements and variables of the paper as well as outlining the scope and focus in a thesis statement. The paper should have a thesis (single overarching idea) and each body paragraph should have a topic sentence (single main point that relates directly to the thesis). Thesis statements and topic sentences should not simply be facts but an explanation of what your main point is for the paper or paragraph, respectively. The conclusion will sum up the paper while providing a reflection of the impact of what has been discussed in the essay. It is also the last chance to hit your point home. Generally speaking, MLA Style is based on source texts as opposed to APA style which is more scientific. Quoting rather than paraphrasing is therefore more common in MLA style. Remember to cite your source anytime you use someone elses ideas. I may introduce a quote that claims, this is the way a quote should look (Authors last name page number without a comma). Even if you do not quote an author directly, if the ideas are not from you, it must be cited (Authors

Last Name of Student 2 last name page number without a comma). To avoid having whole paragraphs filled with citations, make sure that you spend an equal amount of time analyzing the information that you are including and explaining exactly how it is relevant to your thesis and why you included it. Never assume that researched information is self-explanatory. Finally, do not trust this or any template without question. It is important to communicate with your professor to understand exactly what is expected of you. Use all of the resources at your disposal including your universitys writing center which can help you improve your writing, but dont expect them to write or edit your papers for you. Spell checkers can be wrong and miss things and so can online automatic citation machines. Double check their accuracy using credible and reputable sources such as the Purdue OWL: