Research and MLA

Since I started university, I found out that research is an essential educational tool that is necessary in lots of classes besides English. Research builds credibility to the paper or speech that is presented to the audience. As an Engineering major student I am demanded to do a lot of research before writing any research paper.  For most of my classes the most important thing about what is written is the research and evidence. Engineering students also use research for their graduation projects, which may vary between papers or stereophonics. Although research is important in our future careers, I did not get enough education and practice in it through my school education. As a foreign student the educational system that I studied under was way more different than it is in the United States of America. Going back to my high school years I remember that all what we have been taught was the process of writing to pass an exam. I was taught to write narrative and argumentative essays because these are the essays that appear on exams and aptitude tests. Also, studying in the ALP “American Language Program” here in CSUF did not do me any good in the research-writing field because we were only taught to write for the IELTS, TOEFL or university placement tests. But when I took the English 99 class and was assigned to write a research paper, I realized that I was behind all of my classmates. Most of them were starting to research and write their essays while I was still trying to figure out how to do a research for my essay. After multiple visits to the writing center, asking friends for help, and plenty of emails to my professor I had a brief idea about research and I was able to finish my essay. I find that I still lack the ability to research because my education did not have a good foundation, but I am learning more and more everyday.

As for MLA “Modern Language Association” format, I find it as a struggle whenever I write. In my native language, which is Arabic, we do not need a format to write. It is simple and straightforward, While English writing requires multiple formats and styles. I started using MLA when I was a student in the ALP program. I was introduced to basics of MLA such as font type, font size, margins, spacing, titles, and headers. I noticed that MLA format differs from one professor to the other. For Example my first semester ALP professor had us write our name, class, and the name of the instructor on the right of the page with double-spacing between each one and leave out a line after the title. My second semester ALP professor had us write our information on the left of the page with no spacing between them, and we also had to leave a line after the title. As for English 99 my professor did not care about the writer’s information because it will eventually be removed before submitting the portfolio. I am pretty sure that all my instructors followed the MLA format but I am still not sure about the correct way. In my English 101 class I learned that there is more to MLA than what I picked up in the past year and a half. There is MLA citation and a lot more to learn that what I already know.

In both these subjects I am still a beginner that I has a lot to learn before even considering to be good writer. But I have to say that I am proud of what I accomplished in just a short period. It is encouraging me to learn more and more about College level writing.