MLA has no title page. Unless yours does.

The default: no title page

MLA 9 puts everything a title page would hold on page 1: the heading at the top left, the title centered under it, and the header at the top right. The first paragraph starts right after the title.

That is why a stray title page counts against some MLA papers: it repeats the heading and adds a page to the count.

Formatting the title

• Centered, on the line after the date, in the same font and size as the paper.
• Title case: capitalize the first word, the last word and every major word, including short verbs like Is and Be. Lowercase articles (a, an, the), prepositions (of, in, with) and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) in the middle.
• No styling: no bold, italics, underline, quotation marks or larger size. Titles of other works inside yours keep their own styling: Sleep and Memory in Hamlet.
• A subtitle follows a colon and starts with a capital.

• CorrectSleep Is Part of Studying
• CorrectWhy Students Cut Sleep, and What It Costs Them
• WrongSleep is part of studying

When your instructor asks for one

The MLA Style Center says to follow your instructor’s directions when a title page is required. Without directions, a common layout is:

• The title, centered about a third of the way down the page.
• Below it, centered: your name, the instructor, the course and the date, each on its own line.
• No page number on the title page unless the instructor shows one.

Then ask one more question: does page 1 still get the heading? Many instructors who want a title page want page 1 to start with the title alone. Do what they say, and keep the header on every page.

Common mistakes

1. An APA-style title page. APA and MLA are different. An MLA paper does not need the APA layout or bold title.
2. A bold or enlarged title on page 1. Plain text, same size.
3. Title case by guesswork. In MLA, Is, Be and Are are capitalized: they are verbs, however short.

Questions