Set up your Word document to 1-inch margins around the entire page.
Select a serif font, such as Times New Roman or Cambria. These fonts have lines at the bottom of their letters allowing readers to easily keep on the same line of text without skipping. Keep the font size between 10 and 12.
Make the lines double spaced. To do this, click on Format on the toolbar, then Paragraph and then where it says "line spacing" click the drop down and select double.
Create a header. To do this click View on the toolbar, then click on Header/Footer. A box will appear above the body of the text and you will only be able to write in the header or footer box. You will then align the text to the right and write your last name in the top right. You will also need page numbers. To insert page numbers, click on Insert, and then page numbers and select top right. Then close out of the header.
Write your name and ensure the text is aligned to the left for your body. Then press enter and type the class (ie. English 101). Then press enter and type your professor's name. Press enter again and add the due date in international form (date month year). Your beginning should look like this.
Joe Smith
ENG 101
Dr. Bowlin
21 October 2010
Write a section header each time you engage in a new subtopic. Here are how the various levels should look.
Level 1: Bold, align left
Level 2: Italicized, align left
Level 3: Bold, centered
Level 4: Italicized, centered
Write your in-text citations at the end of the sentence. The only information you need is the author's name and page number. The citation will look like this "The Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Weber, 4).
Create a new page for the works cited page.
Center the text and write "Works Cited" at the top without changing the font or bolding the text.
Make the line spacing for this page single by going to Format, paragraph, click the drop bar on line spacing and click on single.
Set up the page so the first line is flushed all the way to the left. References that are longer than one line will have the additional lines indented. Each reference will be separated by one single space (hit enter twice).
Write the citation for books in format as follows: Author's last name, first. Book name (italicized). Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication.
Write the citation for journal articles in the format as follows: Author's last name, first. "Title of Article." Title of journal (italicized) Volume.Issue (Year printed): Page numbers.
Write the citation for websites in the format as follows: Author. Name of website (italicized). Version of article. Sponsor of website (University, High School, etc). Medium the article was originally published. Date of Access.
MLA does not require URLs as the URLs frequently change.