Formatting Assignments

This unit will help you understand the correct MLA formatting of papers. All assignments submitted through Blackboard must use correct MLA formatting.

This brief video is a great place to begin if you're new to MLA formatting. It discusses MLA style, including what it is, who uses it in their research, some important things to remember when writing a paper in MLA format, what's new in the 8th Edition of the MLA Handbook, and how to format in-text citations and a Works Cited page. I really enjoy the videos produced by this Youtuber, Servicescape. ServiceScape offers advice, insights, and ideas for editors, translators, graphic designers, and writers. Definitely, check out this helpful channel for more writing tips.

The Purdue OWL Style Guide

I'm going to recommend that you reference the Purdue Online Writing Lab website, again and again, this term. Click HERE for the OWL homepage. Click HERE to directly link to their MLA style guide. This site offers so much and I can't stress how valuable a resource it is for the college writer! Please, take the time to explore this site fully. Remember, in this course, we'll be focusing on MLA formatting, but in your other courses in different disciplines, you'll need to adhere to the preferred formatting style. This style might be APA or Chicago, for instance. Purdue OWL can help guide you through the formatting conventions of those styles too.

In this presentation, I offer a very brief overview of MLA Formatting and Citation. Seriously, it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Those who prefer to read the slides and presentation transcript, click here for the original powerpoint and notes.

This video will walk you through the technical aspects of setting up MLA formatting on a Word document.