Paper Guidelines

• The MLA format is so specific that it provides guidelines for the type of paper you use and how you set up your essay. When following the MLA format, your essay should be printed on white 8.5-by-11-inch paper. The text should be double-spaced and in a standard font, such as Arial or Times New Roman. A 1-inch border should surround the text on all four sides, and every page should be clearly numbered. A header should appear on the top right corner of every page, including the first page. Depending on the course requirements, this header could be your last name and the page number.
  
  

First Page

• Unlike some research papers, a paper that follows the MLA format doesn't include a separate cover page. Instead, information that is commonly found on a title page is included on the top left corner of the first page of the assignment. This information should include your name, the teacher's name, the course code and the date, as well as any other information specified by the teacher. Two lines below this information, your paper's title should be centered and the body text should begin directly below the title.
  
  

Sections

• Depending on the length of your research paper, you may be required to divide it into several specific sections. If this is the case, the MLA format requires you to number and title each section so the reader can easily identify each section. Each section title should appear left aligned and one line above the body text. An example of a section title could appear as, "1. Early Years." If you have subsections, MLA states that you identify each with a number, a period, then numbers in chronological order. If you had a subsection below the example cited above, it could be, "1.1 Education."
  
  

Notes and Bibliography

• Citing your research information is critically important to the MLA format. MLA requires you to use end notes instead of footnotes, meaning every note should be identified with a superscript numeral and linked to a page following the essay, entitled, "Notes." Websites, newspapers, magazines and online sources each have specific rules for their citation. If citing a book, for example, you are required to list in the following order the author's last name, first name, book title, publisher and date. For example, "Smith, John. The History of Coins. Random House Publishing, 1999." In-text citations are as important as the end notes and bibliography. If you quoted a section of the above book in the body of your research paper, you would cite it immediately as "Smith 34-36."