Formatting College Essays, MLA, Essays (university) of Technical Writing

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Formatting College Essays

MLA

What does a college essay look like?

• There is a standard format for academic essays that most instructors expect to see. The image on the next slide is of the first page of a college essay formatted in MLA. MLA is the style guide required in most humanities courses (English, art, etc.).
• Always ask your instructors what style guide they want you to use. Individual instructors may have requirements that are not addressed here.

Components in an essay

• Page number
• Identification header
• Title
• Indentation
• Spacing
• Margin justification

Page number Your essay should have a page number that includes your last name. The next slide will explain how to create a page number in the header in Word.

Identification header Your identification header should appear on the top left and include

• Your full name
• The date
• Your course number and section
• The name of your assignment

Title Every essay should have a title that relates to the essay thesis. In this example, the title explains to the reader that the essay will discuss the functions of the Green Man theme in medieval art. Titles should be centered. Titles should NOT be

• Bolded
• Underlined
• Italicized
• In a different font style or size

Inserting first line indentation Click on the Paragraph pull-down menu for indention options. Select first line indentation. You do not need to change any of the other settings. Click OK. As you start each new paragraph, it will automatically indent.

Double spacing Essays should be typed double-spaced Select double spacing. You do not need to change any of the other settings. Also, check the box so that extra spaces are not added between paragraphs. Click OK. Click on the paragraph pull-down menu for spacing options.