{"id":216,"date":"2017-07-20T16:31:17","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T16:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-styleguide2\/chapter\/mla-document-formatting\/"},"modified":"2017-07-20T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T16:31:17","slug":"mla-document-formatting","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-styleguide2\/chapter\/mla-document-formatting\/","title":{"raw":"MLA Document Formatting","rendered":"MLA Document Formatting"},"content":{"raw":"<h2>Overall Structure of an MLA Paper<\/h2>\nYour MLA paper should include the following basic elements:\n<ol><li>Body<\/li>\n \t<li>Works Cited<\/li>\n<\/ol><div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Sample Paper<\/h3>\nVisit the <a href=\"https:\/\/style.mla.org\/files\/2016\/03\/mla-sample-paper-first-year.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Modern Language Association website<\/a> to see an example of a student paper following MLA guidelines.\n\n<\/div>\n<h2>General MLA Formatting Rules<\/h2>\n<ul><li><strong>Font<\/strong>:\u00a0Your 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.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Line Spacing<\/strong>:\u00a0All text in your paper should be double-spaced.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Margins<\/strong>:\u00a0All page margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be 1 inch. All text should be left-justified.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Indentation<\/strong>:\u00a0The first line of every paragraph should be indented 0.5 inches.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Page Numbers<\/strong>:\u00a0Create a right-justified header 0.5 inches from the top edge of every page. 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\u2026) 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\u2019t have to do this by hand.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Use of Italics:<\/strong>\u00a0In 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\u2014though you should do this rarely.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Sentence Spacing<\/strong>: Include just one single space\u00a0after a period before the next sentence:\u00a0\"Mary went to the store. She bought some milk. Then she went home.\"<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>The first page:<\/strong> Like the rest of your paper, everything on your first page, even the headers, should be double-spaced.\u00a0The 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):\n<ul><li>on the first line, your first and last name<\/li>\n \t<li>on the second line, your instructor's name<\/li>\n \t<li>on the third line, the name of the class<\/li>\n \t<li>on the fourth line, the date<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/li>\n \t<li><strong>The title:<\/strong>\u00a0After the header, the next\u00a0double-spaced line should include\u00a0the title of your paper. This should be centered and in title case, 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).<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>The Oxford Comma:\u00a0<\/strong>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:\u00a0<em data-id=\"fusible_text_tag_7moq9pyxr\">The UK includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.\u00a0<\/em>In the previous\u00a0sentence, the comma immediately after \"Wales\" is the Oxford comma.\u00a0In 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!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\u00a0\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>MLA Formatting<\/h3>\nWatch this video to review all of the basic formatting recommendations:\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/4edLWc-elyQ?t=58s\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/31680\"\/>","rendered":"<h2>Overall Structure of an MLA Paper<\/h2>\n<p>Your MLA paper should include the following basic elements:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Body<\/li>\n<li>Works Cited<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Sample Paper<\/h3>\n<p>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/style.mla.org\/files\/2016\/03\/mla-sample-paper-first-year.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Modern Language Association website<\/a> to see an example of a student paper following MLA guidelines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>General MLA Formatting Rules<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Font<\/strong>:\u00a0Your 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.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Line Spacing<\/strong>:\u00a0All text in your paper should be double-spaced.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Margins<\/strong>:\u00a0All page margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be 1 inch. All text should be left-justified.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Indentation<\/strong>:\u00a0The first line of every paragraph should be indented 0.5 inches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Page Numbers<\/strong>:\u00a0Create a right-justified header 0.5 inches from the top edge of every page. 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\u2026) 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\u2019t have to do this by hand.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use of Italics:<\/strong>\u00a0In 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\u2014though you should do this rarely.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sentence Spacing<\/strong>: Include just one single space\u00a0after a period before the next sentence:\u00a0&#8220;Mary went to the store. She bought some milk. Then she went home.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>The first page:<\/strong> Like the rest of your paper, everything on your first page, even the headers, should be double-spaced.\u00a0The 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):\n<ul>\n<li>on the first line, your first and last name<\/li>\n<li>on the second line, your instructor&#8217;s name<\/li>\n<li>on the third line, the name of the class<\/li>\n<li>on the fourth line, the date<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The title:<\/strong>\u00a0After the header, the next\u00a0double-spaced line should include\u00a0the title of your paper. This should be centered and in title case, 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).<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Oxford Comma:\u00a0<\/strong>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:\u00a0<em data-id=\"fusible_text_tag_7moq9pyxr\">The UK includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.\u00a0<\/em>In the previous\u00a0sentence, the comma immediately after &#8220;Wales&#8221; is the Oxford comma.\u00a0In general writing conventions, whether the Oxford comma should be used is actually a point of fervent debate among passionate grammarians. However, it&#8217;s a requirement in MLA style, so double-check all your lists and series to make sure you include it!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>MLA Formatting<\/h3>\n<p>Watch this video to review all of the basic formatting recommendations:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"How to Format Your Paper in MLA Style\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4edLWc-elyQ?start=58&#38;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/31680\"><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-216\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revision and Adaptation. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Overall Structure and Formatting of an MLA Paper. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Boundless. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/writing\/textbooks\/boundless-writing-textbook\/writing-a-paper-in-mla-style-humanities-255\/introduction-to-mla-style-299\/overall-structure-and-formatting-of-an-mla-paper-301-16889\/\">https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/writing\/textbooks\/boundless-writing-textbook\/writing-a-paper-in-mla-style-humanities-255\/introduction-to-mla-style-299\/overall-structure-and-formatting-of-an-mla-paper-301-16889\/<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Boundless Writing. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>How to Format Your Paper in MLA Style. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Memorial University Libraries. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4edLWc-elyQ?t=58s\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/4edLWc-elyQ?t=58s<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>MLA: The Works Cited Section. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Boundless. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/writing\/textbooks\/boundless-writing-textbook\/writing-a-paper-in-mla-style-humanities-255\/mla-citations-and-references-303\/mla-the-works-cited-section-319-16905\/\">https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/writing\/textbooks\/boundless-writing-textbook\/writing-a-paper-in-mla-style-humanities-255\/mla-citations-and-references-303\/mla-the-works-cited-section-319-16905\/<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Boundless Writing. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Overall Structure and Formatting of an MLA Paper\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Boundless\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/writing\/textbooks\/boundless-writing-textbook\/writing-a-paper-in-mla-style-humanities-255\/introduction-to-mla-style-299\/overall-structure-and-formatting-of-an-mla-paper-301-16889\/\",\"project\":\"Boundless Writing\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"How to Format Your Paper in MLA Style\",\"author\":\"Memorial University Libraries\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4edLWc-elyQ?t=58s\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and Adaptation\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen 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