MLA format is simply the way the paper should look when it is finished. It is not something to make your life miserable.
The complete guidelines can be found here: owl.english.purdue.edu
If you attend an English-speaking university, you may need to use other styles for papers. These include APA and Chicago style. They are very similar, but slightly different than MLA style.
Here are the guidelines
- Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper. (In this class, submitting papers via google docs or email is encouraged and recommended!!!)
- Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond).The font size should be 12 pt.
- Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks.
- Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. (This should already be done, so if you don’t know how to change them, leave them alone.)
- Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. (Press the tab key to do this)
- Do not add an extra space in between paragraphs.