In this case, you will want to prepare for ongoing essay writing assignments with the same formatting requirements. Don’t worry, MLA format isn’t too difficult to master, and once you have understood it, you will apply it in all your essays with ease.
To help you start your learning journey, we have compiled this list of formatting guidelines. Note that you are supposed to submit your paper online. You will use MS Office or Google Docs to create and share your essay files. The following formatting tips can be applied to MS Word formatting, if you are working on Google Docs, you may have to experiment a bit to understand the processes on that application.
Which Subjects Use MLA Formats for Essay Writing
MLA format essays are mostly required in humanities disciplines. Art and literature students experience these requests more than science students. The format is built to help students and scholars quote other works and pieces of art.
You may want to take your time mastering this format on your first encounter with them. If you don’t feel that you have applied all the guidelines that will make your presentation proper and up to your lecturer’s standards, seek UK essay writing service from professionals and learn from your mistakes as pointed out by them.
Paper Format
While most instructors require their students to submit digital copies of their essays, it’s nice to know that you will need to print your essay on an A4 sheet for submission if a printed essay is requested. Here are the indentation and other pointers you need.
Font
MLA format doesn’t require a specific font for typing as long as the font you use is legible and shows a considerable difference between regular and italic styles. Think of Times New Roman or Calibri, for example. Keep its size at 12pt.
You don’t have to leave double spaces after a period and punctuation marks unless otherwise demanded by your lecturer. You will have to give the titles of quoted works in italics. Another acceptable reason for using italics is when you want to emphasize a statement or phrase.
Margins and Indentations
You will have to format your paper with a 1-inch margin on all sides. Indentation is required only for the first sentence of each paragraph. The indentation size for the first line of the paragraph stands at half an inch. Use a tab to indent this line instead of the space bar.
Note that MLA format requires double spacing for the entire text, increasing the size of white space in your essay.
Header
You need to give the page number using a header on each page. While the standard practice requires that you use the header for the first page as well, your instructor can ask you to omit it. You must use your last name before the page number in the header and this page number will go in the top-right corner of every page. The number needs to be half an inch from the top and should be flushed to the right margin.
Title Page
Essays formatted in MLA don’t need title pages except for two reasons. First, you will create a title page only when your instructor has specifically asked for it. Secondly, you include it in your essay if the essay was a group project. In the second situation, apart from giving away the title of your essay, you also have to mention the names of all group members. The title page also uses double spacing and the same font and size as the rest of the essay.
First Page
For most MLA-style essays, the first page will include major details about the essay. It should show the essay title, name of author, and the instructor’s name. Again, you need to remain consistent in the font you have chosen for your essay and keep the font size at 12pt.
The essay will start at the top-left corner where you will give your name. Underneath your name, you will write your professor’s name. Follow up your instructor’s name with the course title and date.
Keeping the spacing at 2.0, you now need to centralize the text to write the title. This title will use a title case with only the first letter of every word capitalized.
Immediately after the title, you will start your essay. Remember the rule discussed above: you need to indent the first line of each paragraph in the essay.
Headings
If you are writing a standard school and college essay, it will be five paragraphs long. This length isn’t enough to warrant section headings, so avoid using headings. However, if you are writing longer essays like extended essays, you should increase the readability of your essay with section headings.
Section headings must be numbered. Use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on) with a period with these headings. You can also use subsection headings to support or elaborate these section headings. If you deem subsection headings necessary, combine the section and subsection headings with a period in between to number the subsection headings. Here is an example:
- Introduction
- Cybersecurity Measures
2.1 Physical Measures
2.2 Software Measures
Wrapping Up
MLA essay format is a commonly used essay format. Other than essays, scholars and students use this format in writing reports, case studies, research papers, and books. If your lecturer has asked you to write this format in one of your core subjects at your campus, prepare yourself to encounter more such requests and learn the technique because you will be using it more than a few times in your academic career. Note that it’s easy to feel lost because of the number of guidelines you will encounter about this format. If you think you cannot master it the first time, don’t shy away from seeking essay writing help and making the learning process easier for you.
