Quick Check for MLA paper formatting:
1. Font: Times New Roman
2. Font Size: 12
3. Margins: 1” all the way around
 |
Go to “FILE” on the toolbar and choose “PAGE SETUP” |
|
Make sure the TOP, LEFT, BOTTOM and RIGHT boxes for margins are all 1”, don’t worry about the gutter, you don’t have to do anything with that. |
|
Click “OK” |
4. Spacing: Double all the time.
|
Go to “FORMAT” on the toolbar at the top |
|
Choose “PARAGRAPH” |
|
“LINE SPACING” is in the middle. Choose “DOUBLE” |
|
Click “OK” |
5. Set up your header. This puts your last name and the page number automatically at the top of each page. DO NOT put your heading in the header!
|
Go to “VIEW” on the toolbar at the top |
|
Choose “HEADER AND FOOTER” (You might have to click on the little arrows at the bottom of the drop down menu if you can’t see “Header and Footer”) |
|
BEFORE you type your last
name, click on |
|
On the little pop up menu that is
now in the middle of the screen, click on the little page with only one big
number sign |
6. You are now ready to type your heading, this will be on the left hand side of your page:
Your Name: John Doe
Teacher’s Name: Spinks
Course Name – Period: English II – 5
Date: September 26, 2006 (NO abbreviations)
7. Center your
title. Click the Center 
,
type your title then hit “Enter”. Now, align left, .
REMEMBER: You do not bold or
italicize or underline or alter the title of your paper in any way whatsoever!
The only time you need to alter the appearance of anything in your document is
if it is the title of a work of literature you are quoting.
8. Indent each paragraph. To do this hit “TAB” once. You don’t have to hit enter at the end of each line, just type and it will automatically do it for you. You will hit enter once at the end of each paragraph, the double spacing is already done for you.
and
then click “close”