Formatting the paper
Papers written in MLA style should be formatted as follows.
Materials and font Use good-quality 8½″ × 11″ white paper. If your instructor does not require a specific font, choose one that is standard and easy to read (such as Times New Roman).
Title and identification MLA does not require a title page. On the first page of your paper, place your name, your instructor’s name, the course title, and the date on separate lines against the left margin. Then center your title. (See a sample first page.)
If your instructor requires a title page, ask for formatting guidelines. A sample similar to this one may be acceptable.
Pagination Put the page number preceded by your last name in the upper right corner of each page, one-half inch below the top edge. Use arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, and so on).
Margins, line spacing, and paragraph indents Leave margins of one inch on all sides of the page. Left-align the text.
Double-space throughout the paper. Do not add extra space above or below the title of the paper or between paragraphs.
Indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch from the left margin.
Capitalization and italics In titles of works, capitalize all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (to, from, between, and so on), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and the to in infinitives —unless they are the first or last word of the title or subtitle. Follow these guidelines in your paper even if the title appears in all capital or all lowercase letters in the source.
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In the text of an MLA paper, when a complete sentence follows a colon, lowercase the first word following the colon unless the sentence is a direct quotation or a well-known expression or principle. (See the examples in item 1 in MLA-4a.)
Italicize the titles of books, periodicals, and other long works, such as Web sites. Use quotation marks around the titles of periodical articles, short stories, poems, and other short works. (If your instructor prefers underlining, use it consistently in place of italics.)
Long quotations When a quotation is longer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse, set it off from the text by indenting the entire quotation one inch from the left margin. Double-space the indented quotation, and do not add extra space above or below it.
Quotation marks are not needed when a quotation has been set off from the text by indenting. See an example.
URLs (Web addresses) When you need to break a URL at the end of a line in the text of your paper, break it only after a slash and do not insert a hyphen. See MLA rules on dividing URLs in your list of works cited.
Headings MLA neither encourages nor discourages the use of headings and provides no guidelines for their use. If you would like to insert headings in a long essay or research paper, check first with your instructor.
Visuals MLA classifies visuals as tables and figures (figures include graphs, charts, maps, photographs, and drawings). Label each table with an arabic numeral (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on) and provide a clear caption that identifies the subject. Capitalize the caption as you would a title (see P8-c); do not italicize the label and caption or place them in quotation marks. The label and caption should appear on separate lines above the table, flush with the left margin.
For a table that you have borrowed or adapted, give the source below the table in a note like the following:
Source: David N. Greenfield and Richard A. Davis; “Lost in Cyberspace: The Web @ Work”; CyberPsychology and Behavior 5.4 (2002): 349; print.
For each figure, place the figure number (using the abbreviation “Fig.”) and a caption below the figure, flush left. Capitalize the caption as you would a sentence; include source information following the caption. (When referring to the figure in your paper, use the abbreviation “fig.” in parenthetical citations; otherwise spell out the word.) See an example of a figure in a paper.
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Place visuals in the text, as close as possible to the sentences that relate to them, unless your instructor prefers that visuals appear in an appendix.
Preparing the list of works cited
Begin the list of works cited on a new page at the end of the paper. Center the title “Works Cited” about one inch from the top of the page. Double-space throughout. See a sample list of works cited.
Alphabetizing the list Alphabetize the list by the last names of the authors (or editors); if a work has no author or editor, alphabetize by the first word of the title other than A, An, or The.
If your list includes two or more works by the same author, use the author’s name for the first entry only. For subsequent entries, use three hyphens followed by a period. List the titles in alphabetical order. (See item 6 in MLA-4b.)
Indenting Do not indent the first line of each works cited entry, but indent any additional lines one-half inch. This technique highlights the beginning of each entry, making it easy for readers to scan the alphabetized list. See an example.
URLs (Web addresses) If you need to include a URL in a works cited entry and it must be divided across lines, break the URL only after a slash. Do not insert a hyphen at the end of the line. Insert angle brackets around the URL. (See the note following item 34 in MLA-4b.) If your word processing program automatically turns URLs into links (by underlining them and changing the color), turn off this feature.