1. WELCOME HSAS STUDENTS

2. MLA Style The Modern Language Association has created a handbook on MLA style especially for high school students.

3. What is a style guide? A style guide is a set of rules that writers follow when they are publishing a paper. Some style guides are published as books, others are just pamphlets or several pages long. Actually such rules make writing a paper much easier. The student reads the guide and follows its rules when typing and formatting a term paper.

4. Why do I have to follow a style guide? That is a very reasonable question. There are some very good reasons that people who do scholarly writing must follow a style guide. When students begin doing term papers, the MLA Handbook allows the student to quickly resolve all the small issues that naturally arise when you are conducting academic research and writing a term paper. Learning one style and using it will acquaint you with style guides so that adapting to company or other academic styles will not be difficult.

5. How many styles are there, anyway? There are many different styles in use today. Style guides allow scholars in their chosen fields to communicate more accurately with each other. This makes communication quicker and easier. In American universities there are three main style guides currently in use: MLA, APA, and Chicago. In the world of academic publishing there are hundreds. In specialized fields each journal has its own style guide—a written set of requirements for manuscripts submitted for publication..

6. The Big Three MLA Style is used in journals published by the Modern Language Association and by students writing term papers. APA Style is used mostly in scientific publishing, particularly the field of psychology. This guide is published by the American Psychological Association. Chicago Manual of Style used by the University of Chicago Press for its publications and by others who choose to use it.

7. Other Style Guides Other styles guides are used to prepare manuscripts in specialized fields, such as law, biology, physics, chemistry, medicine. Every journal has its own rules for publication. If you ever write for any journal you will be required to follow specific rules. Learning one style should make you able to adapt to other styles when the need arises.

8. Can a Style Guide Make My Work Easier? Actually such rules make writing a paper much easier. The student reads the guide and follows its rules when typing and formatting a term paper. HSAS has adopted the MLA Style. When you write your paper in MLA Style it will be easy for you to read and correct the work of one of your peers, since you have studied the MLA Handbook and learned the MLA Style.