Do Reflective Essay

Student 1

Suzy Student

Professor Page

English 1301

15 December 2010

MLA Format for Essays and Research Paper (for Microsoft 2007)

This is a sample page to show and explain how to format your Reflective Essay using

Word 2007. The first thing you should do before typing anything is to set your Font Size to 12

and your Font to Times New Roman. Next, within the Home Tab, open the Paragraph menu

box. On the Indents and Spacing tab, go to Line Spacing and choose Double. Make sure the

Before and After Spacing is set at 0. Click Okay to close this after it is set.

Now you should set your margins for the paper. All papers require 1” margins for Top,

Bottom, Left, and Right. To set margins, click on Page Layout Tab, and then choose Margins.

Select the Normal option to set your margins (top, bottom, left, right) to 1”. Open the Page

Setup menu box and select Layout. Make sure that the Header and Footer margins (on the

Layout Tab) are already set for 0.5”. Click on Okay to set this.

Notice that the header of this sample page has the student’s last name and page number

at the top right corner. Set the page number first by clicking on the Insert Tab and then clicking

open the Page Number menu. Select Top of Page, and choose Plain Number 3, which will set

your page number at the top right corner. (On your blank page, a blue Header line will appear.)

While your cursor is at this number 1, type in your last name with a space. This action should

place your last name next to the page number. Then click Close Header and Footer (Red X on

Menu Bar). All of your pages will then have the same header and will automatically paginate.

Student 2

Your heading will always be at the top left and will be in the order of your name,

instructor’s name, class name, and the date an assignment is due. Notice that the date is inverted

with the day first, then month and year.

Notice that there is no extra line spacing anywhere in this sample. All lines are equally

double-spaced; therefore, do not double-double space between the date and the title, between the

title and the text of the paper, or between paragraphs. Also notice that the title of this sample

paper is properly centered (using the Center Align icon on the Home Tab), has no italicized

words, is not underlined, and is not in bold print. (Be sure to take off the Center Alignment and

return to the Align Left icon before beginning the text of your paper.)

Make sure that you follow these directions when you type your papers. It is important

that your formal essays and research paper maintain the proper MLA format.