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
MLA Page One Header
Your instructor may want an official MLA header at the top of your first page. Here’s an example with Microsoft Word settings instructions included.
If your instructor asks that you remove your last name and page number from the first page of your paper, scroll to the bottom of this page for instructions.
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 must be double-spaced, no extra space between entries
- In Microsoft Work check the “Spacing” setting in the “Format Paragraph” settings. Both “Before” and “After” must be manually set to ZERO not Auto
- All Works Cited entries are arranged alphabetically by the first word of the entry
- Hanging indent- AFTER you type up ALL of your entries select ALL your text, then press “Control” and the “T” keyboard buttons and Word will add hanging indents
Sample Works Cited page from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) a great resource
Space settings for Microsoft Word:
Remove Name & Pg. # from first page of paper
If your instructor does not want the name/page number to appear on the first page of your paper follow these directions for changing your settings in Microsoft Word on a PC. Scroll further below for instructions using Microsoft Word for Mac computers.
Remove name/pg # from first page: Word for Mac
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