Standard Essay Format: MLA, APA, Chicago Styles

When it comes to writing essays, it’s not just about content and research. Students are also expected to follow standard formats of essays. Formatting implies that you adhere to the norms about fonts, headings, margins, citations, structure, page numbering, footnotes, etc. as it enhances the appearance of your work, makes it look professional and improves readability. Generally, the expected format style is mentioned in the instructions. However, even when it is not given you can opt for a standardised layout of an essay to impress your faculty in charge and present your work in a formal manner.

Take a look at different formatting styles for writing an essay!!

The three majorly used formats of writing an essay are MLA, APA and Chicago styles. Let’s learn them one by one:

1. MLA Style:

MLA stands for Modern Language Association. It is the most commonly used essay writing format for research papers in the arts and humanities field.

• Font: Times New Roman (or any legible font)
• Size: 12pt
• Spacing between lines: Double Spaced
• Margins: 1 inch on all sides
• Indentation: Half inch indent from the left margin at the beginning of each paragraph (Pressing the tab key is recommended)
• Header: Add header at the upper-right corner of each page which displays your end name and page number.

Format for the first page:

1. Details:

In the upper-left corner of the first page mention:

1. Your Name
2. Your Instructor’s Name
3. The course
4. The date (of submission)

Everything should be double spaced

2. Title:

1. Place the title in the centre.
2. Write the title in Title Case.

Double-space after the title, leave a half inch indent and begin with your essay.

Section Headings:

Number your sub-sections in this way by using the serial number, period, space and name of the section. For e.g.

1. Years in Kuwait
2. Post World War 2

In-text Citations:

• MLA uses the Parenthetical citation method. Whenever you use any quotations or paraphrase a reference, mention the source in parentheses i.e. brackets before the full stop. 
• The details you provide must confirm with the information in the works cited page.
• The format for citation is author’s name followed by page number in parentheses.
• If the name of the author appears in the sentence itself then only page number should be entered in the parentheses. Page number should be included in parentheses only and never in the text.

For e.g. 

1. T.S. Eliot stated that poetry is an “escape from emotions” (83).
2. Poetry is an “escape from emotions” (Eliot 83)

Works Cited Page:

• Add a separate “Works Cited” page at the end of your paper.
• All the entries should be listed alphabetically.
• Incase of an unknown author, the source begins with the title of the work.
• Place the title “Works Cited” in bold font in the centre. Do not put it in quotations or italics.
• Align the entries to the left margin.
• If the source information exceeds more than one line, then the subsequent lines must have a spacing of half inch from the left. It is also known as hanging indent.
• If the information is taken from one page only use the abbreviation “p.” before the page number. (E.g. p. 95). If the reference spans more than one page use “pp.” (e.g. pp. 95-98). If the first digit is the same then it is omitted. (e.g. pp. 195-98).
• Use title case for mentioning titles of books, poetry, articles, etc.

The format of citations is as follows:

1. For books source: Last name of the author, first name, middle name, Title of the book, edition, publication date, page number/s. For Example: Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987. 
2. For online source: Last name of the author, first name, middle name, Title of the article in quotations, website, publication date, URL or DOI, Date assessed.

2. APA Style

APA denotes American Psychological Association. This format is used in psychology, sciences and education related theses. The essay directions for APA style are as follows:

• Font: Times New Roman (or any legible font)
• Size: Times New Roman 12 pt, Calibri 11 pt, Arial 11 pt.
• Spacing between lines: Double Spaced
• Margins: 1 inch on all sides
• Indentation: Half inch indent from the left margin at the beginning of each paragraph (Pressing the tab key is recommended)
• Header: Add header at the upper-right corner of each page which displays the page number.

Format for the first page:

1. Header

Include a header which has the page number at the top-right of the page

2. Title:

1. Leave 2-3 lines from the top and write the title.
2. Place the title in the centre.
3. Write the title in Title Case.

3. Details:

Followed by the title write:

1. Your Name (First name, Initial of the middle name, period and last name e.g. George F. Stalin)
2. Affiliation i.e. Department and University name
3. The course
4. Your Instructor’s Name
5. The date (of submission)

Everything should be centred and double spaced

Begin with your essay on the next page.

Section Headings:

• The headings of subsections should be in the centred, bold and in title case. (In case of first level heading.)
• Don’t use numbers or alphabets before the headings as done in MLA format.

If there as subsections within sections, then use the following format:

1. Level 1 heading: Centered, bold, in title case. Text begins from the next line. First line is half inch indented.
2. Level 2 heading: Left Aligned, bold, in title case. Text begins from the next line. First line is half inch indented.
3. Level 3 heading:: Left Aligned, bold, italic, in title case. Text begins from the next line. First line is half inch indented.
4. Level 4 heading: Left Aligned, indented, bold, in title case. Text begins from the same line and continues as a normal paragraph.
5. Level 5 heading: Left Aligned, indented, bold, italic, in title case. Text begins from the same line and continues as a normal paragraph.

In-text Citations:

• APA uses the Author-Date method. Whenever you use any quotations or paraphrase a reference, mention the author’s last name and publication date of the work in parentheses i.e. brackets before the full stop. 
• If the name of the author appears in the sentence itself then only publication date should be entered in the parentheses.

For e.g. 

• T.S. Eliot (1919) stated that poetry is an “escape from emotions” 
• Poetry is an “escape from emotions” (Eliot, 1919).

References Page:

• Add a separate “References” page at the end of your paper.
• All the entries should be listed alphabetically.
• Incase of an unknown author, the source begins with the title of the work.
• Place the title “References” in bold font in the centre. Do not put it in quotations or italics.
• Align the entries to the left margin.
• If the source information exceeds more than one line, then the subsequent lines must have a spacing of half inch from the left. It is also known as hanging indent.
• Use title case for mentioning titles of books, poetry, articles, etc.
• The format of citations is as follows:

Last name of the author, Initial of first name along with a period. (Publication date and month if applicable). Title in italics. Source.

e.g. Brown, E. (1998, February). Treatment for Schizophrenia. McKley.

3. Chicago Style

Chicago style was created at the University of Chicago. This type of essay formatting is used in History, Social sciences and fine arts papers.

• Font: Times New Roman (or any legible font)
• Size: 12 pt (or any readable size)
• Spacing between lines: Double Spaced
• Margins: 1 inch on all sides
• Indentation: Half inch indent from the left margin at the beginning of each paragraph (Pressing the tab key is recommended)
• Page Numbers: Page numbers can be mentioned at the top-right or bottom-centre of the pages.

Title Page:

The title page is the same as in APA style except the page number. The page number is not mentioned in the title page in Chicago style but it is counted. Hence, the page after the title page is marked as 2.

Headings:

Chicago style requires all the levels of headings be formatted in the same way. E.g. all the larger headings in bold and bigger font, subheadings in bold and further subsection headings in italics.

In-text Citations:

Chicago format allows for two types of in-text citations:

1. Author-Date format: It is similar to that of in-text citations in APA Style.
2. Bibliography: Footnotes are added on each page where the information about the sources cited in the page is provided.

Block Quotes:

If the reference information is more than 100 words or poetry quotations are more than 2-3 lines, then they are not placed in quotations but the entire paragraph is half-inch indented and single spaced. It makes the text stand out from the rest of the content.

Bibliography or Reference List page:

• If you have used author-date citations in the text then your citations page will be titled as “Reference List”. The format for citations is the same as that in APA style.
• If you have opted for bibliography style in your paper for in-text citations, then your citations paper will be titled as “Bibliography”. The format for citations is the same as in MLA style.

Formatting an essay is essential to present your paper in a readable way. It’s a standardised form of presentation so that the evaluator or the reader can focus on the content without going astray. Knowing how to format an essay is indispensable for writing research papers and theses and can be a challenge for a writer to comply with the intricacies of formatting. We have curated the basics of popular formats for essays -MLA, APA and Chicago style for you. We suggest you keep noting the details of your sources as you write. The more you practise the more comfortable you will get with the process. Happy writing!!