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MLA Format Microsoft Word 2011 – Mac OS X

This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up Microsoft Word 2011 on Mac OS X for your MLA Format essay.

It is very easy and we are going to accomplish the following settings:


How to Set the Font and Size:

  1. Click on the Home tab.
  2. Click on the drop-down arrow on the right size of the font (as seen below) => scroll down until you find Times New Roman then click on it.
    word2011-mac-font-size
  3. Click on the font size drop-down arrow and click on 12.

How to Set the Margins in Word 2011 – Mac:

  1. Click on the Layout tab.
  2. Under Margins, change the margin for all sizes top, right, bottom, & left to 1.
    word2011-mac-margins

How To Create a Header in Word 2011 – Mac:

To create a header with your Last Name and automatic page numbering on the top of every page, follow these steps.

  1. Click on View.
  2. Click on Header and Footer.
    word2011-mac-headers
  3. Notice the Header is now opened with your cursor blinking on the left => click on the Align Text Right icon to bring the cursor to the right.
  4. Also notice the font is NOT Times New Roman => click on the font and set it to Times New Roman.
    word2011-mac-headers2
  5. Type your Last Name (no need to leave a space after your last name).
  6. Click on Insert => Page Numbers => click OK and done since the default settings (align right and show number on first page) are perfect.
    word2010-mac-headers3
  7. Click on the Closebutton and done. Your completed work should look like this:
    word2011-mac-headers4

How to Setup Line Spacing to Double Spaced:

  1. Click on the Line Spacing icon.
  2. Click on 2.0 and done.
    word2011-mac-line-spacing

How to Enter the First Page Information:

  1. Type your full name => press Enter.
  2. Type your professor’s name => press Enter.
  3. Type course title => press Enter.
  4. Type your paper’s due date => press Enter.
  5. Click on the Align Center icon on the formatting toolbar (to center your blinking cursor) => Type the title of your paper, capitalizing the first letter 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 Enter.
  6. Click on the Align Left icon (to bring your blinking cursor to the left).
  7. Click on the Tab key to indent 1/2 inch to begin your first paragraph. Use the Tab key on every next new paragraphs. Your completed setting should look like this:
    word2010-mac-firstpage

How to Setup the Works Cited Page:

Follow this how-to when you are ready to work on your Works Cited page. The Works Cited page has the following characteristics:

  • A heading “Works Cited” centered one inch below the top edge of a new page. Do not bold or underline this heading.
  • No indent on the first line of each entry. If an entry runs more than one line, indent the subsequent line or lines 1/2 inch from the left margin.
  • Alphabetize entries in your list of works cited by the author’s last name, using the letter-by-letter system.
  1. Immediately after typing the final line of your paper, click on Insert => Break => Page Break (to begin a new page). Your header with your last name and automatic page numbering should appear at the top right of your paper.
    word2011-mac-workscited
  2. Click on the align center icon so that the text is centered.
  3. Type Works Cited (do not underline, boldface, italicize, or enclose the title in quotation marks).
  4. Press the Enter key once to begin a new line.
  5. Click on the align left icon so that the text is aligned left.
  6. The feature to setup indentation on the subsequent line/lines is called Hanging Indent. To setup hanging indent, click on Format => click on Paragraph => under Special, choose Hanging => the value on “By:” should now be automatically set at 0.5″ => click OK to finish.
    word2011-mac-workscited2
  7. Now type your sources. If you have Internet sources, when you type in the URL, Microsoft Word automatically apply the hyperlink to it. You should remove the hyperlink by right-clicking on the URL => Hyperlink => Edit Hyperlink => Remove Hyperlink.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Take care!

{ 16 comments… add one }
  • Pavan November 20, 2019, 5:27 pm

    This page helped me a lot ??Thank you Thank you so much ❗️❗️❗️

    • karan November 20, 2019, 5:32 pm

      same it also helped me a lot

  • Liz Rose March 22, 2019, 2:53 pm

    This site was wonderful…I’m submitting my qualifying exam today and it’s always a panic to remember how to do the formatting. Thank you!

  • Anthony May 18, 2017, 1:18 pm

    This helped me cure my illness

    • Kprok November 7, 2019, 9:13 pm

      Same here! Cured my asthma 🙂

  • Cassidy May 11, 2017, 3:26 pm

    This page helped me so much! So quick and easy! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

  • Sara February 15, 2017, 9:34 pm

    This page helped me a lot! Thanks so much! 🙂

  • Salina Bujosa July 13, 2016, 12:40 pm

    Thank you! Very helpful!

  • Melissa March 14, 2016, 8:15 pm

    Make note that your page number in the header might not be in the proper font, either. You will have to highlight it in its box and select the desired font to correct the issue, similar to as you did with choosing a font for your last name in the header.

  • Mason December 13, 2015, 5:27 pm

    Thank you! Very helpful!

  • Jayne Tinega December 1, 2015, 12:24 pm

    Great way to do the paper and get the work done in the limited time given by the professor. Before i could take even two days trying to figure out how to put page numbers, header and footer notation and margins settings but with MLA i have become an expert. Thanks for generating this with us in mind.

  • Aziz June 17, 2015, 8:52 am

    You are amazing!! plus easy to understand.

  • Jonathan April 23, 2015, 9:47 pm

    Super helpful thanks!

  • Laila April 15, 2015, 3:00 pm

    THANK YOU!
    Never heard of MLA before when I started school here in the States (just migrated here).
    This was super helpful 🙂 I get it now!!

  • Courtney March 30, 2015, 10:38 pm

    Thank you so so much! This saved a ton of time and research. Amazing tutorial!

  • Laura November 3, 2014, 11:07 pm

    I can not tell you how many hours I have struggled on both of my Mac laptops, on both Pages and Word, to figure out how to get the page numbers to sort correctly with my name up in the header. FINALLY I found this page. Many, many thanks. For something so simple, it’s truly baffled me all night!

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