Citation+Help

Guide to Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format

All formal assignments must be prepared in MLA format. Professors in your other classes may require MLA, or they may require another format. If you already know that your major requires APA or another format, let me know know so that you may submit work in and learn in that format instead.

The Modern Language Association publishes //The MLA Handbook for Writers or Researchers //  for use in writing and documenting research. It is a fairly complex and comprehensive publication. Instead of purchasing the MLA Handbook, you were asked to purchase //The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook, //which addresses the most common MLA citation issues, as well as questions of grammar and style.



Assignments prepared in MLA must have: MLA Style Margin, Line Spacing, and Font Settings First Page Heading Title Header with Last Name and Page Number in Upper Right Hand Corner Parenthetical Page Citations for Each Outside Source List of Works Cited

Below you will find standard MLA formatting procedure for each of these items and hints on how to set the newest version of Microsoft Word for each. You can also view an example of MLA format. 


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MLA Style Margin, Line Spacing, and Font Settings **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MLA style requires you to have one-inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides of your paper. That means that there is one inch of space between the text and the edge of the paper. In the most recent version of Microsoft Word, the default margin is 1.0”.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Check or change document margins by clicking the PAGE LAYOUT tab and then the MARGIN option.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MLA style also requires all papers to be double-spaced. To set spacing, click the HOME tab and look in the PARAGRAPH drop down menu. Be sure to check the box that reads, //Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style//.



<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">All spacing should be double-spaced, including the space between the first page heading items, between the title and the first paragraph, and between paragraphs.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MLA format specifies a readable, 12-point font. For this class, the requirement is Times New Roman.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">First Page Heading **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Don’t submit a title page unless you are asked to do so.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first page should have a heading in the upper left-hand corner that provides the following identifying information in this order:

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Your full name <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The instructor’s name <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The class title and section number <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The date that the paper is DUE

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">These lines should be double-spaced. See the <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">example of MLA format.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Title **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The title should be in 12-point type, not in a larger font. It should also be in normal text; do not use boldface, italics, underlining, quotation marks or other effects for the title.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">According to Kennedy and Kennedy, "your title should indicate your perspective and, if possible, capture the spirit of the issue you are addressing" (100).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">If including the title of another work in the title of your paper, follow proper format for that title (i.e., italicize if it is a full length work; use quotation marks if it is an essay or short work). The title should be one double-space below the last line of the heading. The first line of the essay begins one double-space below the title.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Header **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A header is a line of text that appears on every page. In MLA format, a header with your name and the page number should appear at the top of every page, including the first.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To create a header, select the INSERT tab and choose HEADER. Select the BLANK option and type your last name and a space. Select PAGE NUMBER, then CURRENT POSITION, and then PLAIN NUMBER. And page number in the current position. Highlight the name and change the font to Times New Roman, then CONTROL + R to right-justify the header.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Parenthetical Page Citations **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">__Every__ outside source--whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, must be integrated grammatically and smoothly into your writing and followed by a parenthetical (or in-text) page citation, according to MLA guidelines. The page number (alone, without "#" or "p." or "page") should appear either directly after the quotation or at the end of the sentence.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[|The Basics of MLA Parenthetical or In-text Citations]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">List of Works Cited **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">The Works Cited page appears on the last page of any work that contains information attributable to an outside source, whether quoted, paraphrased or summarized. On it, you construct an entry for each source and list them in alphabetical order by the author's last name.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Title the page "Works Cited." <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The title should be in 12-point type, not in a larger font. It should also be in normal text; do not use boldface, italics, underlining, quotation marks or other effects for the title.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The first line of the first citation begins one double-space below the title. The citations are also double spaced; do not quadruple space between citations. Each citation has a hanging indent, which means that the first line of the citation is flush with the left margin; consecutive lines of the same citation are [|indented].

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">[|MLA Works Cited Page Basic Format].

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">UCA Writing Center Links:
 * [|MLA Basics]
 * [|MLA In-Text Citations]

//Adapted from the Harvard-Westlake English Dept. Guide to Using MLA Format.// Related: How to cite images in MLA format at the OWL at Purdue and citation generators found on the @Tools page of the Wiki.
 * MLA Works Cited Models
 * MLA Style Template for Word 2010

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16.363636016845703px;">Assignments prepared in MLA must have: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MLA Style Margin, Line Spacing, and Font Settings

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">First Page Heading

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Title

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Header with Last Name and Page Number in Upper Right Hand Corner

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Parenthetical Page Citations for Each Outside <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Source <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">List of Works Cited

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A Note about Epigraphs (from Harvard-Westlake School):

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The MLA Handbook lists no specific formatting instructions for an epigraph (a quotation used before an introduction). Most students adapt the rules for indented quotations. Thus, the epigraph should be placed one double-space below your title. It should be indented on both sides one inch further than your regular margin (i.e., two inches from the edge of the paper), and, in the interest of not taking up a disproportionate amount of space, your epigraph should be single-spaced. The author’s name should appear below it, on the right side of the text. **Don’t forget to include your source in the list of works cited**. An example of a first page with an epigraph.