Dr McConeghy's MLA Pages

Word Processing Problems?

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There are a few word processing problems that keep cropping up in papers. I use Microsoft Word 97... if you use some other word processor, you will have to consult your manual for help...

• Blue or Red Printing of HTML references
• Page Numbers
• Margins
• Force the Word Processor to Give you a blank page in the middle of the paper

The web address of a webpage is officially called a "url" (Uniform Resource Locator)

When you type in a "url" or web address, the word processor wants to show it as blue or red. This is a problem. You are not allowed to have blue or red printing in your MLA paper. And, it is common for printers to be out of colored ink, so when you print, words in blue or red may not show up at all. That would be bad! So you must not allow the print to stay red or blue. You must force it to be black.

To get the printing to be black, here are two ways to do it...

1. trick the computer so that the computer does not know that you are typing a web address. You can do this by breaking the http into pieces. When you type it in, type the http: then leave a space, then type the next part //mmcconeghy and leave a space, then .com/ then a space, and keep putting in spaces. The word processor will not recognize that you are entering a web address, so it will not turn it blue.

http://mmcconeghy.com/students/index.html

http: //mmcconeghy .com/ students/ index. html

2. Tell the computer to change the letters from blue to black. After the web address is typed in and turns blue, you can force it to be black by using the Format command. First you use your mouse to highlight the letters you want to change, then you use the command Format, Font, Color and choose Black as the color. That should do it. This might not work in some cases, so you will be stuck using method #1.

In MLA style you must have a page number in the upper right hand corner of the page on EVERY page including the first page and the Works Cited page, Figure pages, Table pages, etc. And, the page number must include your name (see Sample Pages).

These explanations below might sound a little confusing, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy.

In Microsoft Word, there is a command for "Insert, Page Numbers" but you cannot use that command because it does not allow you to insert your name. So, instead, you have to use a different command, View, Headers.

When you use the command View, Headers, then the header box at the top of the page appears. You have to type in your name, leave a space, and then use the Page Number command to insert the page number. On most computers, this Page Number command shows up as one of series of little icons in a box above the page. When you click the icon with the number sign in it ( #) then a number appears after your name.

OK, now we are almost set except for one thing. The page number on your printed paper has to be in the right hand corner. So you must highlight your name and use one of the commands for Right Alignment to get your name over on that right corner. Like this:

Jones 1

This page number will show up on every page automatically.

Tables are really great for showing lots of comparative information quickly and clearly. If you are writing your text and you want to refer to a table or figure, then you put some parentheses in your text like this (See Table 1). Then you put Table 1 on the next page so that the reader can immediately check it out.

The MLA Handbook specifically tells us that tables of data and figures (diagrams, maps, pictures) should NOT be in the Appendix; they should be in the body of the text as close as possible to the place where they are discussed. The MLA style allows the author to insert the table or figure directly into the text immediately between the paragraph where it is discussed and the next paragraph. This is good in some cases, but awkward in many other cases and it can really mess up the organization of your paper. Usually it works better if you put the table or figure on a page of its own. In order to get this to work you probably have to do what the word-processing guys call a "forced page break."

This is easy to do but a little hard to describe...

Suppose you are typing along in your paper and want to force the word processor to give you a new page, even though you are not yet at the bottom of the current page? Use the command CTRL-ENTER (that is, you hold down the ctrl key and press the Enter key).

When you use this command the word processor skips from wherever you are to the top of the next page. If you accidentally do this, you can use the backspace to take out the command.

For tables, let's say you want to insert a table in the text. OK, you are typing your paper on page one. You get to the bottom of page one where you refer to the table data in your text. Then the computer starts you on page two -- if you immediately use the CTRL-ENTER command then you will be shifted over to page three. Page two will be left blank. If you print out the paper page two will be left blank but it will be properly numbered, and so will all the following pages.

When you are ready to set up your table, you can go back to page two and type in whatever you want there... if you are going to put in a Figure, say a map, then you can type in the title and reference, leaving space for the diagram. After you print you can glue the map onto the page. Whatever way you do this, be sure that it is neat and tidy and businesslike. Make it look professional!