Double-Spaced (Including Heading). Do Not Single Space Any Part of the Document

MLA Cheat Sheet

Formatting Basics - Double-spaced (including heading). Do not single space any part of the document - 1” margins - 12 point, Times New Roman or Arial font only - Your last name and the page number should appear in the upper right corner of every page beginning with page 1. - Heading should appear on the left side of page 1. o Your full name o Instructor name o Course number and/or title (i.e., American Literature, English III) o Date the assignment is due. The format is Day Month Year without commas. (e.g., 16 August 2013) - Title will appear, centered, underneath the heading in 12 point Times New Roman font. It is not bolded, underlined or italicized.

Citation Basics - You must cite internally and externally - You must cite direct quotes, summaries and paraphrases of ideas. o INTERNAL CITATION (In-text or parenthetical citation) occurs within the sentence; after the text, before the period. . Note: your citation will look different depending on the type of source (e.g., Book, web, one author, multiple authors etc.) o EXTERNAL CITATION (Works Cited Page) is the last page of your paper. . Cites only sources used in the paper (not a bibliography) . Title is simply “Works Cited” (without quotes) in 12 point Times New Roman font, centered at the top of the page. . Citations are listed alphabetically by the first entry. . For citations extending more than one line, they will be arranged in hanging indent style. The first line of the citation will extend to the left margin; all subsequent lines will be indented 5 spaces.

Resources - Formatting Citations o Easybib.com o Bibme.org - For the complete MLA Handbook and style guide go to the Modern Language Association’s website: http://www.mla.org/ - For detailed explanations and examples go to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (The OWL) at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/

ABERCROMBIE 2013 1