MLA Style Tip Sheet

MLA Style Tip Sheet

MLA style papers always have this formatting:

 Times New Roman

 12 point font

 Double spaced – do not add extra line spaces above or below the title or between

paragraphs.

 1 inch margins

 Header: your last name and the page # of the essay in the top right corner of each page,

including the first.

 NO TITLE PAGE

 One the first page of your paper, place your name, your instructor’s name, the course

title, and the date on separate lines against the left margin.

 Center your title (Do not underline, italicize, bold, or enlarge your title. I’ll be able to

find it without the help.)

 Indent the first line of each paragraph one half inch (or five spaces) from the left margin.

 When a quotation is longer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of poetry, set it

off from the text by indenting the entire quotation one inch (or ten spaces) from the left

margin. Double-space the indented quotation, and don’t add extra space above or below

it. Quotation marks aren’t needed when it’s been set off from the text this way.

 When citing page numbers in a work of prose (anything that’s not poetry), put the

author’s last name, and the page number of the quote in parentheses, like this:

(Hawthorne 164). Don’t put a comma between the last name and page numbers, don’t

put “pg.” before the page numbers. Just last name and number. I won’t be confused.

 When citing from a poem, put the author’s last name and the line numbers of the quoted

material in parentheses, like this: (Eliot ll. 15-17). Again, don’t put a comma between

the author’s name and the line numbers. The “ll” are two lower-case letter L’s. That

stands for “line”

 When quoting poetry, show where each line ends by separating them with a slash (/) with

a space on either side of the slash.

 The citation always goes at the end of the sentence the quote is in, even if your quote is

embedded in the sentence. The period ALWAYS goes after the parentheses.

 Here’s a link to a sample essay online, for you visual learners who need to see it.

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/writersref6e/lmcontent/ch07/PDF/Hacker-Orlov-

MLA.pdf