The following are some of the most basic and important rules for formatting your paper using MLA:

• Use an easy to read font such as Arial (the default for Google Docs), Segoe UI (the default for Windows), Times New Roman, or any readable default font.
• Font size can be anywhere between 11 and 13 point, but remain consistent throughout your paper.
• Be sure to double space your paper.
• Use one inch margins.
• MLA format does not have a separate cover page. 
• Start your paper with a heading that is left justified and double spaced. It should include your first and last name(s), your professor’s name, the name of your course, and the date. See section 1.3 in the manual or the example below:

•  Include a title that is centered. Titles should be regular type with no quotation marks. See example below:

• There should be no additional spaces after the title or after paragraphs. There should be no be additional spaces between citations on the works cited page.

• The first line of each paragraph should be indented one half inch from the left margin; use the TAB key once to begin each new paragraph.

• Pages are numbered in the upper right hand corner beginning with the first page. Include your surname(s) before the page number. See example below:                                                                                                                                                                                  

Below are three examples of MLA formatted papers. The formatting is the same with all examples, but the last two papers show some special features that you may need to use at some point in your college career.

Example 1: MLA Paper Without Headings

In the first example below, you will see a very basic example of MLA formatting in action. You will notice the entire paper is double spaced, including the heading which is on the left side of the paper. Notice that your last name and page numbers begin on the very first page and are located in the upper right corner. The title is centered in the middle with no additional spaces underneath. 

Example 2: MLA Paper With Long Quotes

In the example below, you will see a paper that has included long quotations from a text. Notice how these quotes are so long that they must be given special treatment. They do not have quotation marks; instead, they are indented to stand out from the rest of the text. You will notice all the same elements from the first example paper (double spacing, heading, page numbers, title, etc.).

Example 3: MLA Paper With Section (Internal) Headings

In this example, you will notice SECTION HEADER and CONCLUSION within the paper itself. These are examples of section (internal) headings that are used in very long papers (longer than this example paper). If you were using these special types of headings, your heading would be a short phrase that introduces the next section of your paper. Most of the time you will not need to use these, but the example is here for your reference.

Video Tutorial

Watch the video below for a step-by-step tutorial on formatting your paper in MLA format using Microsoft Word. This tutorial will start with a blank document and show you how to format every detail necessary.

Remember that headings are optional and are usually reserved for very long papers or if your professor specifically tells you to include them.

To place the headings of each section, a hierarchy is followed that must be distinguished, either by size and/or format.

Size is used to make a title stand out more prominently, while style is used to distinguish sections from one another. You can use, for example, a heading in bold, one or two points larger than the rest of the text. You must ensure that there are at least two headers with the same format or size, not just one.

Likewise, we must also ensure that the order of the size of the headers is in descending order, according to the outline: the main topics are larger than the secondary ones.

For more detailed information about using headings, please look in section 1.5 of the MLA Handbook, 9th Ed.

Templates of MLA format documents are available in Google Docs and Microsoft Word. These may be helpful to you, but you will need to replace all of the information in the template with your own information. It will be easier to just use a blank document.

How To Format Your Works Cited Page

On your works cited page, each citation should be organized alphabetically and double spaced; do not add additional spaces between sources. There is a margin of one half (.5) inch for the second line of the work cited. This is known as a hanging indent. This spacing format is the same for all types of resources.

Hanging indents can be a little tricky to create. See the video below for a quick tutorial on how to make hanging indents in Google Docs. 

Video Tutorial on Creating Hanging Indentation on Works Cited Page