APA stands for the American Psychological Association. This format type is most often used for research papers, specifically those in behavioral sciences (such as psychology and neuroscience) and social sciences (ranging from archeology to economics). Because APA is often used for more research-focused papers, they have a more specific format to follow compared to, say, MLA style.
After your title page, your paper begins with an abstract. The abstract is a single paragraph, typically between 150 to 250 words, that sums up your research. It should include the topic you’re researching, research questions, methods, results, analysis, and a conclusion that touches on the significance of the research. Many people find it easier to write the abstract last, after completing the paper.
For each, we’ll do a high-level overview of what your essay’s structure and references should look like, then we include a comparison chart with nitty-gritty details for each style, such as which font you should use for each and whether they’re a proponent of the Oxford comma. We also include information on why essay formatting is important and what you should do if you’re not sure which style to use.
Why is this necessary? Imagine you’re a teacher, researcher, or publisher who reviews dozens of papers a week. If the papers didn’t follow the same formatting rules, you could waste a lot of time trying to figure out which sources were used, if certain information is a direct quote or paraphrased, even who the paper’s author is. Having essay formatting rules to follow makes things easier for everyone involved. Writers can follow a set of guidelines without trying to decide for themselves which formatting choices are best, and readers don’t need to go hunting for the information they’re trying to find.
MLA Essay Format
Next, we’ll discuss the three most common style formats for essays.
- The works cited page should be the last paper of your paper.
- This page should still be double-spaced and include the running header of your last name and page number.
- It should begin with “Works Cited” at the top of the page, centered.
- Your works cited should be organized in alphabetical order, based on the first word of the citation.
All APA style papers begin with a title page, which contains the title of the paper (in capital letters), your name, and your institutional affiliation (if you’re a student, then this is simply the name of the school you attend). The APA recommends the title of your paper not be longer than 12 words.
Does it really matter which font size you use or exactly how you cite a source in your paper? It can! Style formats were developed as a way to standardize how pieces of writing and their works cited lists should look.
There are 3 basic formatting styles or types in which all essays and papers are formatted. They are:
If you are out of time or having any issues in producing structured content for your essays, you can get help from professionals online.
There are several types of academic essays that students get assigned. No matter which type the essay is, it has to be properly formatted. Carefully examine the formats provided below for the different essay types:
Before you start writing your essay, format your first page. In order to do this, add a header in which give your last name and the page number. Place the header on the right-hand corner of your page.
MLA Format
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An introduction is the first section of your essay. When writing a short essay of about 300 - 1000 words, a writer directly starts with an introduction after stating the essay topic.
A typical and general format that an essay uses is simple. Every type of essay can be written in that format. Following are the parts that an essay format is based on:
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Get to know which style of the in-text citations is recommended to you by your instructor and follow that. In APA format, the citation is done in the following way:
- The font you are using should be Times New Roman in 12pt.
- Double spacing.
- No extra space between the new paragraphs
- One inch margin on both sides of the paper
- Page number in the header.
- Essay title in the center of the page.
- Sources mentioned in “work cited”
An essay format is important for so many reasons. It helps the readers understand the ideas and thoughts presented in the essay in a logical flow by the writer. Not just that, readability is essential. If the information is just presented randomly the clarity will be missing.
Essay Format Examples
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In order to make sure that your academic essay is effective, each of the parts should be drafted professionally. Continue reading to understand each part in detail.
An introduction of an essay is as important as the body of it. The introduction discloses the main idea of the essay and attempts to motivate readers to read the essay. Apart from the presentation of the main idea it also contains background information about the topic.
A bibliography is a reference list presented at the end of the essay where all the cited sources are given along with the details.
Here is a free MLA format example to help you better understand what to include in this specific format style.
An essay format refers to a set of guidelines that decides how the elements of your paper should be arranged. The format guidelines cover the essay structure, title, citations, and the basic outline of the essay.
Many institutions require a standard format that a paper of any kind must follow such as MLA, APA, and Chicago. The purpose of each format is to present the information in a more structured way.
Looking for an APA essay format pdf example? Here is a well-designed APA format essay example to help you nail your next essay formatting.
Essay Format MLA Style Guidelines
Here are the guidelines for formatting a paper in Chicago style.
Learn how to write a conclusion and better wrap up the information by bringing together all of your key points.
Start your essay by introducing your topic and provide some background information. Don’t forget to end this with a strong thesis statement which shows the main argument of the paper.
To know more about this specific format, we have a detailed MLA format guide to help you understand the concept better.
Also resist the temptation to make your title look fancy by underlining it, adding colour or bold font, or putting it in italics. All you have to do is centre your title and capitalize key words.
MLA Research papers don’t require a title page. All the important information appears on the first page. Here is what the top of your first page should look like:
Essays are printed on standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper, which so happens to be the default size of a Word document.
All the text in your essay should be double-spaced. To make this change quickly, first press Ctrl + A to highlight all text and then press Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing (symbol) > 2.0. Make sure you also click on “Remove Space After Paragraph.”
Alignment
It is customary to indent your first paragraph (use the tab button). Subsequent paragraph breaks should also be shown by indents, and not by extra spacing between paragraphs.
To insert the page number, press Insert > Page Number > Top of Page > Plain Number 3.
This information should appear only on the first page, so make sure you don’t place it in the header area (where it will get repeated on every page).
The recommended font is Times New Roman, size 12. Don’t change the size, hoping that your professor won’t notice.