CiteFast › MLA format

MLA format (9th edition)

How to lay out a paper in MLA style, following the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (2021): the heading, header, spacing and the works-cited page.

Page setup

  • Margins: 1 inch on all sides.
  • Font: a readable font such as Times New Roman, 11–13 pt (12 pt is the usual choice).
  • Spacing: double-spaced everywhere, including the heading and works cited.
  • Header: your last name and page number, top right: Hernandez 1.
  • Paragraphs: indent the first line half an inch.

First-page heading

Page 1Hernandez 1

Maya Hernandez

Professor Okafor

English 102

14 October 2026

Memory and Place in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Morrison opens the novel with a house rather than a person, and the choice shapes everything that follows…

Quotations

Short quotations run in the text with the citation before the full stop: “…the teachings of plants” (Kimmerer 45). Prose quotations longer than four lines become a block quote: start a new line, indent the whole passage half an inch, drop the quotation marks and put the citation after the final punctuation.

Works cited page

  • Start a new page titled Works Cited — centred, plain text (no bold).
  • Alphabetise by the first word of each entry (usually the author’s last name; ignore A, An, The).
  • Hanging indent of half an inch; double-spaced.
  • Leave out “https://” from URLs; use a DOI when there is one.
Works CitedMLA 9

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013.

Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick. “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature, vol. 171, no. 4356, 25 Apr. 1953, pp. 737–38, https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0.

Build yours with the MLA citation generator, which also has a step-through explainer of the nine MLA core elements.

MLA format questions

Is MLA format double-spaced?

Yes. MLA 9 double-spaces everything — the heading, the body, block quotations and the works-cited list — with no extra space between paragraphs.

Does MLA need a title page?

No. Put a four-line heading (your name, instructor, course, date) at the top left of the first page, then the centred title. Use a title page only if your instructor asks for one.

How do I format the date in MLA?

Day month year, with no commas: 14 October 2026. In works-cited entries, abbreviate months longer than four letters (Oct., Sept.).

What goes in the MLA header?

Your last name and the page number, top right, half an inch from the top: Hernandez 3.

Should the works cited be on a separate page?

Yes. Start it on a new page, title it Works Cited (centred, not bold), alphabetise the entries and use a half-inch hanging indent.