As a scorer for Essentials in Writing, I grade compositions according to the guidelines of MLA: the Modern Language Association, also known as the group that discerns what is and is not permissible in written compositions.
Along with the other scorers, I grade according to this standard not only because it provides consistency but also because it is the standard by which the average college professor grades written assignments (depending, of course, on the department and the class).
If your student uses Essentials in Writing and/or our scoring service, they will be prepared for any writing assignment that comes their way because of this standard, should they decide to attend college.
MLA format, however, is an ever-changing thing and also contains many rules that the average student may not know. This is perfectly normal—much of the frustration regarding writing formats like MLA and APA is that the rules do not always seem like common sense!
As a result, when I am grading students’ submissions, I often notice several types of mistakes that are common across compositions. These errors may not necessarily impede the reader’s understanding of the composition, but they do not adhere to what MLA prescribes—and the more your student learns about MLA now, the better prepared they will be for any writing assignments down the road.
With that in mind, below is a list of the top ten do/don’t rules when writing in MLA format:
After reading the blog post, I had learned more about MLA format.
I wrote the sentence, and I used commas correctly.
It is difficult to describe such an idea.
Describing such an idea is difficult.
Since infinitive verbs (“to [verb]”) often follow the subject “it,” transforming the infinitive verb into the subject of the sentence is an easy way to not only avoid that vague pronoun but also make the sentence more interesting. (This rule also applies to “there,” though that word is technically an adverb.)
This list is not a comprehensive guide to MLA format but simply some of the mistakes I often see when grading students’ compositions. I urge you and your student to often check Purdue OWL or additional resources in order to keep up with changes in MLA or just to brush up on the general guidelines.
Additionally, writing within certain guidelines takes time and practice, so don’t be surprised if your student feels frustrated by the many rules of MLA format that can often feel unnecessary. Writing well according to any format is, after all, an arduous process within an ever-changing language.
Essentials in Writing
By: Essential in Writing January 2, 2018
Welcome to our new blog! We are very excited to launch a new addition to our website that we believe will be beneficial for students, teachers, and home school parents. This blog will be devoted to all aspects of writing, literature, and teaching. We are excited to partner with you on your homeschool journey and…
By: Matthew Stephens January 9, 2018
Teaching homeschool writing can be frustrating especially for those of us who write well and do not have to be bothered by checking for such things as capitalization and punctuation errors. Those writing rules come naturally for us. But, it doesn’t always come easy for our students. What seems to be such an “easy to…
