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How to Make MLA Format Heading and Header in WPS Office (Step-by-Step)

April 12, 2024
3.2K Views

If you're using WPS Office and finding it challenging to grasp MLA formatting, fear not! There's a simple hack that can save you time and effort. By following just a few simple steps, you can streamline the process and ensure your document meets the MLA guidelines without the hassle of manual formatting. In this article, we'll guide you through the steps to how to make MLA format heading and header in WPS Office, allowing you to focus more on your content and less on formatting intricacies.

How to Make MLA Format Heading and Header in WPS Office

How to Make MLA Format Heading and Header in WPS Office

What Is MLA Format?

MLA format, crafted by the Modern Language Association (MLA), stands as a guiding beacon for scholars navigating the intricacies of humanities and liberal arts research and writing. It's more than just a set of rules; it's a roadmap ensuring consistency and clarity in academic discourse. Unlike its counterparts, such as Chicago or APA format, MLA finds its niche in the realms of languages, philosophy, and the arts, providing a structured approach to manuscript formatting, citation practices, and the creation of Works Cited pages.

In the realm of academia, especially within humanities courses, the likelihood of encountering MLA format looms large. It serves as a universal language, uniting researchers, students, and scholars under its standardized guidelines. While its roots may lie in literature and language studies, its influence extends far beyond, embraced by diverse academic disciplines seeking coherence in presentation.

Transitioning to the practical realm, the creation of an MLA heading demands attention to detail. Let's take a look at the key information that needs to be included as a header before proceeding with your work:

  • Your complete name

  • The name of your instructor

  • The course title and its corresponding number

  • The submission date

Following these details, MLA formatting diverges from other formats, and adhering to these guidelines is of utmost importance. Let's explore the specific formatting requirements of MLA:

  • Margins set to one inch

  • Lines spaced at double intervals

  • Text aligned to the left

  • Font size standardized to 12 points, and Times New Roman as the default font.

How to Add MLA Format Heading and Header in WPS Office

Consistency in citation style is crucial in academic writing. It's more effective to adhere to a single citation style rather than using various styles interchangeably. Inconsistency can cause confusion for readers as they rely on a consistent format to accurately interpret citations.

If you're using a writing application such as WPS Writer or MS Word, there isn't a direct method for adding an MLA heading to your document. To insert an MLA heading, it's important to understand the MLA format.

Let's have a look at the information required for an MLA format:

Information required for MLA Header

Information required for MLA Header

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Before we enter the information, let's ensure the important formatting of our document is set up correctly.

Step 1: Open create a new blank document in WPS Writer to format it into MLA Format.

Step 2: To set up the margins, visit the Page Layout tab, and ensure that the margins are set to 1 inch in the ribbon.

WPS Writer Page Layout tab

WPS Writer Page Layout tab


Step 3: Next, let's set the line spacing. Go to the Home tab and click on the "Line Spacing" icon.

Step 4: Now, in the Line Spacing options, click on "2" to set the document to double spacing.

WPS Writer Line Spacing

WPS Writer Line Spacing


Step 5: Then, change the Font to Times New Roman and the Font size to "12" in the Home ribbon.

 WPS Writer Font settings

WPS Writer Font settings


Step 6: Last but not least, ensure the text is left-aligned by clicking on the "Align Text Left" icon in the Home ribbon.

WPS Writer alignment

WPS Writer alignment


Step 7: Now, enter the MLA Header information in the correct format.

Step 8: Make sure to enter the Submission Date in the correct format; Day Month Year.

Add MLA Heading in WPS Writer

Add MLA Heading in WPS Writer

Adding a MLA running Head to your documents on WPS Writer

MLA headers are added, but some people also prefer adding a running header to their document, and this process with WPS Writer is really easy.

Step 1: Go to the "Insert" tab and click on "Header and Footer" in the ribbon menu.

WPS Writer Header and Footer

WPS Writer Header and Footer


Step 2: To insert the page number, click on the "Page Number" icon in the Header & Footer section of the ribbon menu.

Step 3: Select the "Header right" option to position your page number on the top right of the page as a header.

WPS Writer insert Page Number

WPS Writer insert Page Number


Step 4: In a running head, the last name appears right before the page number, so type in your Last name.

Insert Last name for Running head

Insert Last name for Running head


Step 5: The formatting of the running head should match the rest of the MLA-formatted document. Therefore, we will also set the font of our running head to Times New Roman and the font size to 12.

WPS Writer change Font and Font size of running head

WPS Writer change Font and Font size of running head


Step 6: To format the page number separately, click on it and select the page number to adjust its font and font size.

WPS Writer change font and font size of Page number

WPS Writer change font and font size of Page number


Step 7: In MLA formatting, the header's margin at the top should be set to 1/2 inch. To change the header top margin, go to the Header/Footer tab and enter "0.5" in the Header Height field.

WPS Writer Header Margin

WPS Writer Header Margin

 

Step 8: If there is additional space between the page number and the last name, you can reduce this space by moving the page number closer to the last name.

Step 9: Finally, review your document to ensure that your MLA-formatted running head is correctly set up in WPS Writer.

WPS Writer Adding MLA Running head

WPS Writer Adding MLA Running head

Tips:

Here are some additional tips for adding MLA headers and running heads in WPS Writer:

  • Position the running head in the upper right-hand corner, half an inch from the top margin and one inch from the right margin of the page.

  • Avoid using the word "page" or any abbreviations (e.g., p. or pg.) before the page number.

  • Format the title using title case, which means capitalizing the first letter of the title, the first letter of the last word, and the first letter of any adjectives, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, and verbs.

  • If your paper includes a subtitle, it should be placed on the next line below the title.

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Bonus: How to Generate MLA Format Online for Free

Understanding and being consistent with writing your references in MLA format can be a bit confusing, and honestly, there's no need to stress about it when we have tools that can do this work for us. If you're looking to generate MLA formatted references for your headers in Word documents, the Scribbr tool can be a great resource to use.

Let's take a look at how we can generate references in MLA format using Scribbr.

Step 1: Open a browser and navigate to the Scribbr Citation Generator Tool webpage.

Scribbr Citation Tools

Scribbr Citation Tools


Step 2: Scribbr Citation Tools can be used to generate references in several different formats. Let's select MLA in the "Citation Style" field.

 Scribbr Citation style field

Scribbr Citation style field


Step 3: Next, go to the "Cite" field, and enter the title, URL, DOI, ISBN, or relevant keyword of the work you wish to cite.

Step 4: Simply click on the "Cite" button to generate your MLA Format citation of the work you entered.

Scribbr Cite an article or webpage

Scribbr Cite an article or webpage


Step 5: You will now be redirected to a new page where you can view your citation. To copy the citation, simply click on "Copy to Clipboard".

Scribbr MLA Format Citation

Scribbr MLA Format Citation


Step 6: To take it a step further, Scribbr also provides a Citation Checker tool. By using this tool, users can check their previous citations for accuracy and consistency.

FAQs

1. Does MLA format have a running header?

Certainly! In MLA Style, a running header is a consistent feature found on every page of your paper. It typically consists of your last name followed by the page number, such as "Ash 5". This running header is positioned in the upper right corner of each page for clarity and uniformity.

2. How to do the header in MLA format on Google Docs?

To add MLA Format to Google Docs, simply follow these steps to set up your document:

Step 1: Open Google Docs in your browser and navigate to the "File" menu in the Menu toolbar.

Step 2: Click on "Page Setup" in the File menu. This will allow us to make changes to the page margins.

Google Docs Page Setup

Google Docs Page Setup


Step 3: In the Page Setup window, set all the page margins to 1 inch.

Google Docs change Page margins

Google Docs change Page margins


Step 4: Next, change the font and font size to Times New Roman and 12 in the Toolbar.

Google Docs change Font and Font size

Google Docs change Font and Font size


Step 5: In the Toolbar, click on the "Line Spacing" icon and set the line spacing to "Double".

Google Docs Line Spacing

Google Docs Line Spacing


Step 6: Your document is now prepared with MLA formatting. Insert your MLA Header and type in your work.

Google Docs Add MLA Heading

Google Docs Add MLA Heading


3. What are the key components and placement of the MLA header and running head in a research paper?

  • In MLA format, the header is present solely on the first page, while the running head spans the entirety of the document.

  • The header should feature the student's full name, professor's name, course title and number, and submission date.

  • It is located in the top-left corner of the page.

4. What distinguishes an MLA header from a running head?

An MLA header comprises the student’s name, professor’s name, course name and number, and submission date. Conversely, a running head features the student’s last name and the page number.

Streamlining MLA Formatting With WPS Office

MLA formatting is incredibly simple, particularly when it comes to how to make MLA format heading and header in WPS Office. The steps for setting headers remain largely consistent across all office suites. So, if you're already familiar with MLA formatting in one office suite, you can easily apply the same knowledge to others. WPS Office is an excellent choice for academic purposes, offering AI capabilities that enable efficient reading and extraction of specific information from your PDFs. If you haven't already downloaded WPS Office, now is the time to do so.

15 years of office industry experience, tech lover and copywriter. Follow me for product reviews, comparisons, and recommendations for new apps and software.