How to Put Notes in MLA Form

When writing a scholarly article or anything for the academic community, it is important to keep track of the format that the work is expected to follow. One of the most common academic formats in use is that of the Modern Language Association (MLA). Though MLA style advocates a conservative approach to the inclusion of out-of-text notes, it is important for any researcher to understand how to properly format footnotes and endnotes in the MLA style when they are appropriate.

Things You'll Need

  • List of sources
  • Word processing software
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Instructions

    • 1

      Read and identify parts of the work that refer to an idea or publication for which you would like to suggest further reading. Further reading included in footnotes/endnotes must also be included in the works-cited section of the article.

    • 2

      Insert appropriate footnote/endnote number after the punctuation of the sentence or clause of the sentence the note will refer to. In MS Word, this is done by clicking "Insert->Footnote->Footnote or Endnote->OK" when the cursor is where the note should be.

    • 3

      Write out the footnote/endnote where its corresponding number appears at the bottom of your page (for footnotes) or on your endnote page (for endnotes). The note should include a brief description of the note's purpose, as well as the name of the author followed by the chapter or page numbers of the work you are referring to. For example, "On the topic of creative gastronomy, see Kapadia 45-47." In the preceding example, the purpose of the note is to refer the reader to another resource on the topic of creative gastronomy. Whether the purpose or the author and page numbers are mentioned first in a note are up to your discretion. Check MLA Style for sources without authors or with multiple authors.

    • 4

      Format your footnotes/endnotes. MS Word formats footnotes according to MLA style automatically. If you are using a program without automatic formatting, footnotes should begin four lines below the main text, and should be single-spaced with a hanging indent. Each footnote should begin with a number, followed by a period and a space. If you are including an endnote page, it should be titled "Notes" with the title centered, and it should come before the works-cited page(s). The notes should be double-spaced with a five-space indent for the first line of each note.

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