You are viewing all posts tagged formatting a paper
Style the name of a fictional character just as you would the name of a person: capitalize the initial letter of each name. Do not put a fictional name in italics or in quotation marks: In an interview, the writer Stephen King said that one of his favorite books features a character named Margaret Ridpath. . . .
Published 22 March 2018
Headings and subheadings can help organize and structure your writing. In general, longer and more complex works warrant more of them than shorter ones. Avoid overusing headings in short projects; they should never be used to compensate for poor structure or to explain an underdeveloped idea. When headings are called for in your writing project, . . .
Published 13 December 2018
Cover pages
Published 13 September 2017
Illustrative visual material other than a table—for example, a photograph, map, drawing, graph, or chart—should be labeled Figure (usually abbreviated Fig.), assigned an arabic numeral, and given a caption: Fig. 1. Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, Wichita Art Museum. The label and caption ordinarily appear directly below an illustration and have the same one-inch margins . . .
Published 28 June 2017
Whether to link a URL, DOI, or permalink in a works-cited-list entry for a work published or submitted in digital format is optional. The MLA Handbook notes that one benefit of URLs is that they “may be clickable” in digital formats (48). The URLs in the e-book version of the handbook, for example, are linked. . . .
Published 10 November 2016
Students should style a source in an annotated bibliography just as they would in a list of works cited and then append an annotation to the end of the entry. Annotations describe or evaluate sources. As James Harner writes, “[G]ood annotations accurately and incisively—but not cryptically—distill the essence of works” and “focus the reader’s attention . . .
Published 4 November 2016
We don’t require the use of Times New Roman or any other font. Our guidelines on formatting papers give this recommendation: “choose an easily readable typeface (e.g., Times New Roman) in which the regular type style contrasts clearly with the italic.” The abbreviation e.g. means “for example,” and so Times New Roman is just one . . .
Published 24 February 2016
No. The heading should be changed to the singular so that it matches the relevant material: Work Cited or Note.
Published 24 February 2016
The topic is covered here at The MLA Style Center. The guidelines are the same as they were in the seventh edition.
Published 24 February 2016
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