The MLA Handbook 9th Edition provides guidance for formatting your paper. Please refer to pages 1-14 of the manual for more formatting information.
Margins: Please use 2.54-cm (1-in) margins on all sides, including top, bottom, left and right.
Font: MLA recommends. using an easily readable font, such as Times New Roman, as one option. Sizing should be between 11 and 13 point. Please use the same font and font size throughout your essay.
Running Header and Numbers: All pages in your essay should contain the author of the paper and page number separated by a space at the top right of every page.
Further details can be found at the MLA Style Center.
Short Quotations
If your quote is no longer than four lines in your paper and does not require special emphasis you can put it in quotation marks and incorporate it into your writing (MLA 253).
Long Quotations
If your quote is longer four lines, the quote should be set off from the rest of the text as a block, half an inch from the left margin. Quotation marks are not needed for longer quotes. The line of writing before a block quote, should indicate the start of the quote with a colon (:).
Block Quotation with Parenthetical Citation:
Researchers have investigated the effects of new graduate nurse transition programs:
While the quality of existing evidence was quite variable, it was clear that new graduate nurse transition programs ease the move from student to practitioner. Perhaps the most significant finding of this review was the strong influence of bundled strategies that enhanced the quality of preceptor support and positively influenced the new graduate nurse transition experience (Rush 156).
Block Quotation with Narrative Citation:
Rush described the evidence regarding the effects of new graduate nurse transition programs:
While the quality of existing evidence was quite variable, it was clear that new graduate nurse transition programs ease the move from student to practitioner. Perhaps the most significant finding of this review was the strong influence of bundled strategies that enhanced the quality of preceptor support and positively influenced the new graduate nurse transition experience (156).
If you are repeatedly quoting from a source, you do not usually have to provide an in-text citation for subsequent quotations if it is clear from your writing that you are quoting again from the same source (263-4).