Instructions to Format a Manuscript following Modern Language Association (MLA) Style in Corel Word Perfect


Setting Page Margins | Setting Line Spacing | Creating a Header | Entering Document Information | Formatting the Works Cited Page | Printing the Manuscript | Saving Your File

Set Top, Bottom, Right, and Left Margins to 1"

  1. Default margins are already set to 1" on all sides in Word Perfect.  Unless you've created your document somewhere else and you are not sure if the margins are correct, you can skip this step.
  2. To set the margins, select Format, Margins from the Menu Bar.
  3. Make sure the "Page Margins" tab is selected (see Figure 1).
  4. Enter 1" for each of the margin settings.
  5. Click OK.

Figure 1 Format Margin Dialog Box in Word Perfect.

Set line spacing to double spaced.

  1. From the Menu Bar, select Format, Line, Spacing.
  2. Change the spacing to 2.0 and click OK.

Create a Header with your last name and the page number.

Every page of a manuscript in MLA format has a header in the upper right-hand corner of the manuscript, approximately 1/2" from the top of the page.  To create the header and set the page numbering to automatically increment each page,
 
  1. Select Insert, Header/Footer from the Menu Bar.
  2. In the Header/Footer dialog box, select Header A and click on Create.
  3. Select Format, Justification, Right to place the header at the right margin.
  4. Type your last name and a single blank space.
  5. From the Property Bar, select #1 and choose Page Number (see Figure 2). (If you can't find the property bar on your screen, select View, Toobars, and make sure the Property Bar is checked.)
  6. Click the File Folder on the right-hand side of the Property Bar to close the header and return to the document.

Figure 2 Creating a Header in Word Perfect.
 

Enter document information.

  1. Type your name and then press the Enter key once.
  2. Type your professor's name, and then Enter.
  3. Type the course identification, and then Enter.
  4. Type the date.  Press the Enter key once only.
  5. Select Format, Justification, and Center.  Type the title of your paper, capitalizing the first word and all major words and proper nouns.  Do not use italics, boldfaced type, underlining, or all caps to format your title.  Do not type a period at the end of the title.  Press the Enter key once.
  6. Select Format, Justification, Left.
  7. Depress the Tab key to indent 1/2 inch to begin your first paragraph and begin typing your document.
Note: Do not hit the return or enter key at the end of a line; allow the word processor to automatically wrap the text to the next line.  Depress the enter key only once at the end of each paragraph, and use the tab key to begin a new paragraph.


Figure 3 A properly formatted MLA-Style paper.
 
 

Format the Works Cited page.

Immediately after typing the final line of your paper, depress the CTRL key and the ENTER key at the same time.  This will take you to the first line at the top of the next page.  Your header and page number should already appear.
 
  1. Select Format, Justification, and Center from the Menu Bar.
  2. Type Works Cited (do not underline, boldface, italicize, or enclose in quotes).
  3. Depress the Enter key once.
  4. Select Format, Justification, and Left.
  5. Select Format, Paragraph, and Hanging Indent.  Type your first works cited entry. (Note: For most sources, follow the guidelines for citation of sources in the 5th edition (1998) of the MLA Handbook; for electronically-accessed sources, follow the guidelines in The Columbia Guide to Online Style (1998).  Both of these style guides are available in the reference section of the library.  A brief style guide for Columbia Online Style is also available online at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html).
  6. At the end of each entry, depress the Enter key only once.  Do not introduce extra spaces between entries!
  7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each entry.  (Word Perfect also offers a handy shortcut; instead of moving your cursor to the menu bar and selecting Format, Paragraph, and Hanging Indent for each entry, you can instead simply hold down the CTRL key and the F7 key at the same time at the beginning of each entry.)
Figure 4 A properly-formatted Works Cited page in MLA format.
 

Print your manuscript.

Before printing, make sure your document is as finished as possible.  Run spell check (select Tools and then Spell Check) and correct any obvious spelling errors; read through the document on your screen and correct any mistakes you may find.  Read the paper again carefully after printing, too.  If necessary, make additional corrections and print it again.  Do not make pencil/pen corrections on your papers.
  1. Select File from the Menu Bar and then Print on the drop-down menu.
  2. In the Print Dialog box, select Print.
Note: If for some reason your document does not print, do not repeat these steps; ask the lab assistant or your teacher for assistance.

Save your file.

  1. Insert an IBM-formatted floppy diskette (3.5 inch) in the a:\ drive.
  2. Select File from the Menu Bar.
  3. Select Save As from the Drop-Down menu.  (Note: If you have previously saved this document to disk, you can just click Save and skip the next step.)
  4. Enter a file name in the space indicated in the dialog box (see Figure 5).  (Note: if possible, use file names no longer than 8 characters, containing no spaces or special characters.)  The word processor will automatically add the .wpd file extension for Word Perfect documents.
  5. If you need to save the file in a format other than Word Perfect, click on the arrow next to the File Type box (see Figure 5).  If you are unsure of the proper file type, choose RTF (Rich Text Format) for portability across applications.

Figure 5 Word Perfect "Save As" dialog box.

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© J. Walker, 2000.
Last modified 2 January 2000.
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