Suzy Student

Dr. Keel

English 1301

17 January 2008

MLA Format for Essays and Research Paper (for Microsoft 2007)

This is a sample page for the proper MLA format you will use throughout this semester. The first thing you should do before typing anything is to set your Font Size to 12 and your Font to Times New Roman. Click Default, and you will only need to do this once. Next, within the Home Tab, open the Paragraph menu box. On the Indents and Spacing tab, go to Line Spacing and choose Double. Make sure the Before and After Spacing is set at 0. Check the box that says Do not include extra space between paragraphs of the same type. Click Okay to close this after it is set. If you are on your home computer, click Default, and you will only need to make these changes once.

Now you should set your margins for the paper. All papers require 1” margins for Top, Bottom, Left, and Right. To set margins, click on Page Layout Tab, and then choose Margins. Select the Normal option to set your margins (top, bottom, left, right) to 1”. Open the Page Setup menu box and select Layout. Make sure that the Header and Footer margins (on the Layout Tab) are already set for 0.5”. Click on Defaulty to set this.

Notice that the header of this sample page has the student’s last name and page number at the top right corner. Set the page number first by clicking on the Insert Tab and then clicking open the Page Number menu. Select Top of Page, and chose Plain Number 3, which will set your page number at the top right corner. (On your blank page, a blue Header line will appear.) While your cursor is at this number 1, type in your last name with a space. This action should place your last name next to the page number. Then click Close Header and Footer (Red X on Menu Bar). All of your pages will then have the same header and will automatically paginate.

Your heading will always be at the top left and will be in the order of your name, instructor’s name, class name, and the date an assignment is due. Begin your heading on the first line of the page. Notice that the date is inverted with the day first, then month and year.

Notice that there is no extra line spacing anywhere in this sample. All lines are equally double-spaced; therefore, do not double-double space between the date and the title, between the title and the text of the paper, or between paragraphs. Also notice that the title of this sample paper is properly centered (using the Center Align icon on the Home Tab), has no italicized words, is not underlined, and is not in bold print. (Be sure to take off the Center Alignment and return to the Align Left icon before beginning the text of your paper.)

Make sure that you follow these directions when you type your papers. It is important that your formal essays and research paper maintain the proper MLA format.