Do you know those beginner guides that need a tutorial?
THIS is not one of those!
Let's start from the very beginning...
Open a new document! In your google drive (log in with your Gmail address!), Click this button!
Click the Document button, and a brand new document will open!
First things first... Change the title of the document to something that lets you know exactly what it is!
Google has this handy little summary thing on the left - it's like a table of contents. If when you type you change the headings to Title, Heading 1, or Heading 2 etc (click where it says "Normal text" and you get to choose!) it will leave you a table of contents. If you don't want to see it just click the left hand arrow at the top and it will hide it.
PAGE SET UP
MLA requires 1" margins all around.
Click "file" then "page setup"
Set everything to 1" (then click the set as default so you don't have to do this again!)
What if my Google docs is set to cm? AH! Here is a video tutorial to help you fix that OR just set it for 2.54 cm (this equals 1")
NOW for the Text formatting!
Type your essay into the document, then set it up to look like this:
How do I get my name and page number in that top piece????
It's called a header! Click "Insert", then "Header Footer", then "Header"
Now you need to type in the far right so you click the right justify button in the tool bar. And type your last name then comma. This will keep your typing on the far right.
You want the page number beside your name to automatically change on each page. As the picture shows, Click "Options" then "Page Numbers"
Unless you're doing something fancy - not for my courses - you just click apply because you want the page numbers to start at 1 and start on the first page!
Remember that picture about how to set up your page? Here it is again. Put your Name, course etc on the left just like it shows.
A couple things to note:
The Title:
in the center
no bold, no underline, no fancy font, not larger than the rest of the paper - kind of boring!
About Double Spacing:
Do NOT just go to the end of every line of your essay and hit the "enter" or "return" key twice! When you edit you will really regret it because you'll have to fix every single line!
Here's how to double space:
- Highlight all your text
- click the line spacing button on the toolbar
- Choose "double" - it will all be double spaced and stay perfectly double spaced no matter what editing you do!
THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT....
Until you're ready for Works Cited and In-Text citations!
CLICK HERE to read the blog on the easy peasy Google Docs method of Works Cited and In-Text citations