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MLA format (Modern Language Association) is one of the primary writing styles used in academic and professional writing. When drafting research papers or scholarly articles in MLA style, it's crucial to follow the rules outlined below for accuracy and consistency.
Steps
Cover Page
Do not include a cover page unless explicitly instructed to do so. According to standard MLA formatting rules, a separate title or cover page is not necessary and should not be included in most academic papers.
- However, in certain cases, instructors may ask students to create a cover page for longer papers written in MLA style. The required information for this page will follow the set guidelines.
Center the title. Your title should be centered and positioned one-third of the way down from the top of the page.
- The title must be fully informative while also being creative.
- If you include a subtitle, it should be on the same line as the main title, separated by a colon.
- The first letter of all significant words must be capitalized. Do not capitalize small words such as 'the,' 'a,' or 'and,' unless they appear at the beginning of the main or subtitle.
Provide your full name. Your full name should be centered on the page, preceded by the term "Author."
- Type "Author" on one line, hit "Enter," and then type your full name on the next line.
- Your name should be formatted as "Last Name, First Name."
End with the class name, instructor's name, and submission date. At the two-thirds mark of the page, you must include these essential details.
- Type the class and course name on one line.
- On the next line, include your instructor's name.
- On the last line, include the submission date in the format Day, Month, Year.
General MLA Format
Set margins to 2.5 cm. The top, bottom, left, and right margins should all be set to 2.5 cm.
- In most word processing programs, you can adjust the margins by going to "Page Layout" under the "File" menu. In the "Margins" dialog box, you can adjust the margins to the appropriate size.
Set double spacing between lines. From the first page onward, your entire document must have double-line spacing. Be sure not to leave extra spaces at the end of each paragraph.
- To change the line spacing, go to "Page Layout" in the "File" menu. In the "Line Spacing" dialog box, select a spacing of "2.0".
Use a 12-point font. The standard font and size for MLA-style papers are 12-point Times New Roman.
- If you prefer to use a different font, choose a simple, readable font that is not too large.
Create a header. The header appears on every page at the same position. It includes your name and the page number, and should be located at the top right corner of each page.
- In the "Header and Footer" toolbar (usually located under the "View" menu), type your name and click on the page number icon to automatically insert the page number for each page.
First Page Formatting
Place the heading in the top-left corner. The heading must contain all the necessary information, just like the title page. In the top-left corner, include your full name, instructor's name, course name, and submission date.
- On the first line, type your full name.
- On the next line, type your instructor's title and name.
- On the third line, type the course name.
- On the final line, type the submission date in the format Day, Month, Year.
Center the title. After the date line, you must write the title of your article. This title should be centered.
- The title should not be enlarged, italicized, underlined, or bolded.
- The title should fully convey the article's theme and be creative.
- If there's a subtitle, place it on the same line as the main title, separated by a colon.
- The first letter of every important word should be capitalized, except for minor words like 'the', 'a', and 'and', unless they are the first word of the title or subtitle.
Write the body of the article. After the title line, align the text to the left and begin writing the introductory paragraph of the article.
Body of the Article
Indent the first line of each paragraph. The first line of every paragraph should be indented by 1.25 cm.
- You can press the 'Tab' key on your keyboard to indent the first line.
- It is not necessary to leave a blank line between paragraphs; the indentation alone is sufficient to signal the beginning of a new paragraph.
Break the article into smaller sections if needed. If your article is lengthy, your instructor might ask you to divide it into different sections.
- The recommended MLA style for section headings is to number each section with an Arabic numeral followed by a period. After the period, leave a space before writing the section title.
- The first letter of each word in the section title should be capitalized.
- Section titles are generally centered and placed on their own line.
Label figures and tables if present in your article. When your MLA paper includes images or tables, center them and assign a number, label, or citation.
- Use "Figure 1", "Figure 2", etc. for illustrations. Use "Table 1", "Table 2", etc. for tables.
- Quickly label your data with descriptive words such as "chart" or "statistical table".
- Provide the author's name, the source where the data was published, the publication date, and page number.
- All this information should be included in a single line below the image.
In-Text Citation
Use in-text citations for all borrowed material. Whenever you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize in your paper, you must cite the source in parentheses immediately after the reference.
- If available, include the author's name and page number of the source being cited.
- If the source is online and lacks page numbers, you only need to include the author's name.
- If no author is available, cite a shortened version of the source title.
- Note: If the author's name was already mentioned in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parentheses.
Format in-text citations. Most citations appear within the text itself, so they do not require any special formatting and can be treated like regular text.
- Always integrate citations into your sentences. Never use a "hanging" citation that does not belong to a sentence and lacks context.
- Commas and periods should follow citations in parentheses. The closing parenthesis should be outside of quotation marks.
Format block quotes. If a citation is longer than three lines, you must separate it from the main body as a block quote.
- To start the block quote, press "Enter" to move to a new line.
- Each line of the block quote should be indented by an additional 1.25 cm.
- You do not need quotation marks for block quotes, but you must still include the citation in parentheses.
Caption
Center the caption title. Do not italicize, bold, or underline this heading.
- If you add any endnotes to the document, they will automatically appear on a separate page beneath the main content. Do not mark them as footnotes, as they will appear at the bottom of each page.
Number the footnotes. When adding footnotes using the endnote tool in Word, the numbering will be done automatically.
- If you do not use the tool, number the footnotes manually using Arabic numerals that correspond to the referenced part in the text.
- The first line of each footnote should be indented by 1.25.
Include only concise and important information in the footnotes. Footnotes should be used to discuss information that is not directly connected to the main text.
- Footnotes should not exceed three or four lines. Avoid unnecessary elaborations. Footnotes are not the place for introducing entirely new points.
Appendix
Center the title "Appendix". Do not italicize, bold, or underline this title.
- If there are multiple appendices, label them as “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” etc.
Include relevant but non-essential information. Information in the appendix should relate to the article, but it is not crucial or necessary for your argument.
- The appendix allows you to present supplementary information without disrupting the main argument of the document.
References Page
Center the title "References". Do not italicize, bold, or underline this title.
- The “References” page should list all sources you have directly cited within the main body of the work.
- All MLA formatted papers must include a “References” page.
Cited materials should be arranged alphabetically. All citations must be listed alphabetically by the author's last name.
- If the author is unknown, arrange the citation alphabetically by the first word of the article or book title.
Book Citation. The basic format for citing a book includes the author's name, the book's title, publication details, and the medium of publication.
- Write the author's name in the format "Last Name, First Name", followed by a period.
- Italicize the book's title and capitalize the first letter of each word, ending with a period.
- Write the city of publication after a colon, followed by the publisher's name. After that, include a comma and the year of publication, concluding with a period.
- Lastly, indicate the medium of publication, either "Print" or "eBook", followed by a period.
Journal Article Citation. A journal article typically requires the author's name, the article title, the journal's name, publication details, and the medium of publication.
- Write the author's name in the format Last Name, First Name, followed by a period.
- Place the article's title in quotation marks, with the first letter of each word capitalized, followed by a period.
- Italicize the journal's title, with the first letter of each word capitalized, and end with a period.
- Note the issue number, followed by the year of publication in parentheses. After a colon, list the page numbers, ending with a period.
- Finally, include the medium of publication and end with a final period.
