MLA Formatting requires indenting the first line of a paragraph one half-inch. The Microsoft Word First Line Indent feature will apply this MLA formatting automatically throughout your document.
To set First Line Indent to MLA standards:
- Select all your text by pressing Ctrl + a.
- From the Home Tab in the Paragraph section, Click the Paragraph Dialog box launcher. This will open the Paragraph dialog box.
- In the Special: section click the drop down arrow next to (none) and select First line.
- In the By: section change the number to 0.5".
This will automatically indent the first line of every paragraph one half-inch for the entire document. - Click OK.
MLA Style Topics
- Formatting font style and size
- Line and paragraph spacing
- Formatting document margins
- Endnotes
- Headers and page numbering
- Indenting in Word
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