MLA Formatting Guide for Academic Papers

Introduction to MLA Style

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is commonly used in the humanities, especially in the fields of language and literature. MLA provides guidelines for formatting papers, citing sources, and creating works cited pages.

Title Case in MLA Style

When capitalizing titles in MLA style, follow these rules:

• Capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words
• Principal words include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions
• Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the), prepositions (at, by, to, etc.), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet), or the "to" in infinitives unless they are the first or last word of the title or subtitle

Examples of MLA Title Case

Here are some examples of titles properly formatted in MLA style:

• "The Symbolism of Light and Darkness in Heart of Darkness"
• "To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Social Justice Themes"
• "Walking through the Valley: Imagery in American Poetry"

Using Our Title Case Converter for MLA Style

Our Title Case Converter makes it easy to format your titles according to MLA style. Simply paste your text, select "MLA" from the style options, and get perfectly formatted titles instantly.

Other MLA Formatting Guidelines

Beyond title capitalization, MLA style includes guidelines for:

• Paper formatting (margins, font, line spacing)
• In-text citations
• Works cited page formatting
• Quotations and block quotes
• Headings and subheadings

For more information on MLA style, visit the official MLA Style website.