Write your full name at the top of the page, left-aligned.
Write your teacher's or professor's name, on the very next line, also left-aligned.
State the title and/or number of the class for which you're writing the paper, on the next line (still left-aligned).
Note the current date, on the next line, left-aligned.
Write the title of your paper on the next line, centered. Capitalize each word except any articles and prepositions. Do not bold or underline the title, and don't write it in larger text. Don't add extra space before or after the title.
Start the body of the paper on the first line after the title. The text should now be left-aligned again.
Indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch.
Indent any long quotation (four lines or more) one whole inch from the left margin, and don't indent the first line of the quote any farther.
Cite every source that you mention. In MLA style, the minimum citation needs to include only the author's last name. If you don't mention the author in the text of your sentence, then place it at the end of the sentence but before the period, in parentheses. For example, like this (Smith). If you refer to specific information or if you quote from the source, then you should also include a page number. Don't add a comma between the author's name and the page number. E.g., (Smith 20).
Add only one space after each period (or any mark of punctuation that ends a sentence).
Set the margins to at least one inch on each side.
Choose a font that is easy to read. The most standard font for academic papers, including MLA papers, is Times New Roman. Set the font size to 12 points.
Insert page numbers for the whole document. The page number should be located in the top right corner of each page. Use your word processor's automatic page-numbering function rather than adding the numbers manually, and place the numbers in the page's header (i.e., in the top margin), not at the top of each page's primary text.
Write your last name right before the page number, in the header. Include just one space between your name and the page number. This should appear on every page.
Double-space all of the text throughout the entire paper. Do not add extra space between paragraphs or after headings. (To prevent extra spaces, set the paragraph spacing -- not the line spacing -- to 0 points.)
Write "Works Cited" as the title of the bibliography. Place this title at the top of the page, centered. Don't bold this heading.
Align the text to the left, and don't indent each citation's first line. Instead, each subsequent line (i.e., second, third, etc.) should be indented half an inch.
Arrange the entries alphabetically, by author. If an author is a person, then write the last name first; hence, if an author is named Alice Smith, then her entry would be alphabetized as beginning with "S." If the author is an organization, then don't change the order of words; simply alphabetize it according to its first word, excluding "the" or any other article.
Include, for each citation, all essential information. Every entry should include an author, a title, a date of publication, and the type of medium (e.g., Print, Web). Italicize the title. A book should also cite a publisher and location; an online source should also cite the website and the date of access; a periodical should cite the name of the magazine or journal as well as the volume number, the issue number, and the page numbers of the article.