Follow these steps in this order to set up your paper to follow MLA guidelines.
1. Open MS Word. SAVE the document. Make sure when you save the document, you leave no spaces in the name and include the extension .doc or .docx after it.
For Example: Callofwild.docx not Call of the wild .doc
2. Do not make a title page.
3. Double-space your entire your paper.
4. Use the font: Times New Roman. Use the size: 12 pt.
5. Set the top, bottom, left, and right margins of your document to be 1 inch. Set the Header Margin to .5 .
6. Header: Put your last name in the top right corner and select automatic page numbering
7. On the left side, place….
First and Last Name
Teacher’s Name
Class Name
Date
8. Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin.
9. Center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in “quotation marks”; put the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters; do not capitalize prepositions or the articles (a, an, the) unless they are the first word in the title.
10 . Begin typing. Do not double space between paragraphs.
Works Cited Page
1. 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 last name, page number, and header as the rest of your paper.
2. Title the page, Works Cited, (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words, Works Cited, at the top of the page.
3. Double space all citations but do not skip spaces between entries.
4. Use Hanging Indentations: Indent the second and subsequent lines of each citation.
