Format
Always check the specific assignment for directions. If a specific assignment calls for a different format, you should follow those format instructions for that assignment only. Otherwise, the general format instructions below apply.

1. Double-space your paper.

2. Use 12-point Times New Roman as the font.

3. Set margins to one inch on all sides.

4. If you're using MS Word, make sure that no extra space is added between paragraphs.

5.  Papers must meet the length requirement stated in each assignment. Page length specified always means FULL pages. In other words, when the assignment sheet calls for 5 to 8 pages, the minimum length is 5 full pages. Works Cited pages do not count toward this minimum requirement.

6. Papers should be turned in with all required materials. Check each assignment for what's required.

7. Do not make a separate title page for your papers (though you must have a title). Instead, at the top left corner of the first page, type something like the following:
                    Name
                    Instructor’s name
                    Course
                    Date
                    Word count

Single-space this part. Then skip a line and type your title (centered, without underlining or quotation marks). Otherwise, follow MLA format guidelines for your papers.  Note that this header should appear only on the first page and not on the following pages.

8. Please number each page after the first in the top right corner, according to MLA format guidelines.

9. Papers must use MLA documentation style (details on how to do so can be found in the MLA Handbook and in many other standard handbooks as well as Purdue's online guide). Every quotation and paraphrase you use must be followed by a citation. When you quote from a short story or a novel, the quotation should be followed by a parenthetical citation giving the page number where the quotation can be found. When you quote from a poem, give the line number(s) in your citation. When you quote from a play, give the act, scene, and line numbers in your citation. In most cases (when the quotation is less than 4 lines long), the period should come after the citation. On those rare occasions when you quote more than four lines, indent the quotation 10 spaces from the left margin (keep the right margin consistent with the rest of your paper). For long quotations like this, do not use quotation marks, and put the citation after the concluding punctuation. At the end of your paper, include a Work(s) Cited entry listing the work(s) to which your paper refers.

10. In general, titles of short stories and short poems (pieces first published as part of a larger book) should be given in quotation marks. Titles of novels or long poems (pieces first published on their own) should be underlined or italicized.