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What Are the Basic Rules of Essay MLA Format?

General Rules for Writing the Essay MLA Format for Students

Students who use the MLA citation style correctly develop the credibility of their work. They are able to showcase accountability of the source material they used. The students also safeguard themselves from any plagiarism accusation. The MLA style gives writers a system for source referencing via parenthetical citation in the essays they compose. Many students usually struggle to compose their essay MLA format. If you, too, find it challenging to master this citation style, it's best to seek professional essay help services. In this article, you'll find the basic guidelines of this format. You can use them when you need to format your paper in this manner.



General Guidelines for Essay MLA Format

Before formatting your paper in essay MLA format, you must go through a series of general guidelines. They will act as a foundation for you to structure your paper correctly.

  • Type the paper on a PC. Print it on white 8.5 X 11-inch paper.

  • The text of your paper should be double-spaced. You must also use a legible font Times New Roman. But irrespective of the font you select, MLA demands that the regular and italic fonts contrast enough with one another.

  • Use 12 pt font size.

  • Leave a single space after periods and punctuation marks.

  • Ensure that you have set your document's margin to an inch on every side.

  • The first line of every paragraph should be indented. Indent the line one-half inch from the document's left margin. As per MLA, you must use the 'tab' key rather than hitting the spacebar key five times.

  • Make a header that numbers every page consecutively in the upper right part, one-half inch from the above, and flush using the right margin. If your instructor says that you omit the number on the first page, follow their guideline.

  • Ensure that you use italics from the beginning to the end of the essay. It is used to indicate the title of lengthy works. When necessary, the italics font also provides emphasis.

  • Include all the endnotes on a different page. It should be before the Works Cited page.

  • If the abbreviations end in a lower case letter in MLA format, you should end them with a period. You should also abbreviate months that are longer than four words.

Headings and Headers in MLA Format

A paper is written in MLA essay format generally has a heading and title on its first page. The heading and title consist of the student's name, professor, course, and date, which are aligned to the left. You should center the title before beginning to write the body part. Every page of the paper consists of a running header. It includes the name and page number, which consists of the works cited.


Final Words

Hopefully, you must be much clearer about essay MLA format now. Ensure to use these guidelines when you sit down to compose your essay. If you encounter any problems, connect with expert coursework help services. They are always available to assist you.

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