And that is pretty much it. Everything is centered on your cover page. The school name or university is at the top, and the title in the middle. Your name, course, professor, and due date are toward the bottom. Rather than a cover page, your paper typically has a heading and title on the first page of your work. Your MLA heading and title include your name, instructor, course, and date aligned to the left.
The title is centered before you start the body of your paper. Additionally, each page of your paper has a running header with your name and the page number, including the works cited. In the body of your paper, MLA offers recommendations for you when it comes to fonts, spacing, formatting, numbers, and abbreviations.
When it comes to writing your paper, you need a readable font. And to make sure of that, MLA recommends a font that is easy to read and distinguishes regular and italicized text like Arial or Times New Roman. Additionally, use a standard font size like 11 or 12 point. When it comes to the spacing and formatting of your paper, stick with double spacing throughout the entire body and works cited and make sure your text is left-justified, so the right margin has a ragged edge.
To keep everything neat and tidy, follow the standard punctuation rules for commas and periods. MLA clarifies when to use Arabic and Roman numerals and when to spell out numbers or just use the Arabic form. If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes centered, unformatted.
Formatting the First Page of Your Paper Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested or the paper is assigned as a group project. In the case of a group project, list all names of the contributors, giving each name its own line in the header, followed by the remaining MLA header requirements as described below.
Format the reaminder of the page as requested by the instructor. In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text. Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks. Write the title in Title Case standard capitalization , not in all capital letters.
Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number. This document will show you how to format an essay in MLA style. For the most complete information, check your campus library or writing center for the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 8th ed. Your word processor comes with default settings margin, line height, paragraph spacing, and typeface that will likely need adjustment.
For MLA style, you need:. This part can be tedious and tricky; leave yourself plenty of time to do it. Exactly what goes into each item in your bibliography depends on what kind of item it is. The general format is as follows:. The first table seen in the project is labeled as Table 1. The second table in the project is Table 2, and so on.
Underneath the table, provide the source and any notes. Notes should be labeled with a letter, rather than a numeral, so the reader is able to differentiate between the notes of the text and the notes of the table. The numbers reflect students who are enrolled full-time. The information included above and below any images or table should be double spaced, similar to the rest of the project or paper.
Musical scores need to be labeled as well. This label should be placed below the musical score. The first musical score in the project should be labeled as Ex. The second musical score found in an assignment should be labeled as Ex. If possible, provide a caption after to the label. If the caption below the sheet music includes enough information about the source, it is not necessary to include the full reference at the end of the assignment.
Lists created using MLA essay format look different than a grocery list or any other type of vertical listing of items. Items in a list are included in your prose, rather than the traditional vertical style. Often, you will use a colon between the introductory sentence and the list. But you should not include a colon if the first item in the list is part of the sentence. Here is an example of how a list may look incorporated into the prose of a research project or assignment:.
List Example 2 Here is an example of how a list may look in a research project or assignment when the list is part of the introductory sentence:. The general rule is that works that are self-contained like books, journals, or television shows are formatted in italics. Works that are part of a larger work like articles, chapters, or specific episodes are formatting in quotation marks.
Containers are what hold the source. Our formatter will help you create citations quickly and easily! Need APA, too? There are also EasyBib tools and an APA citation website reference guide to help you learn the basics. Editing and proofreading your assignment prior to submission is an incredibly important step in the research process. Editing involves checking the paper for the following items:.
Smart idea: running your paper through a paper checker before you turn it in. EasyBib Plus offers a checker that scans for grammar errors and unintentional plagiarism. Check out our MLA sample papers. Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.
You can find her here on Twitter. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing. The works-cited list provides the reader full information so that a reader can locate the source for further use. Write the running head in the top right of the page at 0. Entries should be double-spaced, including a double-space between the heading and the first entry.
If any entry runs over more than a line, indent the subsequent line s 0. Do not bold, italicize, or underline the title. Double-space all entries. Begin each entry flush with the left margin. If any entry runs over more than one line, indent the subsequent line s 0. Damasio, Antonio. Vintage, Hill, R. MacDonald, Shauna M. Zilio, M. An in-text citation is a short citation that is placed in the text.
It is styled in two ways: a citation in prose or a parenthetical citation. The publication year is not required in in-text citations. Sometimes, page numbers or line numbers are also included, especially when directly quoting text from the source being cited. Sometimes they include a page number or other locator. An example of a parenthetical citation is given below:. If you want to cite a chapter number, a scene, or a line number, follow the abbreviation guidelines below:.
Here are a few examples of in-text citations for sources with different numbers or types of authors:. Use only the surname of the author in parenthetical citations.
Shorten the organization name wherever possible, excluding any initial articles and using the shortest noun phrase e. When you add such in-text citations, italicize the text of the title. If the source title is longer than a noun phrase, use a shortened version of the title. Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.
Get Started. Certain features require a modern browser to function. Please use a different browser, like Firefox , Chrome , or Safari. Make 1 inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides. The first word in every paragraph should be indented one half inch.
Indent set-off or block quotations one half inch from the left margin. Use any type of font that is easy to read, such as Times New Roman. Make sure that italics look different from the regular typeface. Use point size. Double space the entire research paper, even the Works Cited page. Leave one space after periods and other punctuation marks, unless your instructor tells you to leave two spaces.
To create a header for your first page, follow these steps: Begin one inch from the top of the first page and flush with the left margin.
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