How to Format Your MLA Paper in Microsoft Word

Step #1: Setting Up Your Margins Your paper needs to have 1” margins Go to Page Layout Tab Click on Margins Select Normal (everything needs to say 1”-Top, Bottom, Left, Right)

Step #2: Font Type and Size The standard font for an MLA paper is Times New Roman and font size 12

Step #3: Spacing Your Paper Your paper needs to be double spaced You want to set your paper this way from the beginning so it will automatically do it for you as you type Click arrow next to Paragraph Under spacing make sure the Before and After columns are set at 0pt. Under line spacing, change it to Double

Step #4: Page Numbering Click on Insert Look for Header and Footer, locate Page Number, and select Top of Page Select the 3rd box which says Plain Number and has the number in the upper right hand side BEFORE the number type your Last Name and leave ONE space after it before the number Click “Close Header and Footer” to exit

Step #5: Header Header starts at left hand margin Type in the following order: First and Last Name Your Teacher’s Name Name of Class (U.S. History 3) Date: (day month year)-no commas

Step #6: Adding a Title 1. Title needs to be centered 2. Title needs to be in Times New Roman and size 12 Font 3. DO NOT underline or make your title bold 4. Title needs to connect to your paper

Step #7: Indent Paragraphs Indent the first line of each new paragraph Tab should be set at ½ inch

Step #8-Works Cited Page The Works Cited page is the LAST page of your paper and contains all of your sources Please write Works Cited in the center of your paper. Do Not make those words bold or underline them List the citations in alphabetical order by the first letter of the citation no matter what it is (name, book. etc.) You want to set your Works Cited page in Hanging Indent Format. Go to: Page Layout-Paragraph-Special-Hanging Indent Format (see example next slide) *Make sure you are on the actual Works Cited page when doing this* If you don’t want to actually set it to Hanging Indent Format, make sure your first line starts at the left margin and each line after that is indented

Step #8: Creating Works Cited (cont.) Example of setting Hanging Indent

Step #9: Creating Citations Using Databases makes it easy to create citations because they do it for you. After the citation is created, just click copy and paste and it will copy the citation for you. Please note: you want to verify that spacing, font, font size, etc. is correct Purdue Owl MLA Guide-https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ so many things can be cited nowadays so this is a great resource to use to verify the information Easybib-http://www.easybib.com/ (once again you want to verify that everything is accurate)

Works Cited Page Example