{"id":6696,"date":"2025-11-28T09:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/m-mla-essay-example\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:58:13","slug":"m-mla-essay-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/m-mla-essay-example\/","title":{"rendered":"[M Mla Essay Example ]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, let\u2019s talk MLA formatting \u2014 because I\u2019ve got a confession. The first time I had to write an MLA essay in college, I accidentally formatted the entire paper in <em>Comic Sans<\/em> (yep, you read that right). My professor circled the title page with a red pen and wrote, \u201cCute font. Wrong century.\u201d Mortifying? Absolutely. But hey, we all start somewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing: MLA isn\u2019t about being fancy. It\u2019s like assembling IKEA furniture \u2014 follow the instructions step by step, and you won\u2019t end up with a wobbly bookshelf (or in my case, a paper that looks like a middle school PowerPoint). Let me walk you through what actually works, based on my many late-night caffeine-fueled battles with Microsoft Word.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>The Header Meltdown<\/strong><br \/>\nRemember when I said I used Comic Sans? Let\u2019s not even talk about the header. I typed my name, the date, and \u201cEssay Thingy\u201d in size 14 font, thinking bigger = better. Spoiler: It\u2019s not. Here\u2019s what you <em>actually<\/em> need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Top left corner<\/strong>: Your name, professor\u2019s name, course, and date (Day Month Year \u2014 no commas, just vibes).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Header<\/strong>: Last name and page number in the top right. Pro tip: Double-click the top of the page in Word to set this up automatically. Life. Saver.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>In-Text Citations: The \u201cWait, Did I Make That Up?\u201d Phase<\/strong><br \/>\nFreshman year, I cited a tweet in a paper about Shakespeare. My professor\u2019s note? \u201cInteresting primary source.\u201d Don\u2019t be me. Use Purdue OWL\u2019s MLA guide like it\u2019s your new Bible. But here\u2019s the cheat code nobody tells you: If you\u2019re quoting a book, just slap the author\u2019s last name and page number in parentheses <em>(Smith 42)<\/em>. No need to overcomplicate it.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and if you\u2019re citing a website without a clear author? Use the title. I once wrote <em>(\u201cHow to Bake a Pie\u201d)<\/em> and prayed it was right. It worked.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Works Cited: The Hanging Indent Horror Story<\/strong><br \/>\nI spent 45 minutes Googling \u201chow to make the second line move over in Word\u201d before discovering the magical \u201cCtrl+T\u201d shortcut (or \u201cParagraph Settings\u201d &gt; \u201cSpecial\u201d &gt; \u201cHanging\u201d if you\u2019re fancy). Your Works Cited should look like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Book<\/strong>: Last Name, First Name. <em>Italicized Title<\/em>. Publisher, Year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Website<\/strong>: \u201cArticle Title.\u201d <em>Website Name<\/em>, Day Month Year, URL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And for the love of Dunkin\u2019 coffee, alphabetize the list. I once handed in a Works Cited ordered by \u201cwhich sources I liked best.\u201d Let\u2019s just say my professor wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>The \u201cWhy Does This Even Matter?\u201d Revelation<\/strong><br \/>\nHere\u2019s the kicker: Formatting feels tedious, but it\u2019s like showing up to a job interview in pajamas versus a blazer. It signals you care. My turning point? Sophomore year, when I helped my roommate fix her citations 20 minutes before class. She brought me a giant iced coffee from Starbucks the next day \u2014 a trophy for adulting.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Your Game Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Steal a template<\/strong>. Google Docs has built-in MLA formats. Use them like a time machine.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Run it through Grammarly<\/strong>. Not for grammar \u2014 use the plagiarism checker to catch accidental uncited quotes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Print it out<\/strong>. Errors pop on paper. (Trust me, I\u2019ve cried over a missing period at 2 a.m.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You\u2019ve got this. And if all else fails, just remember: Nobody\u2019s docking points for a misplaced comma. Well, most nobody.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Need an example? Shoot me a DM \u2014 I\u2019ve still got that Shakespeare\/tweet essay saved for\u2026 motivational purposes.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, let\u2019s talk MLA formatting \u2014 because I\u2019ve got a confession. The first time I had to write an MLA essay in college, I accidentally formatted the entire paper in Comic Sans (yep, you read that right). My professor circled the title page with a red pen and wrote, \u201cCute font. Wrong century.\u201d Mortifying? Absolutely.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}