Your Name Goes Here

Nancy King, Instructor

English 0950.51 [or 58, depending on which section you’re in]

August 31, 2009

The Title of Your Paper Goes Here

This essay is formatted according to a modified “MLA style,” which is simply

an accepted guide for writing academic essays. This essay is meant to illustrate how,

according to “MLA style,” an essay ought to look. Remember, of course, that each

teacher’s preferences may differ slightly from this standard; it is your job, as the

writer, to learn exactly what you need to do. Also, keep in mind that your essays in

this course should be from 800 to 1,000 words long. (This essay, including the

Works Cited page at the end, is 1093 words long.)

Line spacing and margins are important. When using “MLA style,” you

should double-space everything, from your name at the top to the very last line. To

double-space your essay using Microsoft Word Version 97-2003, highlight the entire

essay after you have typed it in. Then go to “Format” and select “Paragraphs”. A

window will open up in which you will see a place to change the line spacing to

“Double.” If you use Word 2007 instead, double-space like this: look for the tiny x

by the word “Paragraph” under the Home tab in the menu bar. If you click on that

tiny x, it will open up a box that lets you change the line spacing from “Single” or

“Multiple” to “Double.” Your paper’s left margin should be one inch or so, but you

don’t need to adjust the left margin. Just keep the default margin settings in your

word-processing software. Do, however, make sure to make the right margin

“ragged” instead of “justified” by clicking on the “Align Text Left” icon. A ragged

right margin makes reading easier.

 Essays are written in paragraphs made up of series of sentences that discuss

the same idea. A new paragraph is created every time you press the ENTER key, so

don’t hit the ENTER key until you are ready to start a new paragraph. Especially,

don’t press the ENTER key when you come to the end of a line. Instead, let your

word processing software automatically “wrap” each sentence onto the next line for

you. When you are ready to start a new paragraph, press the ENTER key. This will

put your cursor on the next line. Paragraphs should be indented. (Notice that the first

line of this and all other paragraphs here begins a preset number of spaces from the

left margin; that’s called indenting. To indent the first line of your new paragraph,

simply hit the TAB key on your keyboard. Be sure to use the TAB key, not the space

bar, each time you indent.

At the top left corner of the first page, you should put your name and class

information as shown above. Double-space these as you would the rest of the paper.

Also, you should create a “header” that includes your last name and the page

number. By creating a header, your name and the page number will repeat on all

other pages of your essay as well, and if you use the “Insert Page Number” option in

Word, the page number will automatically change from page to page. Note that your

name and page number should be right-justified so that they appear next to the right

margin of each page.

Be sure to include a title for your essay. Center your title using the Center icon

located in the menu bar near the top of your screen. (Don’t use the space bar or TAB

key to center your title.) Also, don’t place quotation marks around your essay’s title.

Quotation marks are only used around a title when it is quoted elsewhere, as in this

sentence: I read Juanita Doe’s essay, “Time for a New Plan,” and liked it a lot.

“MLA style” does not specify fonts and font sizes. You should ask your

instructor what he or she prefers. I would like you to use either the Georgia or Times
New Roman font style and a size 10- or 12-point font. (I used 12-point Georgia font

for this document—except for the title, which is 16 points high.) Also, never use

italics for all the text in your essay. Use italics only occasionally for emphasis. Also,

there is no need to make paragraph text bold. If you want to emphasize a point, use a

stronger word or phrase to get your readers’ attention, not bold text or lots of

exclamation points.

The general rule in keyboarding is to use one space after a comma and two

spaces after a period or other punctuation mark placed at the end of a sentence. (But

when a period is used after an abbreviation in a sentence—as in “I saw Dr. Garcia

every day”—press the space bar only once.) Always put a comma or period directly

after the word it follows. Also, never put a space in front of a comma or period.

When required by the instructor, include a Works Cited page at the end of

your essay to list the sources of borrowed information you’ve included and cited in

the essay itself. See the Works Cited page I’ve appended as a new page at the end of

this “essay” to see what I’m talking about. To start a new page for your Works Cited

page, hold down the CTRL key and then tap the ENTER key, and a new page will

appear below the current page. Center the title, Works Cited, at the top of the page.

Then list an entry for each source of information you included in your essay that

came from somewhere other than your own head. For example, I borrowed the

information here from a fellow instructor, Amy Christensen, who posted it on her

academic web site, so I have to give her credit for it here in the body of my “essay”

and again on my Works Cited page.

Okay, that’s it! Follow these suggestions, and your essay will have the look of

“MLA style.” This style will serve you well in all your future English classes and in

other classes as well. If you want, you can download this file and save it on your

home computer or flash drive and use it as a template (model) for your future essays.
All you’ll have to do is replace the text here with your own words. How easy is that?
 Christensen, Amy. “MLA Format for Papers.” 7 Jan. 2009

planet.cnm.edu/achristensen/DE0950/essayassignments/MLA_format_for_papers.doc

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