When writing a research paper, it may well be that you are required to include an appendix. If this is the case, and you have been asked to write the paper using MLA format, then you may be wondering exactly how to approach the work. The following provide some basic instructions to help ensure that your work is completed correctly.
The first thing you need to be aware of is what to include in the appendix. Essentially, the appendix is a section that allows you to include various details that aren’t necessary in the main body of your essay.
For example, it may be that you have completed various questionnaires as part of your research and, rather than including the actual questionnaire within the main body section of the paper you have written, you may just wish to only include any results that you gathered. However, in order to ensure that the reader understands how you arrived at these results, by including a questionnaire in the appendix section, the reader can quickly have a look to see what questions were involved.
As well as including details about any questionnaires, you may include details relating to any technical words that you used, as well as any mathematical proofs or important scientific equations. Equally, if you are studying a scientific subject and you have carried out various experiments, then you may include details of any apparatus that you used.
If you do include an appendix section as part of your paper then this should be located towards the end of your essay. Furthermore, you should include a new subsection for each different appendix that you need to include. For example, you may include an appendix for any questionnaires that you used, another for any word lists, and another outlining any apparatus used during experiments.
If you do need to include multiple appendix attachments then each one should be titled in alphabetical order - for example, your first appendix should have the title ‘Appendix A’.
One final thing to bear in mind is that whilst appendix sections for research papers written in MLA format will normally follow the same guidelines, it may be that your teacher has specific instructions that they would rather you follow, so be sure to check before writing and finalising the work.