Writing Textbooks Boundless Writing Writing a Paper in MLA Style (Humanities) MLA: Structure and Formatting of Specific Elements
Writing Textbooks Boundless Writing Writing a Paper in MLA Style (Humanities)
Writing Textbooks Boundless Writing
Writing Textbooks
Writing
Concept Version 5
Created by Boundless

MLA: First Page

MLA style has specific formatting rules for the first page of your paper.

Learning Objective

  • Arrange the first page of an MLA paper correctly

Key Points

    • Everything on your first page should be double-spaced, just like the rest of your paper.
    • Your first page should include your name, your instructor's name, the course title, and the date. This information should be left-justified at the top of the page and double-spaced.
    • The title of your paper should come immediately afterward and should be centered horizontally.

Full Text

Like the rest of your paper, everything on your first page, even the headers, should be double-spaced.

The following information should be left-justified at the top of the first page (in the main part of the page, not the header):

  1. on the first line, your first and last name
  2. on the second line, your instructor's name
  3. on the third line, the name of the class
  4. on the fourth line, the date

These elements should not be bolded, underlined, or italicized.

On the next double-spaced line should come the title of your paper. This should be centered and in title case, and it should not be bolded, underlined, or italicized (unless it includes the name of a book, in which case just the book title should be italicized).

On the next double-spaced line after the title, you should start the first paragraph of your paper.

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