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YourFirstName YourLastName
Professor LastName
Course Title
Date
Title Goes Here
Start your first paragraph here. Try to begin with a memorable or interesting “hook”
(a.k.a. an attention-getter or lead-in). Remember, unless your professor says otherwise, if he/she
tells you to write an essay or a research paper, that means you should write a paper with an
introduction with a thesis as the last sentence, one or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion
that reminds the reader of the overall goal of the paper and closes the paper by returning to the
hook. Your thesis should respond to the paper assignment prompt directly—write about what the
professor asked you to write about.
Remember to indent your body paragraphs. Also, remember to use topic sentences and
concluding sentences that make it clear what the “job” of each paragraph is and how it relates to
the thesis statement. Explain your reasoning, and support claims with evidence in the form of
details from real life or from legitimate sources. Cite all paraphrases and quotations. Note that
while essay paragraphs must have at least three sentences, most academic writing features
paragraphs of five to eight sentences. This gives you room to explain your ideas clearly and in
detail—not to BS or try to “fluff up” the essay—explaining ideas clearly and in detail is crucial
to showing your professor that you understand the class material and are able to engage with it in
a mature fashion. Although I’ve used first and second person pronouns and contractions in this
example, you should avoid doing that unless your professor says it’s all right.
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This paragraph will model how to integrate and cite evidence in MLA Style. Remember
to start paragraphs with your own words in a topic sentence, rather than starting with a quote.
This keeps your voice in charge. AuthorLastName states, “You should try to integrate quotes and
paraphrases down a little further into the paragraph, at least two sentences in” (PageNumber).
Another way that you could incorporate quotes “is by placing them in the middle or at the end of
the sentence followed by the author’s last name and page number in parenthesis”
(AuthorLastName PageNumber). If you want to incorporate a longer quote that is four lines or
more then there is a different process. The proper way to cite block quotes is as follows:
Indent twice so that the quote is not inline as a separate paragraph, but instead is
within the same paragraph. Indent twice all subsequent lines so that the statement
fits in a “block.” Block quotes are different from regular in text citations because
you do not need to use quotes and at the end you can place a period before the
parenthesis. Inside the parenthesis place the author’s last name and the page
number. (AuthorLastName PageNumber)
You could incorporate the author’s name before the block quote if you want, as well. If you
choose to do this then in the parenthesis you will only need to place the page number of the work
that you are using. As you cite from other sources, make sure that you are able to explain them,
incorporating your own ideas into the work. Make sure that your evidence (and your explanation
of it) aligns with your thesis; do not just incorporate a long excerpt to fill up the page.
Everyone hates writing conclusions, but they fulfill a necessary function. They remind
the reader of your overall argument, or thesis. They also serve to remind the reader about the
main points you made to support your thesis. Conclusions give let you have your final say, share
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any parting thoughts, in 5-6 sentences. A nice way to end a conclusion is with a return to the
clever hook you opened with—the idea, statistic, or question that started the paper.
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Works Cited
AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. Book Title. City: Publisher, YearOfPublication. Medium.
AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. “Article Title.” Journal Title VolumeNumber.IssueNumber
(Year): Page Range. Database Title. Web. DateOfAccess.
AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. “Webpage Title.” Website Title. PublisherOrSponsor,
DateOfLastUpdate. Web. DateOfAccess.
Check The Everyday Writer, its online supplement at this link, the MLA Handbook (7th ed.), or
the Purdue Online Writing Lab section on MLA for details about citing different types of
sources.