MLA (Modern Language Association) Style

MLA is pretty easy to format if you can remember a few rules:

• Don't use a cover sheet. The first sheet of your paper is the first page of your essay.
• Number your pages with your last name and the page number in the upper-right-hand corner (see below)
• Use 1" margins all around
• Center your title
• Use the heading below (name, professor's name, course, and date)
• Double space the text
• Use a 12 pt. font
• Put your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your paper.

More details on formatting your paper can be found at the MLA Style Center.

• Continue your page numbering.
• Center "Works Cited".
• Make sure your entries are in alphabetical order by the authors' last names. Also,
  • Alphabetize by the exact letters in the spelling: MacKay precedes McHam.
  • Let a shorter name precede a longer name beginning with the same letters: Linden, Ronald precedes Lindenmayer, Arnold.
  • With last names using a prefix such as le, du, di, del, and des, alphabetize by the prefix: Le Beau, Bryan F.
  • When de occurs with French names of one syllable, alphabetize under d: De Jean, Denise. Otherwise, alphabetize by last name: Maupassant, Guy de.
  • Alphabetize by the first element of a hyphenated name: Sackville-West, Victoria.
  • Alphabetize by the last name when the author uses two names without a hyphen: Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall.For a work with no author named, alphabetize by the first word in the title other than A, An, or The.
• If you have two works by the same author, use ---. for the second article and sort them in alphabetical order.

Smith, John. Books by John Smith.

---. More Books by John Smith.

• If you are unclear about any requirements, ASK YOUR PROFESSOR