Are you trying to complete a paper for a submission and you’re having trouble getting all the formatting rules down to a tee?
Do you not know how to apply MLA format to Google Docs?
If that’s the case, it’s no surprise.
As simplified as Google Docs is as a word processor, formatting after specific rules and criteria can sometimes be difficult. And with something as important as an MLA format on official essays and papers, it’s the last thing anyone wants to deal with.
Fortunately, what the app lacks in some areas, it makes up for in others. Working off an MLA format is easy in Google Docs because it’s available as a template in the app’s gallery. Therefore, you can start working on a new document with all the rules applied on every page.
In this article, you’ll learn how to find the template, start a new document based on it, and ensure that your paper meets academic formatting standards.
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Get Started TodayMLA formatting is a specific format developed by the Modern Language Association. Its purpose is to make papers and assignments easier to read and supported by professional writing services. In Google Docs, this type of formatting can be configured manually or applied as a standard template, the latter being the easier and recommended route.
As mentioned, the main purpose of MLA formatting is making a document easier to read, due to its spacing rules. It’s also important if you want to make in-text citations. For academic essays or research papers it’s a universally accepted standard format. If you don’t use it, your document might not meet the submission requirements. However, if you pay for essay you won’t face this problem and professional writers will take care of it.
It’s also important to use the MLA formatting template to properly highlight the author, date, field of study or topic, as well as the advisor on the paper, on the first page.
Formatting your document with MLA rules by hand can be tedious, especially if you don’t have your cheat sheet with all the specifics on hand. Yet with Google Docs you can easily apply this format to a new document by using the template gallery.
First bring up Google Docs and click on the ‘File’ button. Then start a new document from a template.
Scroll down until you reach the Education section. Click on the MLA report as shown in the above picture. Your template should look like this:
You can then delete the template text and start typing in your document and Google Docs will stick to the MLA formatting rules.
If you do want to manually input formatting rules, here are the things you have to keep in mind:
Yet making small adjustments to formatting in Google Docs can still be time-consuming and unintuitive. That’s why starting a new document from the MLA format template is the best way to go when writing an academic research paper or essay.
As you can see, there’s really nothing to it when it comes to using MLA formatting in Google Docs. The app does the bulk of the work for you. All you have to do is type in your text, save, and upload or print the document.
The template gallery has plenty of examples for other formats too, hence the reason why the app is so simplified in terms of custom formatting options. Its overall design works to your advantage as it allows you to save time on detailed configurations.