mla 9 sample essay

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10 Great Essay Writing Tips

Knowing how to write a college essay is a useful skill for anyone who plans to go to college. Most colleges and universities ask you to submit a writing sample with your application. As a student, you’ll also write essays in your courses. Impress your professors with your knowledge and skill by using these great essay writing tips.

Prepare to Answer the Question

Most college essays ask you to answer a question or synthesize information you learned in class. Review notes you have from lectures, read the recommended texts and make sure you understand the topic. You should refer to these sources in your essay.

Plan Your Essay

Many students see planning as a waste of time, but it actually saves you time. Take a few minutes to think about the topic and what you want to say about it. You can write an outline, draw a chart or use a graphic organizer to arrange your ideas. This gives you a chance to spot problems in your ideas before you spend time writing out the paragraphs.

Choose a Writing Method That Feels Comfortable

You might have to type your essay before turning it in, but that doesn’t mean you have to write it that way. Some people find it easy to write out their ideas by hand. Others prefer typing in a word processor where they can erase and rewrite as needed. Find the one that works best for you and stick with it.

View It as a Conversation

Writing is a form of communication, so think of your essay as a conversation between you and the reader. Think about your response to the source material and the topic. Decide what you want to tell the reader about the topic. Then, stay focused on your response as you write.

Provide the Context in the Introduction

If you look at an example of an essay introduction, you’ll see that the best essays give the reader a context. Think of how you introduce two people to each other. You share the details you think they will find most interesting. Do this in your essay by stating what it’s about and then telling readers what the issue is.

Explain What Needs to be Explained

Sometimes you have to explain concepts or define words to help the reader understand your viewpoint. You also have to explain the reasoning behind your ideas. For example, it’s not enough to write that your greatest achievement is running an ultra marathon. You might need to define ultra marathon and explain why finishing the race is such an accomplishment.

Answer All the Questions

After you finish writing the first draft of your essay, make sure you’ve answered all the questions you were supposed to answer. For example, essays in compare and contrast format should show the similarities and differences between ideas, objects or events. If you’re writing about a significant achievement, describe what you did and how it affected you.

Stay Focused as You Write

Writing requires concentration. Find a place where you have few distractions and give yourself time to write without interruptions. Don’t wait until the night before the essay is due to start working on it.

Read the Essay Aloud to Proofread

When you finish writing your essay, read it aloud. You can do this by yourself or ask someone to listen to you read it. You’ll notice places where the ideas don’t make sense, and your listener can give you feedback about your ideas.

Avoid Filling the Page with Words

A great essay does more than follow an essay layout. It has something to say. Sometimes students panic and write everything they know about a topic or summarize everything in the source material. Your job as a writer is to show why this information is important.

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MLA Sample Paper

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Media File: MLA Sample Paper

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This resource contains a sample MLA paper that adheres to the 2016 updates. To download the MLA sample paper, click this link .

Writing with MLA Style

Congratulations to the students whose essays were selected for the 2023 edition of Writing with MLA Style! Essays were selected as examples of excellent student writing that use MLA style for citing sources. Essays have been lightly edited. 

If your institution subscribes to MLA Handbook Plus , you can access annotated versions of the essays selected in 2022 and 2023. 

Writing with MLA Style: 2023 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2023 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2023 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut (chair); Rachel Ihara, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York; and Tarshia L. Stanley, Wagner College.

Caroline Anderson (Pepperdine University)

“ L’Appel du Vide : Making Spaces for Sinful Exploration in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ”

Hunter Daniels (University of South Carolina, Aiken)

“Biblical Legalism and Cultural Misogyny in The Tragedy of Mariam ”

Aspen English (Southern Utah University)

“Putting the ‘Comm’ in Comics: A Communication-Theory-Informed Reading of Graphic Narratives”

Raul Martin (Lamar University)

“The Book-Object Binary: Access and Sustainability in the Academic Library”

Grace Quasebarth (Salve Regina University)

“Finding a Voice: The Loss of Machismo Criticisms through Translation in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits ”

Writing with MLA Style: 2022 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2022 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2022 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut; Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware (chair); and Deborah H. Holdstein, Columbia College Chicago.

Kaile Chu (New York University, Shanghai)

“Miles Apart: An Investigation into Dedicated Online Communities’ Impact on Cultural Bias”

Sietse Hagen (University of Groningen)

“The Significance of Fiction in the Debate on Dehumanizing Media Portrayals of Refugees”

Klara Ismail (University of Exeter)

“Queering the Duchess: Exploring the Body of the Female Homosexual in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi ”

Yasmin Mendoza (Whittier College)

“Banning without Bans”

Niki Nassiri (Stony Brook University)

“Modern-Day US Institutions and Slavery in the Twenty-First Century”

Samantha Wilber (Palm Beach Atlantic University)

“‘Pero, tu no eres facil’: The Poet X as Multicultural Bildungsroman”

Writing with MLA Style: 2019 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2019 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2019 selection committee was composed of Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware; Deborah H. Holdstein, Columbia College Chicago (chair); and Liana Silva, César E. Chavez High School, Houston, Texas.

Catherine Charlton (University of King’s College, Nova Scotia)

“‘Coal Is in My Blood’: Public and Private Representations of Community Identity in Springhill, Nova Scotia”

Alyiah Gonzales (California Polytechnic State University)

“Disrupting White Normativity in Langston Hughes’s ‘I, Too’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’”

Meg Matthias (Miami University, Ohio)

“Prescriptions of (Living) Historical Happiness: Gendered Performance and Racial Comfort in Reenactment”

Jennifer Nguyen  (Chaminade University of Honolulu)

“The Vietnam War, the American War: Literature, Film, and Popular Memory”

Emily Schlepp (Northwest University)

“A Force of Love: A Deconstructionist Reading of Characters in Dickens’s  Great Expectations ”

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MLA (Ninth Edition)

• MLA Ninth Edition: Checklist, Sample Papers and Template
• Get Started
• Formatting Your Research Project
• MLA - How To Videos
• Understanding MLA Containers
• In-Text Citations / Quoting in MLA
• MLA Standards
• MLA Ninth Citations - the general pattern
• MLA 9 - Various Examples
• How to: Numbers and Pronouns
• MLA Ninth Edition: Citing a Book
• MLA Ninth Edition: Citing a Newspaper, Magazine Or Journal (Print and Online)
• MLA Ninth Edition: Online Sources
• Changes from MLA 7 to MLA 8th and 9th edition

MLA Paper Checklist

In-text citations.

• Have you given credit to other sources when you’ve quoted and/or paraphrased throughout your paper?
• Are the in-text citations properly constructed according to MLA style?
• Does every in-text citation have a complete, matching citation in your Works Cited List?

Works Cited List

• Does it say Works Cited at the top of your page, centered, and without bolding or underlining?
• Is the Works Cited page double spaced?
• Are the citations in alphabetical order by the first word/name of each citation?
• Are the citations properly constructed according to MLA style?
• Is the second line of any citations longer than one line indented half an inch? This is called a “hanging indent” in your paragraph settings.
• Does each citation in the Works Cited list have a matching in-text citation in your assignment?

Overall Paper Presentation

• Did you cite the appropriate number of sources according to your assignment instructions?
• Is your paper double spaced?
• Unless specified otherwise by your instructor, is your paper in Times New Roman size 12 font?
• Did you create a header at the top right of each page with your last name and page number?

MLA Sample Papers

Taken from mla.org.

Second-year course in African American studies

Fourth-year course in English literature

MLA Sample Paper from OWL Purdue :

Recovery of 19th Century Farming Handbooks

MLA Templates:

MLA Microsoft Word Template

MLA Template in Google Docs

Some final Websites

There is more information on MLA format than you will know what to do with.  Here are just a few options if you need more clarity.  But, also think about scheduling an appointment with a Thomas Nelson librarian . Sometimes, the most important thing to getting it right is having someone help you get it right.  

• A Complete Guide to MLA 8 ( Chegg)
• The OWL by Purdue University  
• Updates to MLA 8  
• MLA 8 Citation Guide
• MLA Style by WW Norton
• Library @ Daemon College

MLA Examples

• << Previous: MLA Ninth Edition: Online Sources
• Next: Changes from MLA 7 to MLA 8th and 9th edition >>

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MLA Citation Style 9th Edition: MLA Sample Papers

• Title of Source
• Title of Container
• Other Contributors
• Publication Date
• Supplemental Elements
• World Wide Web Sources
• Advertisement
• Audio/Video/Media
• Digital File
• E-Mail Message/ Blog / Podcast / Tweet
• Map, Chart or Illustrated Work
• Performance /Lecture/Speech or other Oral Presentation
• Physical object (artworks including photographs or artifacts)
• Slide Presentation
• Unpublished Document, Including Class Handout
• About In-text Citation
• How to Paraphrase and Quote
• In-text Citation Examples for Books
• In-text Citation Examples for Articles
• In-text Citation Examples for Other formats
• MLA Annotated Bibliography
• Putting Together the Works Cited List
• Formatting A MLA Paper
• MLA Sample Papers
• MLA Citation Exercises for Books
• MLA Citation Exercises for Articles
• Automated Citation Tools
• Citing Open Educational Resources (OER)
• Citing AI Generated Content

Sample Papers from MLA.org

• First-year course in expository writing
• Second-year course in African American studies
• Fourth-year course in English literature

Papers from 2019 MLA Student Paper Contest

• “Coal Is in My Blood”: Public and Private Representations of Community Identity in Springhill, Nova Scotia -- by Catherine Charlton
• “Disrupting White Normativity in Langston Hughes’s ‘I, Too’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’” by Alyiah Gonzales
• “Prescriptions of (Living) Historical Happiness: Gendered Performance and Racial Comfort in Reenactment” by Meg Matthias
• “The Vietnam War, the American War: Literature, Film, and Popular Memory” by Jennifer Nguyen
• “A Force of Love: A Deconstructionist Reading of Characters in Dickens’s Great Expectations” by Emily Schlepp

Other Sample Papers

• MLA sample paper with 2016 updates From Purdue's OWL

For more sample papers, please refer to the 2016 supplement of the  Bedford Handbook ,  Documenting Sources in MLA Style 2016 Update     (REF/PE1408.H277 2016 suppl.) pp. 30-41,  at Skyline College Library's Ready Reference shelf. 

• MLA Sample Research Paper Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
• MLA Sample Argument Paper Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
• MLA Sample Papers from Excelsior College OWL
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• Next: MLA Citation Exercises for Books >>
• Last Updated: Aug 11, 2023 9:03 AM
• URL: https://guides.skylinecollege.edu/MLA9_CitationStyle

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Sample papers

• MLA 9th edition sample papers The SCC Library & Academic Support Center teach students to follow 9th edition student formatting rules, unless the instructor states otherwise.

Paper Template

• Student Paper Template, MLA 9 (PDF) Download this template before you begin writing to make sure your paper is formatted correctly in MLA 9th edition format.
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MLA In-text Citations and Sample Essay 9th Edition

Listing your sources at the end of your essay in the Works Cited is only the first step in complete and effective documentation. Proper citation of sources is a two-part process . You must also cite, in the body of your essay, the source your paraphrased information or where directly quoted material came from. These citations within the essay are called in-text citations . You must cite all quoted, paraphrased, or summarized words, ideas, and facts from sources. Without in-text citations, you are in danger of plagiarism , even if you have listed your sources at the end of the essay. In-text citations point the reader to the sources’ information in the works cited page, so the in-text citation should be the first item listed in the source’s citation on the works cited page, which is usually the author’s last name (or the title if there is no author) and the page number, if provided.

Two Ways to Cite Your Sources In-text

Parenthetical citation.

Cite your source in parentheses at the end of quoted or paraphrased material.

Example with a page number: In regards to paraphrasing, "It is important to remember to use in-text citations for your paraphrased information, as well as your directly quoted material" (Habib 7).

Example without a page number : Paraphrasing is "often the best choice because direct quotes should be reserved for source material that is especially well-written in style and/or clarity" (Ruiz).

Signal Phrase

Within the sentence, through the use of a "signal phrase" which signals to the reader the specific source the idea or quote came from. Include the page number(s) in parentheses at the end of the sentence, if provided.

Example with a page number: According to Habib, "It is important to remember to use in-text citations for your paraphrased information, as well as your directly quoted material" (7).

Example without a page number: According to Ruiz, paraphrasing is "often the best choice because direct quotes should be reserved for source material that is especially well-written in style and/or clarity."

*See our handout "Signal Phrases" for more examples and information on effective ways to use signal phrases for in-text citations.

Do you need to include a page number in your in-text citation?

Printed materials such as books, magazines, journals, or internet and digital sources with PDF files that show an actual printed page number need to have a page number in the citation.

Internet and digital sources with a continuously scrolling page without a page number do not need a page number in the citation.

Commonly used in-text citations in parentheses

Notes on quotes, block quotation format.

When using long quotations that are over four lines of prose or over three lines of poetry in length, you will need to use block quotation format. Block format is indented one inch from the margin (you can hit the "tab" button twice to move it one inch). Additionally, block quotes do not use quotation marks, and the parenthetical citation comes after the period of the last sentence. Please see the following sample essay for an example block quote.

Signal Phrase Examples and Ideas

Please see the following sample essay for different kinds of signal phrases and parenthetical in-text citations, which correspond with the sample Works Cited page at the end. The Writing Center also has a handout on signal phrases with many different verb options.

Learn more about the MLA Works Cited page by reviewing this handout .

For information on STLCC's academic integrity policy, check out this website .

English Education & English Writing: MLA Sample Paper from OWL Purdue

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Sample Paper Formatted in MLA Style from OWL Purdue

• Sample MLA Paper Below is a sample paper from OWL Purdue formatted to MLA Standards

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Works Cited List & Sample Paper

• What Kind of Source Is This?
• Advertisements
• Books, eBooks & Pamphlets
• Book Reviews
• Class Handouts, Presentations, and Readings
• Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
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• Images, Artwork, Charts, Graphs & Tables
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• Journal Articles
• Magazine Articles
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• Primary Sources
• Religious Texts
• Social Media
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• In-Text Citation
• Works Quoted in Another Source
• No Author, No Date etc.
• Works Cited List & Sample Paper
• Annotated Bibliography
• Powerpoint Presentations

Sample Paper & Works Cited List

• MLA Sample Paper Template

This sample paper includes a sample assignment page with an example of how to include your student information and a Works Cited list in MLA format.

It can be used as a template to set up your assignment.

• End-of-Paper Checklist

Finished your assignment? Use this checklist to be sure you haven't missed any information needed for MLA style.

Using the Template to Accurately Follow the Citation Style

Quick Rules for an MLA Works Cited List

Your research paper ends with a list of all the sources cited in the text of the paper. This is called a Works Cited list.

See an example in the "Sample Paper & Works Cited List" box on this page.

Here are eight quick rules for this list:

• Start a new page for your Works Cited list (e.g., if your paper is 4 pages long, start your Works Cited list on page 5).
• Centre the title, Works Cited, at the top of the page and do not bold or underline it. Look for the alignment option in Word.
• Double-space the list.
• Start the first line of each citation at the left margin; each subsequent line should be indented (also known as a "hanging indent").
• Put your list in alphabetical order. Alphabetize the list by the first word in the citation. In most cases, the first word will be the author’s last name. Where the author is unknown, alphabetize by the first word in the title, ignoring the words a, an, the.
• For each author, give the last name followed by a comma and the first name followed by a period.
• Italicize the titles of full works: books, audiovisual material,websites.
• Do not italicize titles of parts of works, such as: articles from newspapers, magazines, or journals / essays, poems, short stories or chapter titles from a book / chapters or sections of an Internet document. Instead, use quotation marks.
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• Next: Annotated Bibliography >>
• Last Updated: Sep 1, 2023 2:06 PM
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MLA Sample Papers

Causal Argumentative Essay (9th edition)

Classification and Division Essay From a Beginning Writing Class (8th edition)

Compare and Contrast Essay From a Beginning Writing Class (9th edition)

Compare and Contrast Essay From a Literature Course (8th edition)

Definition Argumentative Essay (9th edition)

Definition Essay From a Literature Course (8th edition)

Description Essay From a Beginning Writing Class (8th edition)

Multiple Rhetorical Styles Within One Essay From an Introductory Writing Course (8th edition)

Narrative Argumentative Essay (8th edition)

Narrative Essay From a Beginning Writing Class (8th edition)

Rhetorical Analysis (8th edition)

Toulmin Argumentative Essay (8th edition)

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