Basics of Formatting

MLA style has a few essential rules for how your paper should look.

One-inch margins all the way around the edges of your paper.
Your papers will be double-spaced throughout your essay.
Align the text of your essay against the left margin. The exception for MLA format is the essay title and the "Works Cited" heading on the page of works cited.
Indent your paragraphs a half inch from the margin with the "tab" key.
A clear, readable font. Acceptable examples include 11-point Calibri, 11-point Ariel, or 12-point Times New Roman.

MLA Heading

MLA format requires a specific heading followed by a centered title. A cover page is typically not required:

Your name

Professor's name

Course

Date

Title

Begin the first paragraph of your introduction here. . . .

This standard heading is typically used for all student essays and research papers regardless of content. Page numbers are inserted into the top-left corner of your page using your word processing program like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. You can typically access them by clicking "Insert" on the top menu and then clicking "Page Numbers," or you can sometimes find a button for them in the top menu itself depending on the size of the window you have open. Include your last name before the page number with a space between the name and number. The beginning of the essay should look like this:

MLA first page with text-box descriptions

Titles

Titles should be original and give an indication of your paper's subject and focus; the title of the assignment that you are completing should not be used as the title of your essay or research paper (i.e. Rhetorical Evaluation Essay). MLA format has specific rules for capitalizing titles that are the same whether it is the title of the paper you are writing or the title of a work that you are citing. The first word, last word, and all principal words should be capitalized. Below is a list of words that wouldn't be capitalized in a title:

prepositions - these are words that show relationships in location, time, place, and direction, and they can also be used to introduce an object. Common prepositions include "of," "in," "on," "to," "against," "according to," "below," "between," and "at."
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
coordinating conjunctions - these connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal or similar importance within a sentence. The coordinating conjunctions are "for," "and," "nor," "but," "or," "yet," and "so," often listed together in the mnemonic device FANBOYS.
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, "A Judge Blocks Limits on Asylum at US-Mexico Border but Gives Biden Administration Time to Appeal" by Rebecca Santana.
the "to" in infinitives - infinitives are the most basic forms of verbs in which the verb is not tied to a subject (i.e. "to eat" instead of "he eats"). They are more easily recognized in Romance languages like Spanish ("cocinar" - "to cook," "correr" - "to run").
- How to Raise Monarch Butterflies by Carol Pasternak
articles - articles are words that set up and determine a noun. In English, articles are limited to the words "a," "an," and "the."
- "Georgia Ports Had Their 2nd-Busiest Year Despite a Decline in Retail Cargo" by Russ Bynum, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.

Do capitalize the first word of a subtitle (i.e. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology by Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein). More information on how and when to cite titles can be found in our MLA In-Text Citation and MLA Works Cited Page style guides.