An MLA format heading consists of four lines in the upper left corner of your first page: your name, your instructor’s name, the course name, and the date. All four lines are left-aligned, double-spaced, and written in the same 12-point font as the rest of your paper. Below those four lines, you center your title, then double-space into the body text.
The Four Lines of an MLA Heading
Each line serves a specific purpose and must appear in this exact order:
- Line 1: Your full name (first and last)
- Line 2: Your instructor’s name (e.g., Professor Johnson)
- Line 3: The course name and section number (e.g., English 101, Section 3)
- Line 4: The date
All four lines sit flush against the left margin. Do not add extra spacing between them. They follow the same double-spacing you use throughout the entire document.
How to Format the Date
MLA style accepts two date formats. You can write the day first, followed by the month and year (24 October 2025), or use the more familiar month-day-year order (October 24, 2025). If you use the month-day-year format, place a comma between the day and the year. Either approach is correct, but be consistent throughout your paper. Spell out the full month name rather than abbreviating it.
Placing Your Title
After the four-line heading, double-space once and type your paper’s title centered on the page. Write it in title case, meaning you capitalize major words but leave short prepositions, articles, and conjunctions lowercase (unless they start the title). Do not bold, underline, or italicize the title. Do not put it in quotation marks or write it in all capital letters. After the title, double-space again before starting your first paragraph.
If your title includes the name of another work, apply the formatting that work would normally receive. A book title within your paper title gets italicized, for example, and a short story title gets quotation marks. But nothing else about your own title should be styled differently from regular text.
The Running Header With Page Numbers
Separate from the four-line heading, every page of your paper needs a running header in the top right corner. This header contains your last name followed by a space and the page number. It should appear half an inch from the top of the page, aligned to the right margin, in the same 12-point font as your body text. Most word processors let you set this up through the “Insert Header” or “Page Number” function, and it will automatically repeat on every page.
For example, if your last name is Garcia, the top right corner of page one reads “Garcia 1,” page two reads “Garcia 2,” and so on.
Setting It Up in a Word Processor
Getting the formatting right in Google Docs or Microsoft Word takes about two minutes once you know where the settings are.
Margins and Spacing
Set all four margins (top, bottom, left, right) to one inch. Change your line spacing to double (2.0) and make sure the “Add space after paragraph” option is turned off, since that extra spacing will throw off your heading. Use a readable 12-point font. Times New Roman is the most common choice, but MLA also accepts other legible fonts like Arial or Calibri as long as you use the same one throughout.
Adding the Running Header
In Google Docs, click Insert, then Headers & Footers, then Header. Type your last name, add a space, then go to Insert and select Page Numbers. Right-align everything. In Microsoft Word, double-click the top of any page to open the header area, type your last name and a space, then insert a page number from the Insert tab. Set the alignment to right. Make sure the header font matches your body text.
Typing the Heading
Click into the body of your document (not the header area) and start typing at the very top. Type your name and press Enter. Type your instructor’s name and press Enter. Type the course and press Enter. Type the date and press Enter. Then center your cursor, type your title, press Enter, switch back to left alignment, and begin writing your paper. Because you already set the document to double-spacing, every line will space correctly without any manual adjustments.
Using Headings Within Your Paper
The four-line heading at the top of page one is different from section headings you might use inside a longer research paper. If your paper is long enough to benefit from sections, those internal headings follow their own rules.
Your paper’s title acts as the first and most prominent level of heading. Any section headings within the body should be visually less prominent than the title. A common approach is to bold your level-one section headings and use bold italics for level-two subheadings. All internal headings should be flush with the left margin, not centered (centering is reserved for the title). Capitalize them the same way you would a title of a work.
Keep them consistent: every heading at the same level should look identical in style and size. If you use one section heading, you need at least two, since a single subheading under a section suggests the content does not actually need to be divided. Adding a blank line above and below each heading improves readability.
A Complete Example
Here is what the top of your first page should look like, with each line double-spaced:
Alex Rivera
Professor Nguyen
English 102, Section 4
15 April 2025
The Role of Symbolism in Beloved
Your first paragraph begins here, also double-spaced, with the first line indented half an inch from the left margin. The running header “Rivera 1” would appear in the top right corner of this same page, inside the header area.