MLA Checklist

  • Is the heading in the upper left-hand corner of the first page?
  • Does the heading include:
    • Your name?
    • Your instructor’s name?
    • The course name?
    • The date?
  • Does the paper have an original title (other than something like “Final Paper”)?
    • Is the title presented without being bolded, italicized, or placed in quotation marks
  • Does the paper have 1” margins on all sides?
  • Is the paper written in Times New Roman (or another standard font your professor allows) and in 12-pt. font?
  • Is everything double-spaced (including any notes and the works cited page)?
  • Are your last name and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page (0.5″ from the top, or inserted using the “header” function in Word)?
  • If you’ve used outside sources, do you have a works cited page?  Is it titled “Works Cited” (without the quotation marks)?  Does it have a page number (that follows the last page of your paper) and your last name?
  • Are the entries in your list of works cited in alphabetical order by the author’s last name?
  • Are all sources properly cited?
    • Does each source have an entry on the works cited page?
    • Are all direct quotes in quotation marks?
    • Do all paraphrases and summaries clearly indicate that they come from other sources?
    • Does each in-text reference include a parenthetical citation that includes the author’s last name (unless it is obvious from the context of the sentence who you are referencing) and the page number from which the information was taken?
    • If a quotation is 4 lines or more, is it block-quoted? (i.e. double-spaced, indented 1 inch from the left margin)
    • Have you clearly indicated where you found all information you did not previously know?
    • Does your works cited page conform to MLA format?