The complete MLA 9th Edition Format Guide for Students

What is MLA 9th edition format?

MLA formatis a set of guidelines published by the Modern Language Association to provide the formatting rules and source citation methods in the humanities. You will encounter MLA format mostly in your English, literature, philosophy, and language classes, as these essay assignments are dependent on a common framework of order in order to ensure that ideas exist independently of formatting.

This guide includes all the rules concerning MLA format guide, general paper formatting, the formatting of the first page, running heads, headings, the Works Cited page, in-text citations, numbers, and tables according to the latest MLA 9th edition format, adopted in most US colleges since 2021. Should your class be based on the 8th edition, there is no need for concern since these rules will remain practically the same as a result of the fact that the 9th edition made things clearer than before.

General MLA 9th Edition paper formatting

The first thing in writing an MLA format essay is ensuring that the layout is correct. The format ensures that all papers have a similar look to enable concentration on the actual content. Here is what you should do before starting to write.

Another piece of information that students miss out on unknowingly is the page header. Your last name as well as the page number should be in the upper right hand corner of all pages and half an inch away from the top of each page. The Word processor program, such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs, can insert a page header.

Do all of this before writing a sentence for your paper. The advantage of most word processing programs is that you can store all these formatting options in a template document. This way, once you have formatted your font, margins, spacing, and header, you will be able to use the same document for every future MLA assignment.

MLA format title page (first page setup)

MLA First Page: It is quite a straightforward format. Contrary to APA format, there is no requirement of a separate title page for the majority of student essays according to MLA. All is started straight away from the very top of the first page.

You need to enter in the upper left-hand corner four lines, double-spaced as follows: your name, your professor’s name, course details, and due date. Your essay’s title will come next, and it should be placed at the center without any further formatting such as making it bold. Then, press the Enter key and indent by half an inch.

Every single next page will have the same header put in the upper right corner of that page – your last name followed by the page number. Failure to include it on just one page will be seen by many instructors as an omission in the format, simply because it is so easily noticeable when looking for MLA format requirements.

Without using the title page in MLA format as in the other styles (except for the paper’s abstract, which is unique to APA format), the importance of the title’s formatting becomes more pronounced. Make sure to center it, use correct capitalization (first word and the last word capitalized, with all other words capitalized except articles and prepositions), and refrain from any attempt at fancy decoration such as borders, graphics, or bigger fonts for the title.

Running head in MLA format

MLA header is written at the upper right-hand corner of each page of your essay along with your surname and page number written using Arabic numbers (Sharma 1). MLA header is written midway between the top of the page and the right margin of the page. This rule applies to all pages of your essay, including the Works Cited page.

The same header described in the previous page section deserves mentioning separately because it is the only feature of MLA format that should not change for every page of your paper, in contrast to margins and spacing, which your word processor remembers once you set them up.

Headings and subheadings

The main MLA format heading should be centered in the middle of the page. Subheadings are left-justified. Research paper headings follow the same rules as everything else and stay double-spaced, just like the body of the essay.

Consistency in your headings is the main guideline. You should always stick to the same style each time you use a certain heading level. Changing the format partway through a document implies incompleteness, no matter how properly all of the individual headings may be formatted.

Most of all, you won't have to include any headings in your undergraduate essay, since a consistent argument requires no section breaks. Headings will come in handy for your papers only if they consist of separate parts worth being highlighted.

The Works Cited list

According to the MLA style guide, Works Cited is always presented on a new page and begins with the title “Works Cited” in the middle of the page. The sources should be arranged in alphabetical order and double-spaced with a hanging indent where the first line of each entry is aligned to the left margin, while subsequent lines are placed ½ inches lower.

MLA follows a pattern of several core elements in each Works Cited entry in a certain order and with specified punctuation. This means that by learning only this sequence of core elements, the students will be able to compose an entry for any type of source.

In the MLA style, "container" refers to the source in which your source is contained. Articles can be found in journals, which can in turn be contained in databases. Chapters can be found in books, which can themselves be found within a series. Both of these levels must be included, and the order will guide a reader to your source.

Where you are referencing web sources, ensure you include a DOI whenever it is provided. Instead, use a URL that is stable for the purpose of “permalink” or “share,” rather than a URL that is unstable and long.

While alphabetizing your references, start by looking at the first word of every reference citation, which will be the last name of the author. In case you have no author for any of the references, look at the first word of the title, while disregarding “A,” “An,” and “The.” If you have cited two references by the same author, arrange them alphabetically based on their titles, replacing the author’s name with three hyphens in all but the first reference.

There are some sources which require two containers rather than one, and this is the point where many students usually get lost. The article which you found via library databases, in turn, is included in a journal, which is included in the database, so you should include both containers in your citation, providing publication data for each of them: the volume, issue, and pages of the journal, followed by the database and the DOI/URL of the source.

In-text citations and how to cite different source types

The main characteristic of the MLA citation format is that the parenthetical citation is linked to the Works Cited list through the author’s surname and the page number with no comma between them. This is one of the major distinctions from the APA style format.

Any work cited within the body of your paper should be reflected in the Works Cited page, constructed using the same order of elements as described above. Below is how the order of elements works for each of the sources that students use the most often, from the formats that you use frequently to those that you use rarely.

More source types

In-text citation rules beyond the basics

Block quotations

The use of block quotations in MLA citation style is unique compared to other citation styles and this is a rule that can easily be overlooked since it is used infrequently. As per the rule, when more than four lines of prose or three lines of poetry are cited, block quotations must be used.

Quotes need to remain rare. Professors are looking for analysis from you, not big blocks of other people' work, so save one for a point where the wording is critical, and quote the rest with an in-text citation.

Poetry follows a similar principle. Quoting up to three lines of verse will have each line on the same line in the paragraph with a slash showing where each line starts and stops, but when you get to four or more lines, you switch to a block quote, like any prose quotation.

Ellipses and brackets in quotations

If a quote has been shortened by the omission of some words from its middle portion, use an ellipsis to indicate the omission; an ellipsis consists of three periods separated by spaces: "The committee found that . . . further examination was needed." When changes have to be made to a quote, such as replacing pronouns with the names for which they stand, enclose the changes in square brackets: "[Alvarez] conveys the conflict between memory and myth."

Numbers in MLA format

Numbers in MLA style follow a simple rule: write them out when they are simple, and use numerals when they get more complex.

If the number starts a sentence, then it must be spelled out entirely, and the number can not be written with figures: "Twenty students attended the lecture." The logic of this rule is pretty obvious – the clarity of writing. There is no need to read an essay with figures all over.

When writing figures in large quantities within a sentence, that is, a quantity that requires more than two words to write in full, like 1,200 or 347, the figure can be used irrespective of whether it is a date, time, or percentage. Inconsistency within a paragraph takes priority over any other form of inconsistency.

Tables in MLA format

If your paper needs a table, give it a label and number in the order it appears, such as Table 1 or Table 2. Place a brief title identifying what the table shows directly below the label. Both the label and title are typed above the table itself, double spaced, in the same regular font as the rest of your paper.

Keep the table itself simple. Use the same font and size as your essay, align the columns and rows cleanly, and skip colored fills or heavy borders, since MLA formatting favors plain, readable data over decoration.

Put the table in proximity to its use in your document to minimize the effort involved by the reader in moving back and forth in the document. Every time you mention the table in your text, always mention it explicitly, for example, “Refer to Table 1.”

The same rule applies to the figures and graphs, with the only exception being the title under which they are referred to, known as "figure" as opposed to "table" and abbreviated as "Fig." when appearing in the caption. The reference to the source of the data or picture must come right after the table or figure.

How MLA compares to other citation styles

It’s not unusual for students to be exposed to several citation styles during their time completing their degree, and confusion about where a particular rule comes from is one of the main reasons for making a formatting mistake. Here are the distinctions among the three most popular formats.

If APA is needed for your class and not MLA, then the format guide for APA 7th edition will have all those rules explained with the same detail as here on this page.

It is best to verify that you really need the MLA style for your writing before beginning to format it, because using the wrong style of citation for a certain assignment is a big mistake to correct after the completion of the whole text.