Skip to Main Content

Citing Sources

How to Set Up Your Paper

  1. OPEN MICROSOFT WORD
    1. Click on the Start button (lower left-hand corner).
    2. Type word, then select the Word App.
    3. A screen asking what type of document you want to use will appear. Choose “blank document.”
  2. SET THE FONT
    1. From the Home tab, in the Font group, change the style to Times New Roman
    2. Change the size to 12, using the drop-down arrows.
  3. SET THE MARGINS
    1. From the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Margins.
    2. For a paper in MLA Format, click Normal. This will create 1” margins on all sides.
  4. DOUBLE SPACING - Change line spacing
    1. Click on the Home tab. In the Paragraph group, click Line Spacing.
    2. Click 2.0, to select double-spacing. NOTE: To change the spacing of a paragraph or portion of the text, highlight the section that needs to be changed, open the paragraph group, and re-select the appropriate spacing.
  5. SETTING UP THE HEADER [Inserting your Last Name and Page Number]
    1. On the first page of the document, double click the header or footer area (on the top of the page).
    2. Under Header & Footer Tools, on the Insert tab click Page Number.
    3. Select, ‘Top of Page’ and “plain number 3” (right-hand side).
    4. When cursor is blinking, type your last name before the page number.
    5. Select the red Close Header box in the upper right.
    6. NOTE: To create a custom header or footer click the Different First Page check box and go to the next step.
  6. ENTER YOUR HEADING
    1. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Left Align
    2. Type in your heading information:
    • Your Name
    • Instructor’s Name
    • Course Title
    • Due Date (day month year)
  7. CENTER YOUR TITLE
    1. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Center Align
    2. Type your title. Press the Enter Key
    3. Select Left Align and continue with your document.
  8. WORKS CITED AND HANGING INDENTS
    1. At the end of your paper you must create a list of resources that you cited in your paper. This is called the Works Cited list on its own separate page. This list must be in alphabetical order and include hanging indents.
    2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Center
    3. On the first line of the reference page, center the words “Works Cited” (no bold, formatting,
    4. italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
    5. Beginning with the next line, type your citations. If a citation is longer than one line just keep typing and allow it to automatically flow onto the next line.
    6. At the end of your citation use the enter key to go to the next line to start the next citation.
    7. Once you are finished with all your citations highlight all of them.
    8. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the small arrow in the bottom right corner.
    9. In the indentation section click the drop down box labeled “special” and select “hanging” then click okay.
    10. Make sure the citations are still highlighted. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the sort button and click okay. This will alphabetize your entries.
  1. LOG-IN TO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT
    1. In the top right, click the menu button.
    2.  Select Google Drive from the list
    3. On the left-hand side, click New:
    4. Select Google Docs from the list
    5. Click Untitled Document in the top left to rename your document
  2. SET THE FONT: In the ribbon along the top of the page, change the style to Times New Roman and the size to 12, using the drop-down arrows.
  3. SET THE MARGINS
    1. Click File
    2. Select Page Set-Up
    3. Make sure the margins are all set to 1.
  4. DOUBLE SPACING - Change line spacing
    1. Find the line spacing icon in the ribbon.
    2. From the drop down menu, select double.
  5. SETTING UP A HEADER
    1. Select Insert along the top of the page.
    2. From the drop-down menu, select Page Number.
    3. Click on the first option with page numbers in the top right-hand corner.
    4. Your page number should appear on the top right-hand side of the page. If it is not on the right-hand side, you will need to change it. Click on Format, select Align, and change it to Right.
    5. With your cursor in front of the page number, click the enter button. This will drop your header down to the next line.
    6. In front of the page number, type your last name(s) and then click the space bar.
  6. HEADING
    1. On the first page of your paper, include a heading in the top left-hand corner.
    2. Your heading will include the following:
      Your Name(s)
      Instructor’s Name
      Course Title
      Due Date (day month year)
  7. WORKS CITED AND HANGING INDENTS
    1. At the end of your paper you must create a list of resources that you cited in your paper.
      This is called the Works Cited list on its own separate page. This list must be in
      alphabetical order and include hanging indents.
    2. To start a new page, look for Insert along the top of the page. From the drop-down menu,
      select Page Break from that list. This will put your cursor on a new page and you will be
      ready to begin your Works Cited page.
      1. Click on Format, select Align, and change the alignment to Center. At the top of the page,
        center the words: Works Cited (no bold, formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation
        marks).
      2. Beginning with the next line, type your citations. If a citation is longer than one line just
        keep typing and allow it to automatically flow onto the next line.
      3. At the end of your citation use the enter key to go to the next line to start the next citation.
      4. Once you are finished with all citations, highlight all of them.
      5. At the top of your document, there is a format option. Open the Format menu.
      6. In the format menu, select the option for align & indent. From this option, open the menu for indentation options.
      7. In the indentation options menu, make sure that left and right indents are set to 0. Then under special options, select Hanging to automatically format your highlighted citations with a hanging indent.
  8. SAVING: Google automatically saves your information. You will see the last time the information was saved along the top of the document.
  9. DOWNLOADING: You can download your document as a Word file. Click File, Download As, and then select your preferred Document type.
  10. PRINTING: Use the print icon within Google to print your document. If you try to use another print option in your web browser, it probably will not print correctly. Most likely, clicking the print option in Google will open a prompt asking if you want to open your document as an Adobe PDF. Select open and then you can print your document from within Adobe.