MLA FORMAT
MLA stands for Modern Language Association, which is the style of formatting used in all English courses. Follow these simple steps to format your paper using MLA format.
Formatting Basics
- Choose a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Calibri (Arial and Verdana are TOO BIG)
- Use font size 12 ONLY
- Double-space throughout paper, including Works Cited page (CTRL-A, CTRL-2)
- Use “left justification” – not right or centred
- Set margins to 1-inch (Layout – Margins – 2.54 cm)
- Indent each paragraph 10 spaces (1 tab)
- Do not use a title page, unless directed to by your teacher
- Number all pages consecutively. Put numbers in upper right-hand corner. Type your last name before the page number. Do not use “p.” or “pg” before the number. (Insert – Page Number – Top of Page – Right Side) – NOTE: the font of the heading should be THE SAME font for the rest of your essay
- The beginning of an essay should begin with your name, course code, teacher’s name and due date of the assignment.
- The CREATIVE title of your essay should be centred. It should not be underlined, capitalized or, in quotation marks
- STAPLE YOUR PAGE vertically in the top left corner of the page
- EXAMPLE FIRST PAGE OF ESSAY:
Works Cited Page
The list of Works Cited will appear on a NEW PAGE at the end of your paper. Follow these simple guidelines to help you format your Works Cited page.
- Continue page numbering
- Centre the title
- Do not underline, italicize, bold or use quotation marks for Works Cited
- Alphabetize entries by the author’s last name
- Do not indent the first line. Indent the second line if the information goes onto one.
- The title of a book should be italicized every time you mention the title in the essay
- When you ONLY have one book/source, it should be titled Work Cited
- When you have more than one book/source, it should be titled Works Cited
To cite a book, use this format:
Author’s last name, author’s first name. Novel Title. Publishing City: Publisher Name, Year of
Publication.
To cite a website, use this format:
Author’s last name, author’s first name. “Name of website.” Name of web server. Year of publication/
last update. Web. Date of access. <website url>.
To cite an article from an online database, use this format:
Author’s last name, author’s first name. “Title of article.” Name of Journal Volume Number: Issue
Number (Year of publication) Page range in journal. Online Database. Web. Date of access.
EXAMPLE:
Citing Quotations
When you are using quotations from a novel, follow this format:
- When introducing a quotation, use a colon at the end of the previous sentence and then begin the quotation
- At the end of the quotation, do not use a punctuation mark. Instead, put the ending quotation mark and put the page number in brackets. The punctuation mark goes at the end of the brackets
- For the FIRST quotation of the essay, also put the author’s last name in the brackets and then the page number. For each quotation that follows, simply put the page number.
- When you have more than one text, you need to use the author’s last name everytime you switch texts. If you have two quotations in a row from the same text, you don’t need to include the author’s name in the second one.
- EXAMPLE:
^First quotation with one text^
……………
^Second and all following quotations with one text^
Inserting Quotations
Since a novel is always in the present tense (regardless of the tense it was originally written in), your essay must also be in the present tense as well. You should NOT use the past tense.
When using quotations, there are only some instances when you would change the quote from past to present tense. Use this sheet as a guide to help you.
CHANGE THE TENSE:
Example from essay:
Gatsby’s dream becomes reality when Nick observes that “the expression of bewilderment [has] come back into Gatsby’s face” (Fitzgerald 81).
Explanation:
Because you are using the quote to complete your sentence, you must change the tense in order for the sentence to make sense. The words before the quotation cannot exist as a sentence on their own. Use square brackets when you change words. If a character is using personal pronouns, like “I,” “you,” “me,” “my,” etc, you must change them to third person terms.
DON’T CHANGE THE TENSE:
Example from essay:
Tom’s dream life continues to unravel following his discovery of Daisy’s infidelities, particularly when George plans to move Myrtle, Tom’s mistress, away: “Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control” (Fitzgerald 102).
Explanation:
Because you are using this quote as an example, not as a way to finish your sentence, the past tense can stay. The words before the quotation can exist as a sentence on their own. Use a colon ( : ) to introduce the quotation.
INDENTING QUOTATIONS
When you have a quotation that is 3 lines long or less when it is typed, you should keep it with the rest of your essay. When you have a quotation that is more than 3 lines long when it is typed or is a conversation between people, you must indent your quotation:
1) Example from essay:
When he first arrives in New York, Nick is unsure of what to think of the atmosphere. However, once he spends time with Tom in the city, he begins to change his mind:
I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night at the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove (Fitzgerald 52).
Nick explains what he enjoys about New York, and how mysterious it is. If he were to do something morally inappropriate, no one would be aware or care about his escapades.
Explanation:
Use a colon when you begin the quote and then start the quote on a new line. Indent twice. DO NOT USE QUOTATION MARKS UNLESS IT IS A CONVERSATION. Continue the rest of the paragraph back at the left on the next line. Again, because you are using the quotation as an example, the past tense and first person perspective can stay.
2) Example from essay:
Gatsby attempts to display his new status when he invites Nick to partake in different activities with him:
‘Your place looks like the World’s Fair,’ I [Nick] said.
‘Does it? … Let’s go to Coney Island, old sport. In my car.’
‘It’s too late.’
‘Well, suppose we take a plunge in the swimming-pool’ (Fitzgerald 70)?
It is late at night, and Gatsby tries to entice Nick to spend time together in a luxurious fashion, including going as far as Coney Island.
Explanation:
Use a colon ( : ) when you begin the quote and then start the quote on a new line. Indent twice. Use SINGLE quotation marks only. Continue the rest of the paragraph back at the left on the next line. Again, because you are using the quotation as an example, the past tense and first person perspective can stay. (NOTE: Nick is in square brackets because the quotation said “I;” the square brackets identify whom the quote means).
NOTE: When you are indenting quotations, you should always use them as
an EXAMPLE, not as a way to complete the sentence. Therefore, the
quotation can remain in past tense and in first person perspective.