All You Should Know About MLA Style Heading on a Literature Essay
How to Format the Title, Essay Header and Personal Information
- You should include here your personal information. Keep in mind that MLA format doesn’t require a title page. However, you have to include your information in the upper left-hand corner of your first page. This information aims to identify you. So, you have to write there your name, your professor`s name, the class and the date. This information should go one by one. Don’t forget about double-spacing.
- Add a title. Right after your information, the title of your paper should go. The title should be in the middle of a paper. There are also some specifications concerning your title. For example, you should use title-case capitalization. Your title has to be descriptive. By seeing it, your readers should get the idea what will be in your paper next. Speaking about sub-title, it should be set off with the semicolon.
- Your document has to be double-spaced. You don’t have do it manually by yourself. There is a function which enables you to do that automatically.
- Create an essay header. It runs throughout the whole paper, like each page is labeled. It goes on the upper right-hand corner. Your first essay header should appear on the second page and be present till the end. It should consist of your last name and page number.
Speaking about page numbers, you don’t have to put “p” or “pg”, just the number. It will be enough. However, there can be some peculiarities. Always listen attentively to what your teacher is saying. There can be some specifications concerning the formatting. To create an essay heading you can use your word-processing software.
How to Deal with Your Section Headings
- First of all, you have to ask your teacher whether section headings are necessary for your assignment. If your teacher requires them, ask for some specifications and guidelines. Clarify everything to complete your paper in a proper way.
- It would be a great idea to divide your paper into some sections. You should do it to use headings. Each of your section should provide with one idea of your essay. Sections are only for papers with 6-10 pages or longer. In case your paper is shorter, you don’t necessarily need to create headings. Remember that each new idea should have its own section.
- Each section of your essay should have a number either. If we are speaking about MLA format, there should be a number in front of each heading. You can use Arabic or Roman numerals for it.
- You also need to give a name to each section. Appropriate title is important. It should be descriptive, providing readers with the idea of what will be said in the paragraph.
- Try to use some parallelism while creating your essay heading. It is a good idea to keep headers similar grammatically.
- Think about sub-sections. If your paper is rather long, it would be great for you to break your sections into some sub-sections. Keep in mind that in this case you will also need to create subheadings.
- Choose the style. MLA format doesn’t actually specify how your headings should be formatted. So, you can decide it on your own.
All in all, MLA style requires you to follow all rules and guidelines created by Modern Language Association. It specifies all the details how the essays should be composed and formatted. If you format your paper in the correct way, there will be more chances to succeed with it and make the grade. So, follow these tips to write proper essay headings in MLA style. Good luck with your writing!
