MLA Formatting – Step by Step Directions

  1. To change your margins
  2. Click on the “page layout” tab
  3. Click on “margins”
  4. Choose “normal” which is 1 inch on top, bottom, left, and right
  1. To change the line spacing
  2. Click on the “home” tab
  3. Click the box next to the word “paragraph”
  4. Under the word “spacing,” chance “before” and “after” to 0pt
  5. Under “line spacing,” use the drop down menu and select “double”
  1. To change the font
  2. Click on the “home” tab
  3. Directly below, there is a drop down menu. Select “Times New Roman”
  4. Next to the font type is the size. Change it to 12.
  1. To add a header
  2. Click the “insert” tab
  3. Click on the word “header”
  4. Choose the first selection – “blank”
  5. Then click “page number”
  6. Click “top of page”
  7. Then select “plain number 3”
  8. Type your last name and press the space bar
  9. Click the “Home” tab to change the font of your heading to “Times New Roman” 12
  1. Add a heading to your essay
  2. Type your first name and press “enter”
  3. On the next line, type your teacher’s name and press “enter”
  4. On the next line, type the name of the class and press “enter”
  5. On the fourth line, insert the date
  6. Click on the “insert” tab
  7. Click on “insert date and time” or you might just see a little calendar icon
  8. Select the date that should be the 9th one down. It has the number, month, year (13 February 2014)
  9. Make sure the box “update automatically” is checked
  1. Add a title to your essay
  2. After inserting the date, press “enter”
  3. On the next line, center your cursor
  4. Click on “home” tab
  5. Click the button to center the cursor (or press Ctrl+E)
  6. Type the title of your essay
  7. Do not change the font type or size
  8. You may embolden the font by clicking the “B”
  1. Start writing your essay
  2. Press “enter”
  3. Align the cursor to the left (Ctrl+L)
  4. Press the “tab” button
  5. Begin typing

MLA Format: Step by Step Directions for Google Docs

  • Font
  • On the gray task bar at the top of the page, change the font type and size
  • Times New Roman
  • 12 point font
  • Double Spaced
  • Click on “format”
  • Click on “line spacing:
  • Select “double”
  • 1 inch Margins
  • Click on “File” and then “page set up”
  • Make sure the top, bottom, left, and right margins are set to 1 inch
  • Header
  • Click on “insert”
  • Click on “header”
  • Align the cursor to the right
  • Type your last name
  • Press the space bar
  • Click “insert”
  • Select “page number”
  • Select “top of page”
  • Heading
  • Type the following, on the left, on the first four lines of your essay
  • Your Name
  • Your Teacher’s Name
  • The Name of the Class
  • The Date
  • If you need help formatting your essay in Google Docs, check out the video tutorial by scanning the QR code.