How to Format a Research Paper in MLA Style

MLA does not require a separate title page for most student papers. Instead, you put your name, instructor, course, and date in the upper left of the first page, center the title below that, and begin the text directly underneath. Page margins, font, spacing, and page numbers follow a small set of consistent rules. The MLA Style Center provides a free sample chapter and an interactive practice template to check your work.

Basic Page Setup

Set these before you type any text, so the whole document inherits them:

The header with your last name and the page number sits in the top right of every page, including the first. In most word processors this means inserting a page number into the header and typing your surname before it.

The First-Page Heading and Title

The heading block goes in the upper left of page 1, double-spaced, on four separate lines:

Jordan Ellis
Professor Nakamura
English 210
14 March 2025

Then center the title on the next line. Use standard title capitalization (capitalize major words), do not bold, italicize, underline, or enlarge it, and do not add a period at the end. Leave one double-spaced line between the title and the first paragraph.

If your instructor asks for a separate title page, follow that instruction instead — instructor requirements override the default.

Body Text, Headings, and Quotations

• Paragraphs: indent the first line 0.5 inch; do not add extra blank lines between paragraphs.
• Section headings: MLA permits numbered or unnumbered headings if your instructor wants them. Keep them flush left, in title case, and do not add a period.
• Short quotations (prose under four lines): run them into your sentence inside double quotation marks, with the parenthetical citation before the period.
• Long quotations (prose over four lines): start on a new line, indent the whole block 0.5 inch from the left margin, double-space it, omit quotation marks, and place the period before the parenthetical citation.
• Poetry: quotations of three lines or fewer go in the text with line breaks marked by a slash; longer passages are set as a block, preserving the line breaks. Song lyrics follow the same convention as poetry.

Works Cited Page

Begin it on a new page, center the words Works Cited (no bold, no italics), and keep the double spacing and 1-inch margins. Entries are alphabetized by the author's last name or, when there is no author, by the first word of the title. Each entry uses a hanging indent: the first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inch.

Checking Your Format

The MLA Style Center offers a free sample chapter on formatting your research project through MLA Handbook Plus, plus an interactive practice template for building Works Cited entries. The Ask the MLA section answers specific questions — for example, how to format a quotation of song lyrics, or whether you need to cite a quotation contained within another quotation. Use these when a case is not covered above.

Common Sticking Points

• Extra space between paragraphs: caused by paragraph spacing settings, not line spacing. Set "space after" to 0.
• Page number in the wrong place: it belongs in the header, right-aligned, not typed into the body text.
• Title styled like a heading: MLA titles are plain centered text, not bold or larger.
• Missing hanging indent: apply it to the Works Cited entries only, not to body paragraphs.
• Instructor instructions differ: when your assignment sheet conflicts with the general format, follow the assignment sheet.