MLA format uses 1-inch margins, double spacing, 12-point font, and a specific system of in-text citations paired with a Works Cited page. It’s the standard style for English, humanities, and liberal arts courses, and once you learn the basic setup, it applies to every paper you write in the format. Here’s everything you need to get the formatting, citations, and page layout right.
Page Layout and Font
Set all four margins (top, bottom, left, right) to 1 inch. Double-space the entire document, including your heading, body text, block quotes, and Works Cited page. Use a legible 12-point font. Times New Roman is the most common choice, but MLA allows other readable fonts as long as the regular and italic styles look clearly different from each other.
In the upper left corner of the first page, list four lines of information, each on its own double-spaced line:
- Your full name
- Your instructor’s name
- The course name and number
- The date
After the date, center your title on the next line. Don’t bold it, underline it, or increase the font size. If your title includes the name of another work, italicize that work’s title within yours as you normally would.
Every page should have a header in the upper right corner with your last name and the page number (for example, “Smith 3”). Most word processors let you insert this through the header function so it appears automatically on each page.
In-Text Citations
Every time you quote, paraphrase, or reference information from a source, you need an in-text citation. MLA uses the author-page format: the author’s last name and the page number, placed in parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period.
If the author’s name already appears in your sentence, put only the page number in parentheses. For example: According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194). If you don’t mention the author in the sentence, include both: (Baron 194). Notice there’s no comma between the name and the page number.
When a source has no author listed, use the title instead, or a shortened version of it. A shortened title should start with the word the entry is alphabetized by on your Works Cited page, so your reader can find it easily. Italicize shortened book or website titles, and put shortened article titles in quotation marks, just as you would on the Works Cited page.
Keep in-text citations concise. Don’t repeat information. If you name the author in your sentence, don’t also put the name in the parenthetical citation.
Block Quotes
When you quote more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, use a block quote instead of regular quotation marks. Start the quote on a new line, indent the entire block half an inch from the left margin, and keep it double-spaced. Don’t add quotation marks around a block quote.
The punctuation works differently here than with regular quotes. Place the period at the end of the quoted text, then put the parenthetical citation after the closing punctuation: no additional period follows the parentheses. If you’re quoting more than one paragraph, indent the first line of each new paragraph an extra quarter inch beyond the half-inch block indent.
Building the Works Cited Page
The Works Cited page goes at the end of your paper on its own page. Center the title “Works Cited” at the top (no bold, no underline), and continue the same double spacing and 1-inch margins used throughout the paper. Alphabetize entries by the first word in each citation, usually the author’s last name. Use a hanging indent for each entry: the first line sits flush with the left margin, and every subsequent line is indented half an inch.
MLA organizes every citation around nine core elements, listed in this order:
- Author. Last name, First name.
- Title of Source. Italicized for standalone works (books, websites), in quotation marks for pieces within larger works (articles, poems, episodes).
- Title of Container. The larger work that holds your source, such as a journal, anthology, or website. Italicized.
- Contributor. Editors, translators, or other key contributors, preceded by a label like “edited by.”
- Version. Edition or version number, if applicable.
- Number. Volume and issue numbers for journals.
- Publisher. The organization that produced the work.
- Publication Date. As specific as available (day, month, year).
- Location. Page numbers, URLs, or DOIs.
Not every source will use all nine elements. A simple book citation might only have an author, title, publisher, and date. A journal article will include the container (the journal name), volume and issue numbers, the date, and page numbers. Use a period after each element except the container title, which is followed by a comma, and subsequent elements within that container, which are also separated by commas until you reach the period at the end of the entry.
Citing Websites and Digital Sources
For online sources, include the URL as the location element at the end of your citation. Copy the full URL from your browser, but drop the “https://” protocol. If a permalink is available, use that instead of the standard URL, since regular web addresses can change.
For scholarly articles accessed through a database, look for a DOI (a permanent digital identifier that starts with a string of numbers like 10.1234). When citing a DOI, format it as a full link: https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI number. Unlike regular URLs, always include the https:// prefix for DOIs.
Adding the date you accessed an online source is optional in most cases. It becomes useful when the source has no publication date listed or when the content is likely to change over time, like a wiki or a frequently updated webpage. Format it as “Accessed” followed by the date: Accessed 15 May 2025.
Sample Works Cited Entries
A book with one author:
Baron, Naomi. Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World. Oxford UP, 2015.
A journal article accessed online with a DOI:
Sharma, Priya. “Digital Literacy in the Modern Classroom.” Journal of Education Research, vol. 42, no. 3, 2023, pp. 112-130. https://doi.org/10.1234/jer.2023.0042.
A webpage with an author:
Williams, James. “How Student Debt Shapes Career Choices.” The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2024, www.theatlantic.com/education/student-debt-career-choices.
Formatting Tips That Prevent Lost Points
Indent the first line of every paragraph half an inch. The easiest way is to set a first-line indent in your word processor’s paragraph settings rather than hitting the tab key, which can create inconsistent spacing. Make sure your entire document is double-spaced, with no extra space added before or after paragraphs. In most word processors, you’ll need to manually set “before” and “after” paragraph spacing to 0.
Italicize titles of long, standalone works (books, films, albums, websites). Use quotation marks for shorter works contained inside something larger (articles, chapters, songs, individual web pages). When your paper’s own title mentions another work, apply the same rule: italicize or quote the referenced title, but don’t format your entire paper title in any special way.
Page numbers in citations are written without “p.” or “pp.” for in-text citations. On the Works Cited page, use “pp.” for a page range (pp. 45-67) and “p.” for a single page in entries where clarification helps, though MLA generally expects just the numbers for standard print sources.