MLA+Format

=MLA Format=

This page will walk you through formatting your paper correctly and help you get certain formatting points done correctly. This is step by step and tells you everything you need to know to correctly format your paper.

**Paper Format**
Before you can start writing your paper or even start your research, your paper must be correctly formatted, meaning in correct MLA format. Remember on the Grading Rubric I said that points would be taken off for this. So, unless you want points taken off for something relatively minor, you need to make sure your paper is correctly formatted.

What you need to do is as follows:


 * 1) Open up a new Word Document. Once you've done that, go ahead and save your document **on the desktop.** If you are unsure of how to do that, let me know and I will help you.
 * 2) Make sure your font is "Times New Roman" and size 12. To check this, go to "Format" and click "Font." A window will pop up with fonts, styles and sizes. Change the font to the correct one if it is not already set.
 * 3) Click "File" up at the top of the window. Scroll down the menu and click on "Page Setup." Here is where you change your margins. You need to make sure the margins of your paper--the entire paper: top, bottom, left and right--are all set to 1 inch. Once you've done that, click "OK."
 * 4) Next, you need to change your line spacing of your paper to double. To do that, you can hold down "Ctrl" and the number "2." If you don't want to do it that way, go to "Format" and click on "Paragraph." In the section labeled "Spacing," make sure you change line spacing to "Double." Click "Ok" when you've finished.
 * 5) Next, we'll format the header on your first page. On the first line, type your first and last name. Hit enter. Next type "Ms. Garris." Hit enter. Type "English 10." Hit enter. Then enter the date (exactly as I give it to you) "18 May 2011." Hit enter again.
 * 6) You should now be on a blank line. You need to center your cursor now. To do that, you can go to the toolbar with all the icons and hit the center alignment that way or go to "Format" and "Paragraph" again and where it has "Alignment," change it to "Center." On this line, you need to just type Title. This is where the title of your paper is going to go. Hit enter again and change your alignment back to left.
 * 7) Next, we're going to format the header for all the pages of your paper. What you need to do is go to "View" and click on "Header and Footer." Once you click that, you should have a dotted box pop up at the top of the page. This is your header. In this box, you need to right align your cursor. Once you've done that, type your **last name only**. Next, you need to go to the floating toolbar on your screen and you should see an icon that looks like a sheet of paper with the number symbol (#) on it. With your cursor right behind your last name, click that button. That will automatically add page numbers to your paper.
 * 8) Save your document again.
 * 9) Open up Internet Explorer. The Wayne County Public Schools Homepage should be the page you are on. On the lefthand side, you should see, under Quicklinks, where it has **Google Log-in: students**. You need to click this link. It should take you to the Google Apps log-in for Wayne County. You need to log-on to Google. Your log-in information is as follows:
 * 10) ** Username: ** yourname (maryannegarris) and the last two digits of your NCWise Number **Example: maryannegarris56**
 * 11) **  Password : ** Your NCWise Number with two zeros at the end **Example: 12345600**
 * 12) Once you have logged in, you should see a screen that has several links. You need to click on the Docs link.
 * 13) Once in the **Docs** in Google Apps, on the lefthand side you should see where it says **Upload**. Click on upload and then click--right below upload--Files. You should have a box pop-up for you to choose a file. You need to click on **Desktop** on the lefthand side of this box and select your paper file. Then click **Open**. When the Upload Settings box pops up, Make sure the first checkbox is checked and then click **Start Upload**. Your document should start to upload.
 * 14) Once it is finished uploading, you should see it on the document list. Click on the title of your document and it should open in Google Apps.

**Works Cited Format**
You'll want to make your works cited page a seperate document in Microsoft Word.


 * 1) You need to double space your works cited. It should be double spaced throughout.
 * 2) You need to change your margins to 1 inch all the way around.
 * 3) The title of your works cited will be "Works Cited"--minus the quotation marks--and should be centered at the very top.
 * 4) Enter down. Now you're going to create a hanging indent. You can do this one of two ways:
 * 5) You can use the ruler at the top by dragging the bar on the ruler halfway to one. You'll then take the top little triangle thing and drag it back to the left margin.
 * 6) You can go into Paragraph and you should see an area where you can specify a hanging indent. ***If you have trouble formatting your hanging indent, call me over or ask someone that knows how to do it for help. Points are taken off for not** **doing it right.***
 * 7) Save this to the desktop and upload it into Google Docs.

Remember to put your works cited in alphabetical order.