Part I: How to Format a Document - Commack School District



IMPORTANT: Format your paper BEFORE you begin typing. Trust me on this one!

A. OPENING A DOCUMENT

1. Open Microsoft Word Online.

2. Click New and then click Word Document (a blank document will open automatically).

3. Click on the upper bar and name your document. Be specific so you can find your work easily.

4. Margins default to 1 inch, which is what we want for MLA, so you don’t have to change them.

***Make sure your cursor is at the VERY TOP LEFT of your page before continuing. ***

B. FONT

1. From the Font tab, Select Times New Roman. (The default is Calibri.)

2. Select size 12 for the font size. 

C. LINE SPACING

1. Go to Paragraph on the menu toolbar and click Line spacing options.

2. On the Paragraph tab, check to see if under the Spacing section the “Before” and “After” boxes are set to 0 pt. (the default is set to .8 and must be changed to 0 pt.) Don’t change the “Indent” section.

3. On Line Spacing choose 2.0 for double-spacing. If your cursor is not at the very top of your page, your spacing will be incorrect, especially in your heading. Click OK.

D. STARTING YOUR WORK: MLA HEADING AND TITLE

1. Type the MLA heading (see example).

2. After the heading, press enter once.

3. Type your title. Center your title. Do not italicize, bold,

underline or put your title in quotes. After the title, press

enter once. (Remember your document is already formatted

for double space so you do not need to do it again.)

4. Press tab to indent the first sentence of your paragraph.

• There should not be any additional white space on the document.

• Use the “Writing Pitfalls” checklist to proofread all work.

• There is a difference between a header and heading. You must know

the difference.

E. HEADER and FOOTER

1. Go to Insert on the menu toolbar then Page Numbers, a header box will appear at the top of your page. Click on the box that will give you a number on the right hand side. The page number will be automatically inserted after your last name. DO NOT type in the number “1”—You must format the page number as outlined in this step or the page number will not change automatically when you go to the next pages in your document.

2. Type your Last name (capitalize the first letter of your last name) and press the space bar 1 time.

3. Change the font style to Times New Roman. Change the font size to 12 pt.

4. Place your cursor at the bottom LEFT of the page Footer. Write your footer (usually the Journal # or the assignment name.) Change the text to Times New Roman and the font size to 12 pt.

5. Go back to the body of the paper by placing your cursor in the middle of the page and clicking out of the header/footer. NOTE: The header and footer will “disappear” but will be there when you print. You can check to see if you formatted the header/footer correctly in “print preview.”

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EXAMPLE HEADING

Johan Smith

Mrs. Malone

English 10 E, Period 9

18 September 2019

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