MLA Style Guidelines

MLA is EditorNinja’s default style. When someone says they use MLA format, they usually mean “the Oxford comma,” but the reality is that MLA style is much more than that.

MLA stands for “Modern Language Association.” It is the most common style for research papers in the English language and is also the most common style used in online writing. 

The general guidelines for MLA include:

• • Font: Use an easily readable font, like Times New Roman, 12 pt.
  • Line spacing: Double-spacing throughout the document.
  • Margins: 1-inch margins on all sides.
  • Header: Last name and page number in the upper right corner, half an inch from the top.
  • Title: Centered title, not bold, underlined, or italicized.

• Capitalization: titles use Title Case.

• Oxford comma: MLA uses the Oxford comma.

• Indentation: Indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch.
• In-text citations: The author’s last name and page number in parentheses, e.g. (Smith 45).
• Works Cited page:
  • Separate page at the end of the paper.
  • Entries are listed alphabetically by author’s last name.
  • Hanging indentation for each entry.
• Book citation format:
  • Author(s). Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Year.
• Article citation format:
  • Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, vol. number, no. number, Year, pages.
• Website citation format:
  • Author(s). “Title of Web Page.” Website Name, Publisher, Publication Date, URL.

How Good Is Your MLA Knowledge?

1. When a list or set of options is present, how is it introduced? (Correct answer: colon)
2. What punctuation is used before the “and” or “or” at the end of the second to last option in a list? (Correct answer: semicolon)
3. How is a book title formatted when presented as a source? (Correct answer: Italics)
4. When a physical object is cited, is the physical location where it was seen cited? (Correct answer: Yes)
5. How are short quotes cited? (Correct Answer: either Author Last Page or Page if the Author’s name is present in the sentence already)
6. How many spaces are left after a period and before the next sentence begins? (One, unless specified otherwise)
7. When citing a website, how is the URL formatted? (Correct answer: use www/subdomain, but not http/https)