Types of Formatting
There are three main formatting styles used in the American higher-education institutions today: MLA, APA, and Turabian.
There are three main formatting styles used in the American higher-education institutions today: MLA, APA, and Turabian.
Make sure
you know which style your professor requires before completing your research.
AMA
APA
§ Writing
Center Guide for APA formatting
MLA
§ Writing
Center Guide for MLA formatting
Turabian
§ Writing
Center Guide for Turabian formatting
Each formatting style has separate guidelines, but the standards for FONT SIZE and STYLE are universal.
No matter the formatting style assigned for your writing, you will need to learn how to indent and tab content in your writing to meet the general format of paragraph indentation, block quote indenting, and the references page hanging indent.
Formatting and Structure for Assignments
No matter the formatting style assigned for your writing, you will need to learn how to indent and tab content in your writing to meet the general format of paragraph indentation, block quote indenting, and the references page hanging indent.
Access this site for more help on these formats and how to arrange them while using Microsoft Office Word.
§ Fonts: Your essay should
be word processed in 12-point Times New Roman fonts.
§ Double space: Your entire essay
should be double spaced, with no single spacing anywhere and no extra spacing
anywhere. There should not be extra spaces between paragraphs.
§ (FOR MLA FORMATTED
PAPERS) Heading: In the upper left corner of the first page of your essay, you
should type your name, the instructor's name, your class, and the date, as
follows:
Your Name
Mr. Rambo
ENGL 101-C08
24 February 2017
Your Name
Mr. Rambo
ENGL 101-C08
24 February 2017
§ Margins: Your essay should
have a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, left, and right.
§ Title Page: ALL essay should include a title page
prior to the first page of the essay—even if it is a MLA formatted paper.
§ To create a title page with the correct
content and spacing, see the sample title page links below.
§ There are three primary styles for citing
sources of research and formatting your overall layout for an essay. Make sure
you know which style your professor requires before completing your research.
AMA
APA
§ Writing
Center Guide for APA formatting
MLA
§ Writing
Center Guide for MLA formatting
Turabian
§ Writing
Center Guide for Turabian formatting
§ ALL Liberty title pages require the
declared degree (or diploma if the student is in high school) as well as the
required formatting style assigned to that degree or diploma (high school
students will use MLA unless they have an idea as to what area of study they
will go into once fully enrolled in college).
§ The title page should be in the same font size and style (Times,
12) as the rest of your essay, with no quotation marks, no underlining, no
italics, and no bold on the page.
§ (FOR MLA FORMATTED
PAPERS) Page Numbers: Your last name and the page number should appear in the upper
right corner of each page of your essay, including the first page, as in Smith
3. Insert your name and the page number as a "header." Do not
type this information where the text of your essay should be.
§ (FOR APA and TURABIAN
FORMATTED PAPERS) Page Numbers: See the video links below for
formatting your papers.
APA Formatting
Turabian Formatting
·
Title: Your essay should always include a
unique title that directly links to the last sentence of the conclusion
paragraph of the essay.
§ To create a great title, review these
links: How
Important is a Title? , Title
No-Nos, Titles--Overview,
Title
of Writing, Useful
Titles, and Creating
a Great Essay Title.
§ Layout and location on first page:
§ The title should be centered and should appear under the heading
information on the first page and above the first line of your essay (in MLA
formatted papers).
§ The title should be centered and should appear above the first
line of your essay (in APA and Turabian formatted papers).
§ The title should be in the same fonts as the rest of your essay,
with no quotation marks, no underlining, no italics, and no bold.
§ There are three primary styles for citing
sources of research and formatting your overall layout for an essay. Make sure
you know which style your professor requires before completing your research.
AMA
APA
§ Writing
Center Guide for APA formatting
MLA
§ Writing
Center Guide for MLA formatting
Turabian
§ Writing
Center Guide for Turabian formatting
§ Indentation: The first line of
each paragraph should be indented. According to the MLA, this indentation
should be 1/2 inch or five spaces, but pressing [Tab] once should give you the
correct indentation.
§ Align Left: The text of your
essay should be lined up evenly at the left margin but not at the right margin.
In your word processor, choose "Align Left." Do not choose
"Justify."
Formatting and Structure for Assignments
Before you can format your work correctly, there are some key points you must know first:
- What formatting style does your instructor expect you to use: MLA, APA, Turabian?
- Do you need a Title page?
- What ‘voice’ should it be written in: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd?
- Academic writing = 3rd person voice; however, check with the writing prompt and your instructor to be sure.
- What is the structure for your final version?
- In my academic writing courses, you will follow the DRAFTING handout for your structure.
- Do you need an Abstract (APA formatting)?
- Do you need to collect sources?
- How many sources and source-types do you need?
- Will you need to construct a page of sources formatted?
- Works Cited page?
- Bibliography page?
- References page?
- Does your instructor require your pre-writing outline re-submission at the end of the final version of the essay?
Once you
know these things—which you can probably locate in the writing prompt—you will
need to understand what is expected for the specific assignment.
- Are you writing an essay? (ENC1101, ENC1102, and ENC100)
- Is there a word count requirement?
- Will it be in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person voice?
- What kind of essay? (Each type follows a different format.)
- Expository
- Process
- Classification
- Report
- Narrative
- Personal Experience
- Descriptive
- Argument
- Cause and Effect
- Persuasion
- Analysis
- Are you writing a paragraph? (ENC100)
- Does it need to follow a specific format and structure?
- Is there a word count requirement?
- Are you writing a Reflection or Discussion Board Response? (ENC1101, ENC1102, ENC1210, and ENC100)
- Will it be in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person voice?
- How many paragraphs will it need?
- What format and structure should it follow?
- Is there a word count requirement?
- Are you writing a Technical Document? (ENC1210)
- Is there a word count requirement?
- Letter
- Report
- Memo
- Resume
- Writing Portfolio, etc.
- Are you writing a Creative Writing item? (ENC2100)
- What genre?
- Fiction
- Poetry
- What theme?
Each of these concepts is essential to creating the assignment your instructor is looking for in your submission. Keep in mind that the point of an assignment is to see what you know or what you have learned. Therefore, be sure to use information from your textbook—whenever possible—to provide the most content your instructor will be looking for. After all, you were assigned readings for a purpose—content comprehension—and your assignment is simply the way your instructor will be able to determine if you have learned the necessary materials for that given section of the class.
Review these Links for Help with the Assignment
Knowing Your Assignment
Page Organization
Source Usage
Formatting
Images in Writing
Format Before Publishing
Additional Help
Need Help with formatting and don't see it listed in the links above? Take a look at these items to see if they have what you need:
MICROSOFT OFFICE WORD
EASYBIB
CITATION MACHINE
- CitationMachine
- Title Page Program--makes Title Page for you
- Check for Plagiarism
- Resources Guide from CitationMachine
USING SOURCES
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