What Is Essay MLA Format and How to Format Paper in This Style?

Rules to Follow for Creating Essay MLA Format for Students

If you're writing a research paper, it may be possible that your professor demands you to write it in the MLA style. Students need to adhere to two significant writing styles at the college level. The first is the essay MLA format, and the second is the APA style of writing. MLA stands for Modern Language Association. Every college student must have a good grasp of this style of writing. In this article, you’ll find various guidelines on this writing style. It will allow you to format your paper well.

Rules to Follow for Essay MLA Format

The general guidelines for the MLA essay format can be divided into three categories. They include the general formatting, titles, page numbers and citations, and the Works cited page. 

General formatting 

You can do general formatting of your paper in MLA style by following certain points. They are as follows.

• The default font is Times New Roman, 12-pt.

• The margins of your paper should be set to 1 inch on both sides.

• After periods, use only a single space. 

• Indent the first line of every paragraph one-half inch from the left margin’s edge. 

• Put double-space after every word throughout your essay. 

Rules for titles, page numbers and citations

There are specific guidelines for all these three things. Follow these points carefully. 

• Italicize all titles.

• List the endnotes on a separate page. They should be before the Works Cited or Bibliography section.

• There is no need to create a title page by yourself. Do it only if your professor asks for it.

• On the main page of the essay, input your name in the upper-left part.

• On the line which is below your name, input the name of your professor. Below that, type the course name. Lastly, under that, input the date on which you are writing the material.

• In the upper-right part, insert the page numbers. Always check that your last name is on the left part of the page numbers.

• The title of the essay should be centred. Centre it on the line under the date. 

• Make use of italics to highlight the titles of longer works that you are citing. 

• In case you have sections, use numbers succeeded by a period. It will divide them accordingly. 

Rules for typing the Works Cited page

A bibliography is also called a Works Cited page in an MLA essay format. Based on the number of sources you have and the kind of sources you’ve utilized, pay more attention to the author’s name, book title, date of publication, place of publication, and the publisher. You must consider the following points when typing this page.

• A basic Works Cited format is as follows:

         Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Name of publisher. Date of publication.

• If you use books just as sources of information, you need to list them in an alphabetical manner. Type the sources alphabetically by the last name of the author.

• There may be some sources that don’t have any known author. In this case, keep the title as the first component and alphabetize accordingly. Ensure that every in-text citation should align with the specific Works-Cited entry.

Final Words

By following these general guidelines and rules, you won’t face any difficulty understanding essay MLA format. Read them again and implement them whenever you need to format your paper in the MLA style. If you need more help with this task, reach out to professional essay help writing services. The experts will help you format your essay in any academic writing style.