Format your MLA paper with double-spaced lines and one-inch margins on all sides. Place page numbers in the upper-right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top of the paper and right justified. Use Times New Roman font set at 12 points. Indents are five spaces or a half-inch from the left margin. Do not include two spaces after your end sentence periods. This formatting applies to all of the pages in your paper.
A cover page is not always required. You should use one only if your instructor specifically requests it. If you do a cover page, put your name, the name of your instructor, the course name and date in the upper left. Drop down one double space, center, and type your title in title case. Use underlining or quotation marks in your title only if part of your title refers to another work, and then apply the underline or quotation marks to the part of your title referring to the other work. In the upper-right corner, create a heading that includes your last name, a space, and the page number. Drop down one double space to begin the text of your essay.
There are specific ways to cite quotations within an MLA paper. Cite short quotations in your text by placing quotation marks around the quote. After the quoted material, place the last name of the author and page number of the material you quoted. This applies to quotations four lines or less. For longer quotes, indent the entire quotation one inch from the left margin and begin the quotation on its own line. Do not put quotation marks around the longer quote. Use brackets around any words you add within a quotation, and an ellipsis to indicate omitted words.
Do not use periods in an abbreviation that has all capital letters unless the abbreviation is a name. Use a period if the abbreviation ends in a lower-case letter, such as English Lit. Abbreviations of the days of the week are written in this way.
Always have your works-cited page separate from the rest of your paper. Indicate the title of this page as Works Cited, formatted in the same way you formatted the cover page of your essay. Place a double space between each of your citations. The first line of your citation should not be indented. Indent the rest of the lines of your citation five spaces to create a hanging indent.
Cite all works in proper format, according to where you retrieved the resource. MLA style dictates specific guidelines for listing sources from periodicals, books and online sources. Information to cite includes publication dates, author's name and URL information. The formatting for each of these sources can be found in an MLA handbook from a library or using an online guide (see resources). It's a good idea to keep a guide handy as you format your paper to help you cite properly.
Underline the titles of articles and books. Use quotation marks around short works such as poems or songs. Names of authors should be written with the last name first. In the case of citations from a collection, use the editor's name.