I remember the stress of having to write an essay in school. For me, the worst part was what I had to do after I wrote it: make it look nice. What font do I have to use? How should I cite my sources? The questions kept on coming.
Sure, essay formatting isn’t quite as important at its actual content. But it still matters. Having a well-formatted essay is key to providing your professor with a clean, professional presentation of your ideas.
Furthermore, in an academic paper, it also ensures that your references cite all of the necessary information needed to credit your sources and avoid accusations of plagiarism. Overall, requiring an aesthetic standard saves teachers and students quite a few headaches in the long run.
In this article, let’s go over the ins and outs of essay formatting: what it is, why it matters, and how to do it.
First: What Is an Essay Format?
An essay format is the way your essay is structured. It typically includes three main parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. In the introduction, you present the topic and main idea, the body contains your arguments and evidence, and the conclusion wraps everything up. It’s important to be flexible and adjust the format depending on the topic and assignment.
The first thing to know about formatting an essay is that it’s not just about essay structure. Sure, the way your paragraphs look, and in which order you place them, is part of it. However, style guides also contain comprehensive information about the smallest, grittiest details as well, from how to spell certain words to how to list authors’ names in a citation.
This may seem like a pedantic business, but it’s crucial for students who want to turn in quality, meaningful academic work to learn the rules of the game. Plus, not learning how to essay formats is a surefire way to lose easy points on your college assignments!
Why It’s Important to Have a Standard Essay Format
The primary goal of essay formatting is to improve its presentation, structure the information effectively, and provide clarity for the readers.
Much of what you see in a style guide doesn’t technically affect how to write an essay.
However, the main reason we have style guides in the first place is for consistency’s sake–or, as Purdue OWL says, making “documents written by many writers, in many places, and in many circumstances” readable no matter who or where you are. Imagine reading a book in which each page uses a different font and text size; wouldn’t that be annoying?
Typically, certain style guides are more widely used in certain industries. Journalists might use one specific guide to report the news, whereas scientists might use another within the scientific community. Students certainly don’t need to know all of them at once, but they should know how to access resources that can show them the proper guidelines and all of the components of an essay that style guides can cover. Let’s go over that next.
How to Format an Essay: Mechanics
Fonts and Margins: Standard fonts and consistent margins are crucial for a clean presentation. Line Spacing and Alignment: Double spacing makes your essay easy to read, and left alignment ensures professional formatting. Paragraph Indentation: A clear 0.5-inch indent for each paragraph enhances readability. Punctuation and Spelling: Correct punctuation and consistent spelling are key to making your essay professional and error-free.
The first umbrella term we’ll use for the rules of essay formatting is mechanics. Broadly speaking, these are the technical aspects of your writing that affect how it looks and how it reads.
The big pro of writing mechanics is that, once mastered, students often don’t have to worry about them; the big con is that students who use poor mechanics may lose essay points for things that have nothing to do with the content of their essay. Therefore, I would encourage all students to treat writing mechanics as the building blocks of a good essay; they aren’t everything, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important!
Fonts
The good news about this aspect of college essay formatting is that it’s easy. Choosing the correct font, whether it’s Times New Roman, Helvetica, Georgia, or something else, is a quick way to get basic essay format points before you even think about your essay structure.
However, if your professor doesn’t have a specific font requirement, it’s also helpful to think about choosing a font that conveys professionalism and clarity. If you’re still grappling with the basics of the standard essay format, consider using a guide that goes over different categories of fonts. Remember: The way your words simply look is the first thing your grader will notice!
Punctuation
Less easy to master, but no less important to college essay formats, using proper punctuation is essential to ensuring that your essay is readable and compliant with your required formatting style. Sure, your professor will expect you to know, in a general sense, how to use periods, commas, and semicolons with relative ease; without these, your sentences will simply become clunky and hard to understand.
However, it’s also important to know how your desired essay format constructs rules surrounding more niche punctuation scenarios. What about quotation marks? What about ellipses? How does the relationship between punctuation marks change when students use MLA versus APA format?
Abbreviations
Knowing how to abbreviate terms properly is a useful skill for any students whose writing relies on technical terms or abundant names. Sure, I could keep referring back to American Psychological Association formatting guidelines, but at some point such a long name interferes with the clarity of my writing. Writing “APA,” as I did just above, is much more convenient for both readers and myself.
When it comes to formatting guidelines like APA, however, students should know, as always, what the rules are. Without defining your terms first, your reader may not know exactly which group (which “APA”) you’re talking about. The whole point is that abbreviations make your writing easier to get through!
Regional Spellings
This last aspect of the mechanics of essay formatting might seem like a curveball, but it can actually be quite important. As many students already know, British English and American English often use the same words but spell them differently.
If you attend an American university, or just use a scholarship essay writing service in the States, your reader probably won’t take off points if you say “colour” instead of “color” or “manoeuvre” instead of “maneuver.” However, why risk it? Furthermore, switching between different regional spellings can, at a certain point, affect the readability of your work. If certain spellings are required, use those. If not, consistency is key!
Key Guidelines for Essay Formatting
| Element | Guidelines |
|---|---|
| Font and Size | Times New Roman or Arial, size 12 pt. |
| Line Spacing | Double spacing, no extra space between paragraphs. |
| Page Margins | 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides. |
| Page Numbers | Top right corner, starting from the first page. |
| Text Alignment | Left-aligned, do not justify text. |
| Paragraphs | Indent the first line of each paragraph by 0.5 inch (1.27 cm). |
| Title Page | Depends on the style (APA requires a title page). |
| Citations | Follow the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago). |
| Bibliography | Include a reference list or works cited page at the end. |
How to Format an Essay: Citations
In-Text Citations
Now, let’s talk about a different aspect of essay formatting. As opposed to mechanics, which concern basic visual and writing decisions, citations are all about sources: how you cite them and what they look like on the page.
Learning what your formatting style says about in-text citations, which refer back to sources in the same sentence in which they are cited, is a huge part of crediting properly your academic evidence.
My advice is to check out reference examples from your official style guide’s website or manual. Using guides from the APA, for example, is helpful for understanding “what to do” with a wide range of sources, from basic books to journal articles to conference presentations and government reports. If you’re still unsure, consider using a writing service like WriteMyEssayToday, which can match you with an expert who already knows formatting guidelines inside and out.
Bibliographies
On that note, after you figure out how to do your in-text citations, you’ll also have to put your sources in a bibliography at the end of your paper. Remember: The fact that it’s at the end, not with your actual essay, does not mean it’s not important! A strong bibliography shows your professor that you “did the homework” and protects you from suggestions of academic dishonesty or plagiarism.
Therefore, following the rules carefully is essential, and so is finding the rules spelled out clearly. Humanities writers, for example, should consult this Chicago Manual of Style guide to the Chicago Notes and Bibliography (NB) system, which covers all necessary publication information, punctuation guidelines, and more.
Footnotes
If you don’t have to write in-text citations for your essay, there’s a good chance that you’ll have to put your sources into footnotes instead. For many undergraduates, who never had to use footnotes in high school, the first step is to figure out how to add them in the first place. When you’re actually writing your footnotes, however, don’t assume your citations will look exactly the same as in your bibliography! The good news is that they’ll likely contain the same information; the challenge is that you might have to rearrange some of it, or, if you repeat a source frequently, use a shortened
citation or the all-powerful Ibid.
| Style | In-Text Citations | Bibliography/Works Cited | Footnotes |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA | Author’s last name, year of publication, and page number (if applicable). Example: (Smith, 2020, p. 45) |
References listed alphabetically at the end of the paper with full details: author’s name, year, title, source. | Not used in APA. |
| MLA | Author’s last name and page number. Example: (Smith 45) |
“Works Cited” page listing all sources alphabetically by the author’s last name. | Not used in MLA. |
| Chicago (Notes and Bibliography) | Footnotes or endnotes used to reference sources. Example: Smith, The History of Writing, 2020. |
“Bibliography” page listing all sources alphabetically with detailed citation rules. | Citations in footnotes or endnotes, full reference on first mention, shortened later. |
| Harvard | Similar to APA, including author’s last name and year. Example: (Smith, 2020, p. 45) |
References listed alphabetically at the end of the essay, similar to APA. | Not used in Harvard. |
Watch Out for These Common Mistakes!
Ok! We’ve gone over several of the most important aspects of a solid essay format. Once you master the rules of mechanics and citations, you’ll be well prepared to make strong academic statements throughout your university career. (If you’re really good, I may even ask you to write an essay for me. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.)
That being said, let’s not get complacent here. Students who know how to comply with essay formats are still prone to make common mistakes. That doesn’t mean you have to be one of them. Before you turn in your essay, consider going through a formatting checklist.
This one, from Stanford’s Hume Center for Writing and Speaking, covers the top 20 undergraduate writing mistakes. For STEM students especially, this checklist from Indiana University of Pennsylvania contains questions about whether each section of your essay is up to code. If all else fails, don’t be afraid to
How Formatting Leads to Academic Success
Like I said at the beginning of this article, the content of your essay is always the most important part. However, making sure your essay is properly formatted, that it credits your sources properly, that it simply looks nice, still matters quite a bit. That’s why it’s important for students to learn what their professors expect from them in terms of academic guidelines, from basic writing mechanics to making a strong, thorough bibliography.
Especially if essay formatting is part of your professor’s rubric, think of these as easy points. Don’t skimp, don’t guess, and don’t drop the ball on the visuals right after you’ve written a lovely essay. Simply put, when students take formatting seriously, they set themselves up for fewer headaches in the future and greater potential for academic success.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the point of having an essay format?
Some professors are real sticklers for essay formatting (believe me, I’ve had several), but more commonly we rely on formatting guidelines so as to make sure that writing is presented neatly and consistently – in other words, to ensure that how your essay looks doesn’t detract from what it says. Again, imagine if you were reading a novel in which each page used a different font, text size, line spacing, and rules for punctuation. It would become a chore to read, and it would become harder to focus on the meat of the book: its plot, its character development, and so on. Don’t make that mistake!
How can I make sure I’m using a proper essay format?
We’ve talked at length around the different components of formatting guidelines, so it may sound underwhelming to say that it just depends when it comes to how well you’re following the rules. However, I only say that because the so-called “essay format” can vary from style guide to style guide. That’s why my best advice is to have your chosen style guide, be it MLA, APA, Chicago, or something else, on hand while you write. Keep it in a different tab, or print it out; just make sure you don’t forget about it. There’s no rule against having the rulebook in front of you!
Which essay format is the best?
Unfortunately, this is another case of “it depends.” As aesthetic tools, essay formats may look “better” or “worse” based on your subjective taste. However, it’s also true that certain fields tend to prefer certain style guides. Scientists often use APA guidelines, humanities scholars often use Chicago style, and journalists often use style guides written for their specific newspaper. That said, there’s nothing wrong, if it’s not clear already, with asking your professor or employer what style guide they would like you to use. It’s always better to be safe than sorry; in this case, the latter might involve some headaches and unfortunate reformatting!
Whom can I talk to about formatting my essays?
Once again, there’s nothing wrong with keeping official style guides on hand while you write your essays. However, if you’re still unsure of the rules, I recommend you turn to professionals. Online platforms like WriteMyEssayToday can match you up with an expert writer who already knows formatting requirements and can help you with your essay regardless.
Personally, I recommend it to students not just because of the quality of its service, but because it’s easy and affordable to use for students who are already stressed out with school. The internet is a powerful tool, after all. If you can’t or don’t want to figure out the nuances of formatting yourself, there’s
no shortage of mentors online who would be happy to help.
References
1. American Psychological Association. Reference examples. APA Style.
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples
2. Chicago Manual of Style. Citation guide.
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
3. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Checklist of common formatting errors.
https://www.iup.edu/graduatestudies/resources-for-current-students/research/thesis-dissertation-information/writing-your-thesis-or-dissertation/checklist-of-common-formatting-errors.html
4. Microsoft. Insert footnotes and endnotes.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-footnotes-and-endnotes-61f3fb1a-4717-414c-9a8f-015a5f3ff4cb
5. Purdue University. Guide overview. Purdue OWL.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/guide_overview%20.html
6. Purdue University. Using fonts with purpose. Purdue OWL.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/visual_rhetoric/using_fonts_with_purpose/index.html
7. Stanford University. Top 20 errors in undergraduate writing.
https://hume.stanford.edu/resources/student-resources/writing-resources/grammar-resources/top-20-errors-undergraduate-writing
