MLA Formatting

Modern Language Association (MLA) provides guidelines on formatting written projects, as well as creating citations when writing. This page is designed to help you with formatting your overall paper, as well as formatting your Works Cited page.

A few basics of overall formatting:

• All fonts should be Times New Roman, size 12
• All margins should equal 1 inch
• Pages include your last name and page number upper right header corner. For directions on inserting your last name and page number:
  • in Microsoft word click here
  • in Google Docs click here

MLA Page One Header (optional- teacher will specify)

Your instructor may require an official MLA header at the top left of your first page. The header will contain a double-spaced list (one item per line) of: your name, your instructor’s name, the course, and the due date (use European format– day month year). Here’s an example:

John Doe

Mr. Teacher

Junior English

15 March 2024

Works Cited Page Overall Formatting

There are two aspects to creating a Works Cited page: the contents of each entry, and the overall formatting.  Here’s info on the overall formatting:

• All Works Cited entries are arranged alphabetically by the first word of the entry
• All Works Cited entries must be double-spaced, no extra space between entries
  • Line Spacing settings for Microsoft Word available here
  • Line Spacing settings for Google Docs available here
• Hanging indent- this is when Works Cited entries that are longer than 1 line are indented for all lines EXCEPT the first. To easily do this first type all of your entries. Then select all of them and follow directions for your computer program:
  • In Microsoft Word press “Control” and the “T” keyboard buttons– or see more directions here
  • In Google Drive go to the “Format” menu, select “Align and Indent”, use “Special” dropdown menu to select “Hanging”– enter: .5 inches and press “Apply”. Click here for visual directions of these steps.

Sample Works Cited page from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) a great resource