Some Rules for MLA Manuscript Format

see also:

Margins. Leave 1 inch at the top, the bottom, and the sides.

First Page: Heading and Title. Put the heading and the title of the paper at the top of the first page, rather than making a separate title page. Starting 1 inch from the top of the page and flush with the left margin, type your name, the instructor’s name, the course name and number, and the date, double-spaced on separate lines.

Figure MLA Manuscript Format: First Page.

Double-space again and center the title. Do not underline the title (except for words you would underline in the text, such as book titles), enclose it in quotation marks, or type it in all capital letters. Follow MLA’s conventions o capitalization for titles: Capitalize the first and last words, the first word after; colon, and all principal words (including those following the hyphen in compound words); do not capitalize articles, prepositions,coordinating con junctions, or the to marking infinitives.

Double-space between the title and the first line of the text.

Page Numbers. Starting with the first page, number all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, half an inch from the top of the page and flush with the right margin. Type your last name before the page number so that, if; page is mislaid, it can be easily identified.

Corrections and Insertions. If you are using a word processor, proofread the final draft carefully and reprint the corrected pages. If you are not using computer and your instructor permits minor corrections, type them (or writ them neatly in ink) directly above the line and use carets (~) to indicate where they go. Do not write corrections in the margins or below the line. Retype page that have more than a few corrections.

Block Quotations. A prose quotation longer than four typed lines should be set off from the rest of the text. Indent it one inch (or ten spaces) from the left margin and double-space it. Do not add quotation marks. If the quotation is only one paragraph or part of one, do not indent the first line. If the quotation is two or more paragraphs, indent the first line of each paragraph an additional quarter inch (or three spaces), unless the first sentence quoted is not the begin ning of a paragraph. The in-text citation (often only the page number) is added after the final punctuation mark of the quotation.

The high-minded Plutarch, who knew little if anything about the real character of Archimedes, assigned him a personality so esoteric that it became laughable:

Thus, one cannot doubt what has been said about Archimedes, that he was always bewitched by some familiar and domestic siren so that he would forget to eat his food and neglect the care of his person, that when forcibly dragged to be bathed and to have his body anointed and perfumed he would draw geometric figures in the ashes of the fire, and that when his body was oiled he would trace diagrams on it with his finger, for he was truly possessed by the Muses. (Marcellus 17.3-7)

A verse quotation longer than three lines should be set off from the text. Indent the lines one inch (or ten spaces) from the margin and double-space them. (If the lines are too long to permit a one-inch indentation, reduce the indentation, or continue on the next line and indent the continuation an addi tional quarter inch—or three spaces). If the lines are indented irregularly (as in the following example), reproduce the indentation of the original as closely as possible. A quotation that begins in the middle of a line of verse should not be shifted to the left margin.

The in-text citation (usually the line numbers of the poem) is added after the final punctuation mark of the quotation. If the last line of verse is too long to allow for the addition of the parenthetical reference, put it on the next line, flush with the right margin.

Among images of childlike innocence in the earlier parts of the poem--such as "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful " --the darker references to "the little/lame balloonman" (lines 3-4) and "the queer/old balloonman" (lines 11-12) have prepared us for the perhaps not so innocent "goat-footed/balloonMan" of the poem's conclusion:

it's

spring

and the

goat-footed balloonMan whistles far and wee (16-24)

Sample MLA Research Paper

On the following page is a sample research paper that uses MLA manuscript form and documentation style.

•  The author’s name, the class information, and the date are at the top of the first page above the title.

•  The title is centered on the page.

•  The paper is double-spaced throughout.

•  All pages are numbered, starting with the first page, and the author’s last name appears before the page number.

This sample paper also illustrates the form for in-text citations, block quotations, endnotes, and a list of works cited.

Surname

Works Cited

Bedau, Adam Hugo. Death Is Different: Studies in the Morality, Law, and Politics of Capital Punishment. Boston : Northeastern UP, 1987.

Donne, John. "Meditation 17." College Survey of English Literature, Ed. Alexander M. Witherspoon et al- Shorter ed., rev. New York : Harcourt, 1951. 340-41.

Endres, Michael E. "The Morality of Capital Punishment." Rpt. in The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed-Bonnie Szumski, Lynn Hall, and Susan Bursell. St. Paul : Greenhaven Press, 1986. 62-67.

Hicks, Jerry. " 0. C . Judge Decries Delay in Executing the 'Deserving.'" Los Angeles Times 9 June 1991, Orange County ed. : Al4 . News Source USA . Online. CompuServe. 24 Oct. 1993.

Hood, Roger. The Death Penalty: A World-Wide Perspective; A Report to the United Nations Committee on Crime Prevention and Control. Oxford : Oxford UP, 1989.

Horgan, John. "The Death Penalty." Scientific American July 1990: 17-19.

"Juveniles." Lifelines [National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty] April/May/June 1991: 1.

Kant, Immanuel. The Metaphysical Elements of Justice. 1797. Trans. John Ladd. Indianapolis : Bobbs, 1965.

van den Haag, Ernest. The Death Penalty: A Debate. New York : Plenum, 1983. Excerpt rpt. in The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Bonnie Szumski, Lynn Hall, and Susan Bursell. St. Paul : Greenhaven Press, 1986. 58-61