You should be aware that MS Word has several built-in features designed to “autocorrect” the text. This is because the program is designed for business users (for the most part), and often these corrections will not be appropriate for academic papers. However, you should realize that this feature is a problem. Here is a partial list of stupid “auto-corrections” that you might encounter:

1. The computer might try to turn prose text into outline format. You will suddenly observe your work as a numbered list.
2. In a similar fashion, the computer might take an outline and change the format – including its font, indentation, and text size.
3. The computer might try to change URLs into web addresses (highlighted in blue) which can be linked if the computer is online all the time. This is prohibited in MLA format. For example, a web address should read < http://www.mla.org> rather than http://www.mla.org.
4. The computer may convert ordinal numbers (such as 1st) to superscripted text (such as 1st). Most documentation styles do not allow superscripted text.
5. Initially, MS Word sets margins at 1.25 inches. MLA requires 1-inch margins. Consequently, you must correct this manually. To do so, the Mac user must click on the Format option of the menu bar (at the top of the screen), and select Document. Next, select Margins and adjust them to 1 inch. PC users should manually adjust the margin-ruler near the top of the screen.
6. Word users should also be aware that font changes take effect for text immediately following the changed word. Often students will change the font (for various reasons) and find that surrounding text incorrectly changes to that font.
7. Similarly, when you are cutting and pasting from web pages, you may accidentally insert new fonts or mistakenly apply this font to surrounding text.
8. Note that computer keyboards (unlike typewriters) do not actually have a dash key per se. You must use the Insert option on the menu bar and then choose Symbol. In MLA format, type two hyphens–like this–with no space before or after each hyphen to indicate a dash.
9. When typing ellipses, MS word will try to “correct” your spacing. MLA requires a space before and after each period (like this . . . ) but MS word will try to remove the spaces.
10. Finally, superscripts and subscripts can be problematic. As is the case with font changes, superscript and subscript changes will also affect all text immediately following the changed text.

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