MLA Essay Formatting

Plan to have essays printed and stapled prior to class beginning.  Because printers tend to run out of ink/paper inconveniently on the night before a paper is due, purchase a back-up cartridge and ream of paper to keep in your desk drawer. Otherwise, Kinko’s is open all night every night. As a final resort, email me your paper.

For essays done outside of class, follow the guidelines in chapter 4 of The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition unless instructed otherwise. Note specifically sections 4.1-4.4.  Or, go to www.mla.org and find their style center for "Formatting a Research Paper."  The guidelines are as follows:

Your papers should be word-processed. Do not alter your margins from the 1" default they are likely already set to.

Type in Times New Roman font (a serif style font) in 12-point size. 

Double-space your work (except for DTR or when instructed).

Do not create a title page. Instead, type your name, my name, the course, and the date in the upper-left of the first page, double-spaced. Center your title after that, and then begin your essay. See the MLA Handbook or website for an example.

Type your last name and page number in the upper right corner in a header. You will most likely find the "header" option in the "view" or "edit" menu of your word processor, or simply double click in the space above the first line of a page. Use the "paginate" function rather than typing a "1" for the page number or else every page will be numbered "1."

Use clean, white paper and only black ink. Print on only one side of the paper.