The following guidelines are consistent with advice given in the MLA Handbook, 8th edition (2016), and with typical requirements for student papers.
If your instructor does not require a specific font, choose one that is standard and easy to read (such as Times New Roman).
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.
Sample MLA first page
If your instructor requires a title page, ask for formatting guidelines. A format similar to this one may be acceptable.
Put the page number preceded by your last name in the upper right corner of each page (including the first), one-half inch below the top edge. Use arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, and so on).
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.
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 the word is first or last in 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.
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 quotation or a well-known expression or principle.
Italicize the titles of books, journals, magazines, and other long works, such as websites. Use quotation marks around the titles of articles, short stories, poems, and other short works.
When a quotation is longer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of poetry, set it off from the text by indenting the entire quotation one-half inch from the left margin (block indent). Double-space the indented quotation and do not add extra space above or below it.
Do not use quotation marks when a quotation has been set off from the text by indenting.
Sample indented (block) quotation
When you need to break a URL at the end of a line in the text of your paper, break it before a period or a hyphen or after any other mark of punctuation and do not insert a hyphen. See also URLs in the works cited list.
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.
Sample headings in an MLA paper
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; do not italicize the label and caption or place them in quotation marks. Place the label and caption on separate lines above the table, flush with the left margin. When referring to a table in your paper, use the word “table” all lowercase and the number: “See table 2.”
For a table that you have borrowed or adapted, give the source below the table in a note like the following:
Source: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind, “Leadership Is a Conversation,” Harvard Business Review, June 2012, p. 83.
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.
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.
Sample visual in an MLA paper
Harba, “What’s for Dinner? Personal Choices vs. Public Health”
Directory to sample student writing in MLA style