… English department front desk @ Building E3-360 Tel: 323-265-8632 Q: My instructor keeps talking about MLA format. What's that? A: The Modern Language Association (MLA) answers this question with the following statement: All fields of research … academic departments, and instructors for over half a century. The association's guidelines are also used by over 1,100 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and magazines and by many university and commercial presses. The MLA's … plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism. See our …