How-To Page for Projects and Papers in Microsoft Word for Windows or Mac using MLA 8 (2016)

Before you type the first letters on the page, you should do the following:

Check your margins – MLA formatting requires 1” margins on all sides Check your spacing – almost everything will be double-spaced Check your font – use a 12 point font, preferably Arial, Times New Roman,

or Calibri Check the box that says ““Don’t add space between paragraphs of the

same style”. See picture on page x (Windows) or x (Mac). Set up your header – this should be done using the header function, not

within the body of the paper.

If you are using Windows, it looks like this:

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Type your last name, add a space, then use the page number function to automatically insert the page #

Windows:

Here’s what that looks like in Word for Mac:

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When you are working on your Works Cited page, you will also want to set up the hanging indent before you begin entering citations. Do not use the space bar or tab key, use the hanging indent function. See the following pages for sample citations and a sample works cited page. Also, be sure to check the box “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style”.

Windows:

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Here’s how to do it on a Mac:

If you use EasyBib for your citations, you will need to check your information and formatting after you copy and paste it into your Word document. You cannot assume that it is correct and you will be graded on your format. Check the font size, spacing, and hanging indent.

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