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MLA 9th Edition Citations Guide

General Guidelines for an MLA Paper

  • Font: 12 point, use an easily legible font like Times New Roman
  • Double spaced
  • 1" margins
  • Upper left corner on 1st page: 
    • Your Name 
    • Your professor's name
    • Course Title
    • Date
  • Header: Your last name and page number on upper right corner of every page.
  • Section headings
  • Works Cited page

MLA Template in Word

Click the document below to access the Microsoft Word template for MLA style formatting. 

  • Save the document
  • Rename the document as your current assignment/paper
  • Use the template for all of your MLA style papers

Your professor's directions for MLA style are more important than the settings on this template.  You need to make any necessary changes to match your instructor's assignment. 

General Works Cited Guidelines

1. Your Works Cited page should be oriented to the left and double spaced

2. Your citations should have a hanging indent

3. If your source doesn't have a publication date, use an accessed date instead

4. Citations should be in alphabetical order but ignore articles like A or The when alphabetizing.

Citation Practice Activity

The Library has created a brief MLA Citation Activity to help you practice double checking and creating your own citations. Open the activity and then use the pages in this guide to help you edit the practice citations.