Skip to Main Content

MLA Citation Style (7th edition): Formatting

This guide provides an overview of the MLA format for citations and works cited lists. Links to more detailed guides are included.

Title, Identification and Pagination

Title and Identification

MLA citation style does not require a title page. On the first page of your paper place

  • your name
  • your instructor's name
  • the course title
  • and the date

on separate lines, double-spaced against the left margin of the page.

Then, centre your title. 

If your instructor requires a title page, ask for guidelines on formatting the title page.

Pagination

Put the page number preceded by your last name in the upper right corner of each

page. Use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3 etc.)

To insert your last name and page numbers in Word 2007

  • Click on the Insert tab on the toolbar
  • In Header & Footer click on Page Number
  • Choose Top of the Page
  • Move your mouse down to select Plain Number 3
  • A Header Bar will appear at the top of your page with the cursor on the left-hand side of the page in front of the number 1
  • Type your last name
  • Use the space bar to insert one space between your name and the number 1
  • Click on Close Header and Footer

Sample First Page

 

                                                                                            Thornton 1

Mary Thornton

Professor Robert Brown

English 160

21 October 2005

   Paternalism and Middle-Class Charity in The Moonstone 

In Wilke Collins' novel, The Moonstone, class structure and gender

role definition are two interconnected and fundamental issues within

 the text. Nineteenth-century British protest and reform movements

were undermining traditional principles and circumstances of employment,

criminal justice, law, religion and education. In this environment, women

of the upper and middle-classes were presented with new and conflicting

roles in both the public and private spheres. Upper-class women,

traditionally aligned with paternalism, watched over their domestic

servants and used their wealth to do philanthropic work. Middle-class

women, an increasing segment of the population, used their growing

influence to try to improve the conditions of the poor. These two groups