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MLA Seventh Edition Formatting

To set up your document according to the Seventh Edition of MLA, follow each of the these instructions, which are keyed to Microsoft Word 2007-2010. These settings are recommended in the MLA handbook; however, always follow any additional instructions given to you by your instructor. 
1. Click on the Page Layout tab and select the Margin options arrow. In the dropdown menu, select Normal to place a one-inch margin on all sides.

2. To choose an easily readable font such as
Times New Roman, click
on the Home tab, then
the Font dialog box launch arrow. Under the Font setting, select Times New Roman, under Font style select Regular, and under Size, select 12.

3. Click on the Page Layout tab. Open  the Hyphenation dropdown menu, select None. 		b
4. To create your MLA  header, click the Insert tab, then select the Header options arrow.  In the dropdown menu, select the first option, Blank.

5. Use the tab key to move your cursor to the far right margin, directly in line with the one-inch marker. Next, type in your last name, hit the space bar one time.

6. Go to the Insert tab again, and this time select the Page Number options arrow.  In the dropdown menu, select the “Current Position” option. The page number “1” will appear.

7. To exit the page header area, double click on the word header or anywhere in the body of the document. Now Word will automatically place this header on each page of your paper.

mla 78. Go to the line spacing tool, click on the options arrow and select 2.0 or double spacing from the dropdown menu. Click on the options arrow again and this time select “Remove space after paragraph” if it is visible. In MLA, the entire document is double spaced, including quotations, notes and your list of Works Cited.

9. With your cursor on the far left side of your document, one inch from the top and one inch from the side of the page, type in your full name. Hit Enter one time to double space. Now type in your instructor’s name. Hit Enter again and type in the name and number of your course. Finally, hit Enter one more time and type in the date.

10. For the title of your paper, hit Enter one time to double space, then, on Word’s Home ribbon, click on “Center Text.” Return to your document and type in the full title of your paper. being sure to use title capitalization—this means to capitalize all words unless they are articles, coordinating conjunctions or prepositions. However, the first and last words of a title are always capitalized.

11. After finishing with your paper’s title, hit Enter one time to double space, then return to the text alignment toolbar and select Align Text Left.

12. Return to your document and indent your first paragraph one-half inch by tapping the tab key one time, or by going to the first line indent triangle at the top of the page, left clicking and dragging it to the half inch marker. Begin typing the text of your paper. It is not necessary to do hit the Enter at the end of each line. Instead, allow the computer to conduct word wrapping, which will keep all your text at the proper margins and line spacing.

13. At the end of a paragraph, hit enter one time to double space, indent a half inch, and begin typing your next paragraph. In MLA, periods should be followed by only space unless specified otherwise.
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14. When finished with the body of your paper, click on the Insert tab and select Page Break to begin your list of Works Cited, which must go on a page by itself after the body of your paper.

15. Go to the Home ribbon and click on the Center alignment tool. Return to your document and type in the phrase“Works Cited” in the middle of the page. Do not use quotation marks for this phrase or boldface it.

16. Hit Enter one time, then return the Home tab and select left align to align all of your text to the left margin.

17. Type in the information for each source. For hanging indention, highlight the line or lines you wish to indent, go up to the hanging indent triangle on your top margin, left click on the triangle and drag it to the half inch mark.

18. To begin your next reference hit the Enter/Return key, being sure to maintain double spacing for all of your sources and in between them.

19. Be sure to follow the MLA format for the type of source you are citing. These formats can be found beginning on page 123 in the Seventh Edition of the MLA Handbook.