MLA Formatting
The following guidelines are NOT a suggestion – they are the correct and accepted formatting
guidelines. For additional help, use the Purdue OWL website (see the References and Links page)
Font

Times New Roman or Arial

12 Point

Black ink

Double-spaced
½ inch margin
Heading
1 inch margin
Last name 1
First and last name
1 inch margin
Teacher’s name
English 9
Due Date
(Ex. 9 September 2013)
Title
MLA Formatting
Title

No bold

No underline

No italics

No all-caps

12 Point font

Proper capitalization
Miscellaneous

Eliminate 1st person pronouns unless otherwise indicated (I, me, my, we, us, etc.)

Eliminate 2nd person pronouns (you, your, yourself, etc.)

Eliminate contractions (can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, etc.)

Eliminate taboo words (thing, stuff, a lot, good, really, etc.)

Write out numbers 1-10 (7 should be written as seven, but 12 should be 12)

No apostrophe in years (Ex. 1920s)