Formatting a Document in MLA Style

1. Formatting a Document in MLA Style

2. Contents

3. In MS Word 2010 for Windows

4. In the Home tab, change font to Times New Roman, 12 pt.

5. In the Home tab, click the arrow on the Paragraph group. Change paragraph spacing to Double. Make sure Spacing Before and Spacing After are both set to 0pt.

6. In the Page Layout tab, make sure margins are set to 1” on all sides.

7. Double-click in the header to edit it. Go to the Home tab to make sure the font for the header is Times New Roman, 12pt. Also in the Home tab, click the button to right-align text. Type your last name followed by a space.

8. In the Header & Footer Design tab, click Page Number, choose Current Position, then Plain Number. Exit the header by clicking the red Close Header and Footer button (or by double-clicking in the body of the page).

9. At the top of the page, type your name, the professor’s name, the course, and the date on separate lines, left-aligned.

10. On the next line, center the title. Below the title, begin the content of your paper, left-aligned, with a tab intent starting each paragraph. There should NOT be extra line breaks between the date, the title, or the beginning of the first paragraph; it is all evenly double-spaced. There are also no extra line breaks between following paragraphs.

11. At the end of your paper, start a new page, and at the top, type Works Cited, centered. Insert all references in alphabetical order by first element. Each reference is started on a new line. No extra spaces are between them. (Do not use tabs to break and indent your citations.)

12. To apply hanging indent, select your list of citations. While the citations are selected, open the Paragraph menu, and change Special Indentation to Hanging.

13. In MS Word 2011 for Macs

14. In the Home tab, change font to Times New Roman, 12 pt.

15. In the Format menu, click Paragraph. Change line spacing to Double. Make sure Spacing Before and Spacing After are both set to 0pt.

16. In the Layout tab, set margins to 1” on all sides.

17. Double-click in the header to edit it. Go to the Home tab to make sure the font for the header is Times New Roman, 12pt. Also in the Home tab, click the button to right-align text. Type your last name followed by a space.

18. In the Header and Footer tab, click Page #. Exit the header by clicking Close (or by double-clicking in the body of the page).

19. At the top of the page, type your name, the professor’s name, the course, and the date on separate lines, left-aligned.

20. On the next line, center the title. Below the title, begin the content of your paper, left-aligned, with a tab intent starting each paragraph. There should NOT be extra line breaks between the date, the title, or the beginning of the first paragraph; it is all evenly double-spaced. There are also no extra line breaks between following paragraphs.

21. At the end of your paper, start a new page, and at the top, type Works Cited, centered. Insert all references in alphabetical order by first element. Each reference is started on a new line. No extra spaces are between them. (Do not use tabs to break and indent your citations.)

22. To apply hanging indent, select your list of citations. While the citations are selected, open the Format menu and choose Paragraph. Change Special Indentation to Hanging.

23. Resources • Diana Hacker’s MLA Style Guide • Purdue’s OWL MLA Style Guide