instructions to michael smith

Dr. Rusty Spell

English 131

Formatting

· Font is Times New Roman, 12 pt.

· One inch margins all around.

· Insert page numbers top right and make sure they are in Times New Roman, 12 pt.

· Half inch header and footer margins. This setting is usually found in Page Layout > Page Setup > Layout.

· Paragraph Alignment = Left. Not "Justified."

· Double Spacing.

· Indent paragraphs by hitting tab. Set left "Indent" (usually under Page Layout) to .25".

The following settings are often overlooked by students, so make sure you apply them.

· Remove extra spaces between paragraphs by changing the "Before" and "After" spacing to zero. (By default, it is often set to eight or ten.) This setting is found in the "Paragraph" settings usually.

· Remove the Widow/Orphan Control (usually in the "Paragraph" setting, under the "Line and Page Breaks" tab) by un-checking "Widow/Orphan Control." If your margins ever seem extra large on some pages, it may be because it is checked. (It is worth noting that a properly-formatted page will contain 23 lines of text, not counting the page number).

Header and title instructions.

· Include five lines in your header at the top left: 1. Your first and last name. 2. The professor's name. 3. The course name (English 131) and our class's section number. 4. The date. 5. The assignment name and the version if present (for example, Essay 1: First Version). (Number 5 on this list is not MLA style, but I have added it.)

· Do not create your header as a header that repeats on each page. Simply type it once on page one. Keep it double-spaced like everything else.

· Center your title with no special formatting (no bold, italics, quotation marks, etc.), capitalizing each major letter. Keep it double-spaced like everything else.

Other instructions.

· If you ever want to go to the next page (for example, to begin a new works cited page), simply hit "Control" and "Enter" at the same time.

· You may include graphics in your essays, but when determining how long the essay is, only count the text.