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MLA Writing Guide: Formatting for Individual Papers

This research guide provides a brief introduction to MLA.

Writing Center

The Liberty University Writing Center is available to provide writing coaching to students. Residential students should contact the On-Campus Writing Center for assistance. Online students should contact the Online Writing Center for assistance.

General Rules

To assist you in formatting papers in MLA format, Liberty University's Writing Center provides a template paper and a sample paper.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you format your paper:

  • Fonts: LU requires that MLA papers be typed in 12-point Times New Roman.
     
  • Spacing
    • Use only one space at the end of each sentence in the body of your paper.
    • In general, MLA papers should be double spaced throughout.
    • To make sure that your paper is double spaced throughout, select the text, right click, select 'Paragraph,' and look under the section 'Line Spacing' as shown below:

                        

 

  • Margins/Alignment: Your paper should use 1-inch margins on standard-sized paper (8.5' X 11'). Make sure that you use Align Left (CTRL + L) on the paper.
     
  • Indentation: The first sentence in each new paragraph in the body of the paper should be indented a half inch. References use hanging indentation. A hanging indent is an indentation of 5 spaces or 1/2 inch. In Word, you can highlight your reference entries, right click, choose Paragraph, and set your indentation to “Hanging” to accomplish the hanging indentation in your references.
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  • Headings: Using headings to clearly organize the paper are encouraged but not required.
    • All headings are in title case and are be left-aligned. 

Formatted, unnumbered:
Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left
Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left
Level 3 Heading: centered, bold
Level 4 Heading: centered, italics
Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left

  • An example of using headings in a MLA paper is available here.
  • Be sure to include at two or more headings for each heading level used. The MLA Handbook provides some additional insight into using headings.

Top of the page: Please note the student information should only be present on the first page. 

  • Student Information: The example below shows how the student's name, professor's name, class name and number followed by the date should be listed in the upper left hand corner of the page. Note: MLA formats the date as day/month/year. Another example of formatting student information can be found at style.mla.org.

  • The Title of the paper should be centered on the page and in title case (each word capitalized) except for articles (and, a, the).
  • Insert page numbers in top right corner of the header, starting with page 1 and preceded by the student's last name.
    • Always check to make sure the page number and last name are in the same font as the rest of the paper.