The Columbia High School MLA guide is intended to provide guidelines useful to students in writing and  formatting reports and projects for their classes. These guidelines are based on the 7th edition of the  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibladi, which most CHS teachers have agreed  to use as the  format for CHS.

  Formatting Your Report or Research Paper

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers recommends that students use the following

guidelines when preparing papers for classes.

• Use standard, readable typeface. Columbia High School teachers require Times New Roman in 12 pt. size. Using Microsoft Word go to Format, Font and select Times New Roman and 12 pt. size.
• Go to File, Page Setup and set the Right, Left and Top margins to 1 inch. Set the Bottom margin to .9.
• Use double-spacing throughout the paper. Go to Format, Paragraph and locate Line Spacing and click on Double.
• To keep the Bottom margin at the required 1 inch, go to Format, Paragraph. Click on Line and Page Breaks, and take the check mark out of the Widow/Orphan Control. Click on OK.
• Pages are numbered consecutively throughout your paper. Go to View, Header and Footer. Type your last name only. Click on the Right Align button and then hit the space bar one time. Click on the Insert Page Number button on the Header and Footer toolbar. This inserts the page numbers automatically.
• Even with the left margin, type your name, your teacher's name, the name of your class, and the date. See the example below for the format to use for the date. All of this information is double-spaced.
• Double-space again and center the title of your paper. Do not underline the title or use quotation marks or put it all in capital letters.