MLA STYLE FORMATTING Basic MLA Standards Margins must

MLA STYLE & FORMATTING

Basic MLA Standards • Margins must be set to 1” In Microsoft Word, double click on the ruler and change the settings for Left, Right, Top, and Bottom to 1. 0” Or, go to Format Document. You can set the margins from there • All text must be typed in: Times New Roman font Size 12 only

Basic MLA Standards • Alignment and Spacing must be set to zero or “No Spacing” • The document must be double spaced Do not hit the space bar twice after a period No extra spaces between paragraphs or headings Select the whole document, click Format Paragraph, and under spacing, select “Double”

MLA Headings • An MLA heading must be included on every academic paper Top left corner of the first page ONLY Do not type into header bar Double spaced Follow a specific order! Your name Teacher’s name Class (and section) Due date (Day Month Year)

Titles • Are you a published author? If your work has NOT been published, you MAY NOT: Underline your title Italicize your title • Titles of Books, epic poems, plays: Italicized Don’t underline: it is ungrammatical If the title begins with the word “A, ” “An, ” or “The, ” it is part of the title and should be capitalized and italicized Short stories and short poems: “In Quotations” Letters of major words capitalized Prepositions with five or more letters: for instance, “to” would not be capitalized, but “Through” or “Between” would be! A Separate Peace The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 The Light Between Oceans

Quotations • You must cite every quote Use quotation marks to show the beginning and end of a quote: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country” Do NOT include periods or commas at the end of a quote, even if the quote is the end of a sentence in the book Periods go AFTER the second quotation mark and the parenthetical citation • In parentheses after the quote, put the author’s last name and the page number where you found the quote “After all you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal” (Knowles 48).

Supporting Sentences: Examples • Context/Lead-In = red; Example/Quote = blue; Analysis = green • Example in a sentence: Gene struggles throughout the story to understand what it means to be a friend. From the beginning, he shows his discomfort with getting close to others when he fails to return Finny’s sentiment that Gene is his “best pal” (Knowles 48). Later, when he visits Leper at his home, Gene feels deeply uncomfortable with Leper’s openness about his fears and eventually fights with Leper before literally running away from him. This discomfort helps reveal Gene’s doubts about himself: since he cannot accept himself, he finds it especially hard to be a good and accepting friend. • Quote in a sentence: Finny shows surprising affection on the beach, just before he and Gene fall asleep: “After all you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal” (Knowles 48). This brief emotional moment stuns Gene, who cannot bring himself to respond. Finny’s openness with his friends about his emotions – especially in a place where “exposing a sincere emotion … was the next thing to suicide” (48) – shows his unique courage, and helps explain why the others see him as a leader even after his injury.

The Transitional or Concluding Sentence • Transitional sentence Appears at the end of any body paragraph that is not the final body paragraph. Joins the current paragraph to the next by linking the topics or the analysis Uses transitional words and phrases (adverbs!) “therefore”, “as a result”, “consequently, ” “similarly” • Example: Ultimately, Brinker’s assertiveness makes the other boys accept him more than they accept Quakenbush, yet not as accepted as the kinder boys, such as Leper and Chet. • The Concluding Sentence, or “clincher” Can appear at the end of any paragraph, but must be at the end of the last body paragraph Restates or emphasizes the topic statement using new words and phrasing Pulls examples and details together to signal the end of the discussion of this topic (and the paragraph) • Example: As seen throughout the story, the outcasts of Devon School reveal the harsh ways the students judge themselves, excluding others based on their own insecurities. In a time of war, which calls for great unity, the consequences of excluding individuals lead to greater, deeper divides in the whole community.