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Formatting a MLA Paper

Changing the Font
Microsoft Word documents often default to 10-point Courier font.  This is too small for most people to read easily.

  1. From the top menu, on the right-hand side, click on "select" and choose "all"
  2. Right click anywhere on the page
  3. Set the font for Times New Roman and 12.
  4. Click anywhere on the page again

Changing the Margins

  1. Across the top menu list select Page Layout
  2. Click on Margins
  3. Choose the option that says Normal 1"

Changing the Spacing: All text is double spaced, including quotations from other sources and the Works Cited list.

  1. Right click anywhere on the page
  2. Click on Paragraph
  3. Under Line Spacing choose Double

Adding the Header Last Name & Page #

The following section explains how to add a header consisting of your last name and the page number 

    1. Double click at the very top of your page until a light gray dotted line appears.
    2. Along top menu, click on Page Number
    3. Select Top of Page
    4. Select Page #3
    5. Type your last name before the number and include a space.
    6. Click anywhere else on the paper.

Adding the Title Block

MLA style does not call for a separate title page. Instead, you should begin your paper with a title block (described below).

  • Note that the title is not simply "Research Paper" or "Hamlet's Madness".
  • Don't type spaces to center the title. 
  • Read the example paragraph below for a few tips about titles. 

LastName 1

Firstname Lastname

Professor D. Jerz

Class: Hour

Day Month Year

Finding A Good Paper Title:  Intriguing Readers without Annoying Them

Too often, English professors encounter student papers with uninformative or misleading titles. "If the title, the thesis statement, and the conclusion don't match, I know I've been handed a rush job, a load of nonsense, or both" (Jerz 2).

Indenting Long Quotations

A quotation is considered "long" if it takes up four or more lines on your paper.  


Note: using long quotations to pad your paper is a fairly obvious ploy. Rather than quote a whole paragraph from an outside source, just quote a single sentence, or even just a few words; use the space you save to write more of your own original thought.

      • Press Enter to start a new paragraph and indent one inch

      • Type the quoted material (without adding any quotation marks)
    Students need more time to sleep because they are growing constantly.  Smith stated that

    Students who slept more were more apt to grow more and learn more in school.  Due to 

    the 
    increase in sleep students have higher grades, are more active and are more 

    engaged at 
    home.  Remember these quotes should be at least four lines long.  It should 

    be longer quotes only that you severely indent (34).

    Smith's ideas really work to encourage a later start time.  If schools were to start later, students lives

    would be overall improved. 

    Formatting the Works Cited List

    This section describes how to use MS-Word to format the works cited list in MLA style. 

    Here is a step by step list for creating a "works cited" list using MS-Word:

      1. Go to a new page at the end of your document
      2. Center it and type Works Cited. Press Enter.
      3. Right click and select Paragraph; make sure your spacing is set to Double
      4. In this same box, select Special  and select hanging - Click OK


    Works Cited

    J
    erz, Dennis G. "MLA Style: Step-By-Step Instructions." Dennis G. Jerz. 1 May 2004. Web. 13 Mar. 
     
              2010.  




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    Germantown School District
    Germantown High School