Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

EDIT: I was having trouble formatting an MLA template to be completely proper MLA format, but foxcole helped, as you can see below.

Remaining problem: I can't put a tab before footnote numbers in the footnote area. They act like bullets rather than text.

YAOMTC wrote:Even when I use the MLA template, Writer still does not comply with MLA standards.

Whoever set up the template was not thorough enough. It's just one created by an individual, as all templates are.

YAOMTC wrote:When a footnote is inserted, according to MLA, the number before the footnote should be superscript, and should be right before the footnote. It cannot be like that, and can't even be formatted to do so (at least, I don't see a way.)

Why not simply ask if there is a way, instead of stating it cannot be done? (I'm sorry, I am out of sorts today and things like that rub me the wrong way. I just see too many newbies ranting about how things can't be done---and I realize you're decidedly not ranting---when a civil question would have revealed that there is, after all, a way to accomplish what they need.)

Use File> Templates> Edit to edit your MLA template. In the Stylist (Styles and Formatting, F11) click the Character category and find Footnote Characters. Right-click on it and choose Modify. on On the Position tab, change to superscript. You might want to play with the scaling; I'm not sure whether MLA has a specification for that. Now when you insert a footnote, you'll see the number is superscript but the text is standard. You'll just need to hit Backspace to remove the space before text.

YAOMTC wrote:but even the placement of the header and footer is wrong; I cannot seem to make the header 0.5" from the top, and the footer 0.5" from the bottom, as it should be in an MLA paper.

Sorry for asking this, but are you sure you downloaded the correct template from that page?

If so, exactly how is the header set up? (I see it does not include a footer; does MLA allow for footers? Perhaps the footer is omitted for a reason... maybe it's not required for the papers you're writing.) The template appears to contain a properly formatted header, 0.5" from the top according to the ruler... have you changed it in any way? (To get a footer 0.5" from the bottom, you'd just need to look at how the page margins and header are set up, and adapt those to the foot of the page.)

Are you using A4 standard pages, as the template is set up for?

foxcole wrote:Why not simply ask if there is a way, instead of stating it cannot be done?

I don't know why I didn't ask this, actually. I always do. Hm... Must have slipped my mind.

foxcole wrote:Use File> Templates> Edit to edit your MLA template. In the Stylist (Styles and Formatting, F11) click the Character category and find Footnote Characters. Right-click on it and choose Modify. on On the Position tab, change to superscript. You might want to play with the scaling; I'm not sure whether MLA has a specification for that. Now when you insert a footnote, you'll see the number is superscript but the text is standard. You'll just need to hit Backspace to remove the space before text.

Hey, there we go. Thanks! The other problem I forgot to bring up, though, is that I can't indent the footnote number. It's not text; it acts more like a bullet. Can that be changed?

foxcole wrote:The template appears to contain a properly formatted header, 0.5" from the top according to the ruler... have you changed it in any way? (To get a footer 0.5" from the bottom, you'd just need to look at how the page margins and header are set up, and adapt those to the foot of the page.)

Are you using A4 standard pages, as the template is set up for?

Oh... Hey, it is. It looked off to me, for some reason... but it is right. It shouldn't be A4, though... It should be Letter. My computer seems to default to A4 on everything for some reason, and things print properly even if I don't change it. It's weird.

Okay, I figured that out: I had to change the Paragraph settings. Is there any way to make the footnote Paragraph settings stay that way in the template?

Same answer as in http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 980#p12980

YAOMTC wrote:Okay, I figured that out: I had to change the Paragraph settings. Is there any way to make the footnote Paragraph settings stay that way in the template?

They should stay that way because you changed them in the template... or did, if you edited the template as I noted thus:

Use File> Templates> Edit to edit your MLA template.

Is that what you did? If so, are you saying it doesn't stay changed?

Got it! Thanks for your help!