Citing A Doctoral Dissertation In Mla Format: A Step-By-Step Tutorial

MLA or Modern Language Association writing style is commonly employed by maximum students of US University to write research papers on various subjects. The doctoral dissertation in MLA format should include text citations, endnotes, footnotes etc in an organized format.

General format: MLA style is used to build credibility and accountability of the sourced material. It is implemented to prevent the writer from the accusation of plagiarism. For a perfect piece of doctoral dissertation, students must follow MLA Handbooks of Research Papers. These are written by experienced writers and can assist you with the appropriate guidelines. Apart from that graduate students can also refer to MLA Style Manual and Guides to Scholarly Publishing. These books can be easily availed from the writing centers, libraries, bookstores and MLA websites.

General guidelines for paper format:

• The paper typing should be on 8.5 x 11 inches paper.


• Times New Roman 12 Pt. is the most legible format to be considered.


• When you want to cite titles for longer works they should be written in Italics. It offers emphasis to your work.


• Regular and Italics style are best considered for contrast writing purposes.


• Double space should be used while writing the text.


• 1 inch margins should be used from all sides.


• Leave one space after periods and punctuation marks.


• Whenever writing the first paragraph, the first line should be indented one half inch from the left margin. Use tab key instead of pushing the space bar 5 times.


• Create a header for consecutive numbering on all pages on the upper right hand corner of the page. It should be on the right margin 1,5 inch from the top.


• Include all the endnotes on a separate page before the “works cited page”. Your section notes should be entitled in the centre in unformatted way.

How to format the first page of your doctoral dissertation paper?

• Title page should be created only when specified by the instructor.


• A header should be created on the upper hand corner and should include your last name after the page number. Page numbers should be consecutively written in Arabic Numerals
• 1,5 inch from the top on the right margin.


• List your name, personal instructor’s name (for the allotted course) and the date on upper left corner with double spaced text.


• Align the title in centre with double space. Never underline, italicize or use quotation marks. The title should be in title case but not all capital letters should be used.


• Quotation marks should be used for referring other types of work in the title.


• Ensure that you follow your instructors’ guidelines strictly.