Overall Structure of an MLA Paper

Your MLA paper should include the following basic elements:

1. Body
2. Works Cited

General MLA Formatting Rules

• Font: Your paper should be written in 12-point text. Whichever font you choose, MLA requires that regular and italicized text be easily distinguishable from each other. Times and Times New Roman are often recommended. Avoid fonts that make a noticeable difference to the number of words on a page. Your instructor has graded thousands of student essays and can tell immediately when a student has written four pages but then changed the Times font to a larger one so that the essay squeaks onto the fifth page. It’s not a good look.
• Line Spacing: All text in your paper should be double-spaced. That includes the biographical details of your name and class and date, the title, all block quotations, and the entire Works Cited page. Really. Everything is double-spaced. See comment above for how easy it is for your instructor to tell that you have adjusted line spacing in any section. Word typically defaults to an “add space after paragraph” setting that you’ll need to deselect if you can see that you create extra white space when you hit the “return” key.
• Margins: All page margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be set at one inch. All text should be left-justified except for the title, which is centered. The default page layout on most word processing programs works fine.
• Indentation: The first line of every paragraph should be indented 0.5 inches. Don’t skip a line between paragraphs or before and/or after quotations. Word typically defaults to an “add space after paragraph” setting that you’ll need to deselect.
• Page Numbers: Create a right-justified header 0.5 inches from the top edge of every page. Note that a header is separate from the main page: you can see the “header and footer” under the “View” tab on your document. This header should include your last name, followed by a space and the page number. Your pages should be numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) and should start with the number 1 on your title page. Most word-processing programs have the ability to automatically add the correct page number to each page so you don’t have to do this by hand.
• Use of Italics: In MLA style, you should italicize (rather than underline) the titles of books, plays, or other standalone works. You should also italicize (rather than underline) words or phrases you want to lend particular emphasis—though you should do this rarely.
• Sentence Spacing: Include just one single space after a period before the next sentence, as in this example from William Deresiewicz’s Excellent Sheep: “Status is a funny thing. Money gets you stuff, at least. Status doesn’t get you much except the knowledge that you have it” (113).
• The first page: Like the rest of your paper, everything on your first page should be double-spaced. The following information should be left-justified in regular font at the top of the first page (in the main part of the page, not the header):
  • on the first line, your first and last name (helpful hint: use your preferred first name if that’s how the instructor knows you)
  • on the second line, your instructor’s name (helpful hint: use your instructor’s preferred name, which often includes an honorific like “Dr.” or “Professor”)
  • on the third line, the name of the class
  • on the fourth line, the date
• The title: After the header, the next double-spaced line should include the title of your paper. This should be centered, and it should not be bolded, underlined, or italicized (unless it includes the name of a book, in which case just the book title should be italicized). All significant words are capitalized: the first word, the last word, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions. Unless they are the first or last word of a title, do not capitalize articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, or the “to” in the infinitive construction of a verb, e.g. “Locke’s Capacity Contract: How to Construct Idiocy.” It can be difficult to resist the urge to use typography to signal that your title is significant, or witty, or simply not part of the body of your essay, but we’re confident that you can control that urge. On the topic of titles, note that the title of your essay is not the name of the assignment. Don’t call your essay “Assignment 1 on Global Contemporary Art.” Come up with a title that describes your individual response to the assignment prompt, not the assignment prompt itself.
• The Oxford Comma: The Oxford comma (also called the serial comma) is the comma that comes after the second-to-last item in a series or list. For example: “The UK includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.” In the previous sentence, the comma immediately after “Wales” is the Oxford comma. In general writing conventions, whether the Oxford comma should be used is actually a point of fervent debate among passionate grammarians. However, it’s a requirement in MLA style, so double-check all your lists and series to make sure you include it!