The MLA Dissertation Writing Style: A Quick Guide


The Modern Language Association (MLA) developed a writing style that is used by many schools. It is a set of guidelines designed to make your paper easy to read. It explains how your paper should look and how to cite your sources so that the authors receive credit for their work. You need to pay attention to detail because if you miss a small detail you aren’t following the guide. That can be anything from incorrect margins to double spacing the wrong section. Here is a quick guide to help you make sure that you are doing it right.

  1. Use standard sheet of paper to print out your dissertation. It should be double spaced and in a font that is easy to read like Times New Roman. You can use any type of font as long as the italicized words differ significantly from the standard words. Use font size 12.
  2. When it comes to spacing your MLA dissertation, there should only be one space after punctuation marks. The margins should be an inch on all sides. Indent each paragraph a half an inch using a set tab key.
  3. In the header, you will need to put the page number flush to the right margin in the upper right corner of the page.
  4. There is no title page for a MLA dissertation. You will put your name, your teacher’s name, the name of your course, and the date in the upper left hand side of the page. Then center the title of the paper. This should be double spaced as well and a double space between the title information and the title of the piece.
  5. All endnotes should be included in a separate section that would go before your reference page which is called a Works Cited page.
  6. All sections need to be centered but should not be in bold, italicized, or underlined. You should put these sections in first and then add the rest of your material by section to help break the assignment down. Writing a MLA dissertation can be a really hard thing to do and if your break it down, it is easier to accomplish.
  7. There is a specific way to format your sources. This is something that you should get a guide for because every type of source is a little different. Plus, most research libraries will give you the option to automatically format the citation information for you.