Guidelines On Creating An MLA Style Research Paper Bibliography

The Modern Language Association format is a common form of writing used to write research papers and souring citations that are within the liberal arts and humanities. There are various specifications guiding you through the MLA formatting for documents. Using the MLA Formatting allows writers to build on their integrity, authenticating the accountability to the source material. MLA research paper formatting allows writers to avoid plagiarism and bring individuality into the document. Below mentioned are the general instructions for MLA Formatting in research papers.

Guideline to MLA Formatting:

1. Always type your document on a computer and print using a standard 8.5” x 11” paper.
2. Double-space the entire document and use legible font at a size 12. Maintain a single font throughout your document, contrasting the words only using regular and italics type styles.
3. Allow single space post periods and punctuation marks as a general rule, unless specified in your individual instructions.
4. Your document margins should be set at 1 inch on all sides.
5. The MLA recommendation for paragraph indentation is a half-inch indentation on the first line from the left margin. Opt for using the tab key to indent rather than the space bar.
6. Number your pages in the header section of your document, on the right hand corner of the page, one-half inch from the top flushed with the right hand margin. This is only a general rule, individual specifications may be used too.
7. Titles of long words can be highlighted with italicized font in your entire document, only when essential to provide an emphasis.
8. End-Notes must be added only in a separate page prior to your citation page.

Formatting The First Page Of Your Document:

1. Avoid creating a title page unless absolutely necessary or suggested in your instructions.
2. List out your name, your instructor’s name, the course and date respectively on the upper left-hand corner of the first page in your document.
3. Make sure that the title is centered and double-spaced. Avoid Italicizing or underlining your title.
Avoid Quotation marks too and type the title in Title Case only. In the event you are referring to other works or documents, you may use quotation marks.
4. Allow a double space between the title and the first line of your document text.
5. Insert a Header in the upper right hand corner of the page with your last name followed by space and page number.