APER
Always use a good quality white bond paper for your essay.
FONT or TYPEFACE
Use an easily readable "serif" font (such as Palatino, Courier, or Times New Roman) in 12 point size.
SPACING BETWEEN SENTENCES
In the past, it was recommended that you type two spaces following the end of a sentence. More and more writers, however, are now typing only one space after the period (or other punctuation at the end of a sentence). Either one or two spaces is now acceptable (unless your instructor indicates a preference for one or the other); make certain, however, that the spacing between sentences is consistent throughout your paper.
PAGE HEADERS
1/2 inch from the top of each page, include a header, with the author's last name, and the page number.
HEADER INFORMATION (AUTHOR NAME, INSTRUCTOR, COURSE, DATE)
1 inch from the top of the page, type the author name, instructor, course, and date; double space.
PAPER TITLE
Double space after typing the header information, and type the title, centered. Capitalize all significant words in the title.
LINE SPACING
Double space all portions of the paper body. This means you should leave a full line between each line of text in the paper.
Footnotes or endnotes should be single spaced, with two spaces between each endnote.
PARAGRAPH INDENTATION
Paragraphs in the body of the paper should be indented 5 spaces, or about 1/2 inch.
MARGINS
The margins for your paper should be uniform on all sides, set to at least 1" or 2.54 cm on all sides: top, bottom, left and right. Line length for each typed line should be no more than 6.5" (16.51 cm), and the maximum number of lines of text per page is 27.
TEXT ALIGNMENT
Set the text alignment to "Left," so that the right edge of the text on the page is uneven.
SECTION HEADINGS
Section headers are not necessary for MLA style, but sometimes help your readers follow the organization of a discussion.
If you use section headers, use them consistently, and make them reflect the...