MLA Outline

An outline may be required by your instructor. It is not uncommon for an instructor to ask for a "working " outline and bibliography within a short term after choosing the topic. This ensures that you do not procrastinate getting started on the paper. This also gives the instructor the opportunity to provide feedback and make sure you have narrowed organized the direction of the paper. Use the following guidelines if one is required.

• The margins are 1' for the top, bottom, right, and left.

• The line spacing is double with no extra spacing.

• The font is a clear font and size 12. It must match the font of the rest of the paper. Times New Roman is the standard we will follow unless otherwise stated by your instructor.

• The MLA outline header should include the small letter "i" as a page number and your last name is on the left of the page # separated by a space. The video below the PDF samples will show you how to do this with Google docs.

• This page follows the cover page if a cover page is required. Otherwise it will precede the first page of your paper.

With a Cover Page

• There is no need for the heading section or title on the outline page as that information is already on the cover page.

• Center the word title"Outline" at the top of the page.

• Beneath this, left justify the word "Thesis" followed by a colon, a space and then the thesis statement. Note that after the first line of the Thesis, the remainder lines up with the text of the actual thesis. This is done with the left indent of the Google doc ruler as also demonstrated in the video below the PDFs.

• The traditional Roman Numerals, Capital Letters, Arabic Numerals, and Lower Case Letters etc. pattern is used for the outline below the Thesis using the one-half inch tab pattern as shown in the PDF below.

Without a Cover Page

• The header is the same as in the first example.

• The 4 MLA headings (your formal name, instructor(s) name(s), course title, due date) are left justified, one under another, double spaced.

• Center the word title"Outline" beneath the headings.

• Center the title of your paper beneath this.

• Beneath the title, left justify the word "Thesis" followed by a colon, a space and then the thesis statement. Note that after the first line of the Thesis, the remainder lines up with the text of the actual thesis. This is done with the left indent of the Google doc ruler as also demonstrated in the video below the PDFs.

• The traditional Roman Numerals, Capital Letters, Arabic Numerals, and Lower Case Letters etc. pattern is used for the outline below the Thesis using the one-half inch tab pattern as shown in the PDF below.