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Most English instructors and some humanities instructors will ask you to document your sources with the Modern Language Association (MLA) system of citations described in MLA-4. When writing an MLA paper that is based on sources, you face three main challenges: (1) supporting a thesis, (2) citing your sources and avoiding plagiarism, and (3) integrating quotations and other source material.
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Examples in this section are drawn from a student’s research about online monitoring of employees’ computer use. See Anna Orlov’s research paper, in which she argues that electronic surveillance in the workplace threatens employees’ privacy. (See highlights of Anna Orlov’s research process.)
| MLA-1 | Supporting a thesis |
| MLA-2 | Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism |
| MLA-3 | Integrating sources |
| MLA-4 | Documenting sources |
| MLA-5 | MLA manuscript format; student research process and sample paper |