What MLA 101 is
MLA 101 is a quick, practical course for getting an MLA 9 paper done without the guesswork. The lessons are short and focused. Each one gives you the exact rules and clear steps, the kind that help when the deadline is close.
PERRLA made and sponsors these lessons. We build software that does the formatting for you, so your time and energy can go into writing a solid paper. The videos and articles teach the rules of the MLA format, 9th edition, so they make sense whether or not you use PERRLA.
How the course is laid out
The lessons follow the order a paper gets built, from the first blank page to the final checks:
- Section 1, MLA Foundations. What the MLA format is, and why instructors ask for it.
- Section 2, Formatting Basics. Page setup, the first page, the body pages, and the Works Cited page.
- Section 3, Elements of the Body. Headings, and what needs a citation.
- Section 4, Works Cited and Citations. The MLA template, then books, journal articles, web pages, in-text citations, and block quotes.
- Section 5, The Writing Process. Academic tone, structure, writing with sources without plagiarizing, and a final clean-up pass.
The advice stays practical, whether this is your first MLA paper or your hundredth.
The paper you'll build
By the end of the course you'll know every part of a complete MLA 9 paper. It's simpler than you might expect. There's no title page: the first page carries a short heading and the title, the body follows, and the Works Cited page comes last. Lessons 4, 5, and 6 take them one at a time.
Serena Sparkles
Dr. Alana Whitfield
ANTH 215
14 October 2026
Bigfoot: The Truth Revealed
Bigfoot has been reported across western North America for decades, yet no body or recent fossil of the creature has ever been authenticated. When researchers ran DNA tests on hair credited to Bigfoot and similar creatures, every hair attributed to Bigfoot matched an animal already known to science (Sykes et al.).
The hair tells the same story by a different route. Rather than map where people say they saw the creature, Sykes and his colleagues tested the hair itself, cleaning each sample so that stray human DNA would not mislead them. Taken together, the two studies move the question from what people saw to what they misread.
Works Cited
Meldrum, Jeff. Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. Forge, 2007.
Sykes, Bryan C., et al. “Genetic Analysis of Hair Samples Attributed to Yeti, Bigfoot and Other Anomalous Primates.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 281, no. 1789, 2014, article 20140161, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0161.
A sample Bigfoot paper, used as the example throughout MLA 101: the first page, a body page, and the Works Cited page.
Two ways to take the course
Follow the lessons in order and you'll build a paper step by step. Or jump straight to the one topic that's giving you trouble tonight. Either way works.
Following along in your word processor while you watch is a good way to get your own paper formatted as you go.
If you'd rather not format by hand
We built this course for everyone, not only PERRLA users. But if you want the formatting right every time, PERRLA handles the MLA 9 rules for you. You write, and PERRLA sets the page, the first-page heading, the citations, and the Works Cited page. You can try it free for 7 days, with no credit card.
Thanks for taking MLA 101. Next up is What is MLA?, a short look at where the format comes from. Already know that part? Skip ahead to Basic page setup.
Quick checklist
- Know your assignment calls for MLA, 9th edition
- Know the paper's three parts: the first page with heading and title, the body, and Works Cited
- Pick your path: in order, or straight to the lesson you need