Double-space your writing and use a standard, easily readable font, such as Arial or Times New Roman. Set your margins at 1 inch on all four sides of the paper, and indent the first line of each paragraph by 1/2 inch by pressing the tab key.
Use only one space between sentences.
Set a header against the right margin and 1/2 inch from the top of the page on all pages except the first. The header should show your last name, followed by a space and then the page number.
Place all endnotes on a separate page at the end of the essay, before the Works Cited page. Entitle them "Notes."
Create a header specifically for the first page of the essay, in the upper left-hand corner of the paper. The header should include your name, your instructor's name, the course and the date.
Double-space after the header and before the title, and after the title and before the body of the essay..Write the title in Title Case.
Include the author and page number in a citation whenever you quote, summarize or paraphrase a source. Place the author's last name in the text of the sentence (for example: "According to Freud,") or in the parentheses that follow the sentence (for example: Sublimation is known to be the highest of the defense mechanisms [Freud 147]).
Always place the page number in the parentheses, even you are placing the author's name in the text of the sentence.
Place parenthetical citations after the end of any quotation marks, but before the period that ends the sentence.
Make a Works Cited Page at the end of your paper. Title the page "Works Cited." Arrange the sources alphabetically, Single-space the sources if they take up more than one line of text, but double-space between each source.
Indent the second and subsequent lines of each Works Cited entry by 1/2 inch. This is called a hanging indent.
Refer to an MLA source for specific guidelines about how to format each type of source you are working with: for example, book, documentary, the Bible, interview.