Everything You Need To Know About MLA Format
General Format:
8.5 x 11 inch paper
Double spaced
Times New Roman font
12 pt font
Only one space after each period
1 inch margins on all sides
Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch
Use a header that includes your last name and page number in the top right hand corner
The First Page:
In the upper left hand corner:
Your Name
Your Instructor’s Name
The Class Title
The Date (Day Month Year)
The title of your paper should be one double-space down and should not be bolded, italicized, or underlined
The beginning of your paper should start one double-space down from the title with the first line indented by half an inch
What to Italicize and Quote:
Book titles are italicized
Play titles are italicized
Poem titles have quotation marks
Article titles have quotation marks
Chapter titles have quotation marks
In-Text Citations:
When you know the author’s last name
(Last Name Page Number) or
(Last Name Paragraph or Line Number)
When you don’t know the author’s last name
(Book Title Page Number)
(Article Title Page Number)
Remember to italicize the book titles and put the article titles in quotation marks
Works Cited Page:
Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one inch margins and header as the rest of your paper
Label the page “Works Cited” (do not italicize or put in quotations) on the top of the page and center it
Double space all citations but do not skip spaces between entries
Indent the second line of a citation by half an inch
List sources in alphabetical order
If the source has more than one author, the first given name appears in last name, first name format and the following authors appear in last name, first name format separated by commas. The last author’s name should be preceded by an “and”
Citing Print Sources:
Book or Poem:
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book or Poem. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print.
Magazine or Newspaper Article:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Print.
Journal Article:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Print.
Citing Web Sources:
Whole Website:
Name of Site. Sponsor or Publisher, date of resource creation. Web. Date of access.
Web Page or Web Article:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Sponsor of Publisher, date of resource creation. Web. Date of access.
Online Journal Article:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Web. Date of access.
Note: Don’t forget to indent the second line in the citation. I did not indent the examples because the indents on tumblr mobile and tumblr desktop differ starkly and I figured this was probably the less confusing way to write the information needed for a citation (trust me)
Unknown Information in Citations:
If the author is unknown, begin citation with the title
If the publisher is unknown, write “n.p.” in its place (no quotation marks)
If the publishing date is unknown, write “n.d.” in its place (no quotation marks)
I hope this guide is as useful for me as it it for you!
I’ve been using MLA for 10 years and this was still helpful, THANK YOU
