MLA 9 heading block and running head: what goes on page 1 and what gets marked

MLA 9 does not use a title page. The first page carries everything a marker needs to identify the paper, in a fixed order: a four-line heading block, the title, and a running head. Every line of it is double-spaced like the rest of the paper, in the same 12-point typeface. Upload the paper to the free MLA format checker to see each of these items checked.

The heading block: four lines, top left

The block sits flush left at the top of page 1, one item per line, double-spaced, with no blank lines between them and no bold:

1. Your full name
2. Your instructor's name, as they style it (Professor Okafor, Dr. Lin)
3. The course number and name (ENG 102, English Composition)
4. The date, written day month year: 15 September 2026

That date format is the one MLA specifies; "September 15, 2026" is the common slip. Nothing else belongs in the block: no student number, no email, no word count unless the assignment asks for one.

The title: centred, plain, on the next line

The title goes on the line immediately after the date, centred, in the same typeface and size as the text. It is not bold, not underlined, not italic, not in quotation marks, and not larger. Use title case: capitalise the first word, the last word, and every principal word. Italics appear in a title only for something that is italicised anyway, such as the name of a novel you are writing about.

The body text starts on the line after the title, indented half an inch. There is no extra blank line above or below the title; double spacing is the only space.

The running head: surname and page number, top right

Every page, including the first, carries a header half an inch from the top and flush with the right margin: your surname, a space, and the page number. "Okafor 1", "Okafor 2". No comma, no "p.", no "Page". In Word this is a header with a page-number field, so it counts itself; typing the numbers by hand is the second most common error in MLA papers, because the numbers stop matching after the first edit.

If your instructor asks for no running head on page 1, that is a course rule overriding MLA, and worth following.

What gets marked

Markers working from an MLA rubric look for these four things on page 1 before they read a word:

• A title page where there should be none. Students used to APA add one. MLA puts everything on page 1.
• A styled title. Bold, underlined, larger, or in quotation marks. Plain and centred is the rule.
• A missing or wrong running head. No surname, page numbers typed by hand, or a header only on some pages.
• The date in the wrong order, or the heading block right-aligned or centred.

The formatter sets all four: it centres the title and strips emphasis from it, keeps the heading block flush left, and builds the running head from the surname on your first line, with a page-number field that updates itself. The MLA paper formatter does the whole page; the checker shows you each item first.