Whenever you pass any assigned school papers in your English High School subject, you need to ensure that you will use the MLA format in all part of the assigned paper as well as utilize the correct way in making citations in the MLA format method.
Before submitting your take-home English paper, make sure that the following standards should be followed.
- The margin should be in the proper MLA paper format.
- Make sure you use proper grammar and part of speech throughout your work.
- The used font, font size, and line spacing should also be in the MLA format.
- Utilize MLA heading format in the first page.
- Follow a proper MLA title page.
- Use a header featuring MLA heading format on each page of the paper.
- Whenever a quotation or references is used in a page, include extra comments about it.
- Make a MLA works cited page where you will enumerate all the works that were quoted in the paper.
You must understand that the subsequent standard guidelines on using the MLA formatting style are only applicable for MS Word. So, if you are not using this word processor, check out your available manual.
Specific Instructions Regarding the MLA Format:
Margin, Font, and Line Spacing Settings
Every MLA paper format requires a 1 inch margin on every border. It is advisable to set your processor’s default margin to 1 inch by going to the Page layout Page and then set it up. As to the line space setting, MLA format requires double-space spacing. Make the necessary adjustments on your MS Word by going to Paragraph and choosing Format from the menu. All parts of the document should feature double space so it would be better to set the spacing at the start. Font settings should be at 12 font size and use a font face style that is not similar to handwritten forms or the other unusual scripts.
Heading on the First Page
If an MLA title page is not required by your teacher, you will have to do a so-called first page heading where you will have to input your full name, the name of your teacher, the subject, and the due date of the paper. All this information should be found in the upper left corner of the paper.
The Paper’s Title
The title should also be in a 12-point font size with no embellishments like boldface, underline, italics, or quotation marks. In case you added the title of a poem, story, or a book as part of your title, the correct title format should be used. That is, underline it if it’s from a complete work and utilize quotation marks if poem or a short story is included. Input your title one double-spaced from last line of the heading.
Header
This is a single line that features your last name and the page number. It will come out in every page of the whole document found in the upper right corner. You can find it either in the View or Insert menu, depending on the version of your MS Word.
Parenthetical Page Reference and Work Citation
When you make a quotation or reference, make sure that you properly make a parenthetical page notation following MLA format.
November 30, 2013