Hey Are You Looking for How to make an MLA essay format in Google Docs? Academic writing has plenty of rules, following which might often be challenging. Every essay, aside from personal statements and narrative papers, must follow a specific formatting style. Depending on a discipline, you may have to use APA, Chicago, Harvard, and MLA. These are the main styles millions of students and scholars use daily. And it comes as no surprise that knowing them all, along with every bit of a rule, is impossible.
If you have to compose a paper in MLA, you have come to the right place. We will cover the topic, providing nuts and bolts on making an MLA essay format in Google Docs quickly and effectively.
What is MLA, and when is it used?
MLA stands for Modern Language Association. Usually, it is used by students and academics within Humanities, mainly English and Literature, Foreign Languages, Comparative Literature, and Cultural Studies.
However, MLA is also the required style when other fields, e.g., Social Sciences, rely on manuscripts produced in Humanities. This way, it is easier to navigate the document and find authoritative sources if need be.
According to professional writers who have been producing cheap custom essays for years, MLA tends to be one of the most frequently used formatting styles, together with the American Psychological Association (APA for short). So it is vitally important to know how to create an essay in Google Docs correctly.
What Does MLA contain?
Every educational institution reserves the right to modify the formatting style to make it unique. However, if your instructor requires following general guidelines, the MLA essay has:
- One-inch margins on all sides
- Easily readable font: Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri
- Font size 12
- Double-spaced interval throughout the entire manuscript
- Every paragraph indented
- A header with the writer’s last name and page numbers on the top-right side
- The first page with the writer’s name, the class information, and date on the left side
- A title centered on the first page right before the content
- A Works Cited page at the end of the paper with alphabetized MLA citations
The Easiest Way to Write an MLA Essay in Google Docs
Google Docs often has available templates that significantly reduce time writing the entire paper. Although they might sometimes be inaccessible (usually because of the style’s updates), it won’t harm to check them before writing the paper. If you can find them – you spend less time composing an essay. If not, you won’t miss anything. So, first off, go to File, select New, and then click on From Template. The list of available templates will appear in a new tab. Jump to the Education section and pick MLA. Do you want to know how to Superscript in Google Docs?
Once you find the document, click and open it. You will see a sample text showing what the document looks like in the MLA format. You can simply paste your text to the template and have your essay neat and clean.
Creating the MLA Document Manually: How to Do It Quickly
If you can’t find the document or don’t trust it, you can set up your own MLA version. Once you complete it, you can also create a reserve copy and use the document as a ready-made template for your other assignments.
- Open a new document. Change the font to 12. While several font types are acceptable, stick to a classic, Times New Roman.
- Then, click on Insert and choose Headers & footers. Here, you need to click on Header and write your last name in the top-right. When creating a header, keep in mind that the font settings change back to the default, so make sure to change them to the 12 size Times New Roman and type your last name (or any other font you use).
- Once you write the last name, select Options and adjust page numbers. The page number will appear after your name, and every subsequent page will have a relevant number.
- Click on the paper, find the toolbar at the top of the page and select Line Spacing – Double.
- An MLA title page contains the writer’s first and last name, the instructor’s name, the course number, and the date. All these must be found on the left side in separate lines. After the date, press Enter and Ctrl + Shift + E. Your text will be aligned to the center. Title your paper capitalizing the first letters of every consecutive word, press Enter, and select Left Align.
- Press Tab key to indent paragraphs.
- Once you write an essay, remember to create a Works Cited page. To do that, press Insert – Break – Page Break. Title your page the same way you title your essay at the beginning.
- Used sources should be alphabetized, written in the following order:
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title Of The Work.” The Publishing House. Year: Page. Print.
When writing citations, make sure to create a hanging indent for every source, as shown above. The easiest way to do this is to type all your citations and adjust them to the format afterward. Once you write all sources down, highlight them all and click on Format. Then choose Align & Indent – Indentation options. Click on the drop-down box under the word Special indent and select Hanging indent. Click Apply. Your citations now have a hanging indent.
And that’s it. Although setting up MLA format might seem tiresome and time-consuming, you can complete the entire process promptly. Using this guide, you will create an exemplary document for any papers that require following the MLA style. If you think we should do guides on other styles, like APA, leave your message in the comments section. Cheers!