Essay Formatting Guide: APA, MLA and Chicago Style

Essay formatting is the set of rules for how your essay looks on the page: margins, font, spacing, headings, citations and the reference list. Most courses ask for APA, MLA or Chicago style, and each has its own details.

This guide starts with the settings almost every essay shares, then sets out the rules for each style side by side. Always check your assignment brief first, because a tutor's instructions override any style guide.

Page Set-up Every Essay Shares

APA, MLA and Chicago agree on most page settings. Set these up before you write and you will not have to fix them later.

Never widen margins or enlarge the font to stretch a short essay. Markers notice immediately, and many check the word count anyway.

APA, MLA and Chicago Compared

The three styles differ mainly in the first page, how citations appear in the text and what the source list is called.

APA 7th Edition Format

APA 7th has separate rules for student and professional papers. Most essays follow the student version, which does not need a running head or abstract unless your tutor asks for one.

Title Page

Place the paper title in bold, centered, three or four lines down from the top. Below it, on separate double-spaced lines, add your name, your department and university, the course number and name, your instructor and the due date.

        Social Media and Political Trust Among Young Voters

                         Amira Hassan
           Department of Sociology, Northgate University
                 SOC 210: Media and Society
                       Dr. Paul Mensah
                       October 9, 2026

Headings

• Level 1: centered, bold, title case.
• Level 2: flush left, bold, title case.
• Level 3: flush left, bold italic, title case.
• Level 4: indented, bold, title case, ending with a full stop, text running on.
• Level 5: indented, bold italic, title case, ending with a full stop, text running on.

Do not label the introduction "Introduction". Repeat the paper title in bold at the top of the first page of text instead.

Citations and References

Cite in the text as (Hassan, 2024), adding a page number for quotations: (Hassan, 2024, p. 12). Start the reference list on a new page titled References, bold and centered, with entries in alphabetical order, double-spaced and with a 0.5-inch hanging indent.

MLA 9th Edition Format

MLA essays usually have no title page. The identifying details go in a heading block at the top left of the first page.

                                                   Hassan 1
Amira Hassan
Professor Mensah
English 102
9 October 2026

          Silence and Power in Orwell's Animal Farm

• The heading block lists your name, instructor, course and date, double-spaced and flush left.
• The date is written day, month, year.
• The title is centered in plain text: no bold, italics, underlining or quotation marks, except for titles of other works inside it.
• A running header with your surname and the page number sits top right on every page.

Cite in the text with the author and page number and no comma: (Orwell 45). The source list is titled Works Cited, centered, on a new page, alphabetical, double-spaced and with a hanging indent.

Italicize titles of standalone works such as books, films and journals. Put titles of shorter works inside them, such as articles, poems and chapters, in quotation marks.

Chicago Style Format

Chicago essays in history and the humanities usually use the notes and bibliography system. The 18th edition appeared in 2024, though many courses still teach from the 17th; the essay layout is much the same in both.

• Citations appear as superscript numbers in the text, linked to footnotes at the bottom of the page or endnotes at the end.
• The first note for a source gives full details; later notes use a shortened form.
• A bibliography on a new page lists all sources alphabetically with a hanging indent.
• A title page is common for student papers, following Turabian, the student version of Chicago.

Chicago also has an author-date system that looks similar to APA. Use it only if your course asks for it.

What About Harvard Style?

Harvard is widely used in UK and Australian universities, but there is no single official Harvard manual. Each institution publishes its own version, so details such as punctuation and the use of "and" or "&" differ.

The common pattern is an author-date citation, such as (Smith, 2021, p. 4), and an alphabetical reference list. Follow your own university's Harvard guide exactly.

Setting up the Format in Word or Google Docs

Most formatting problems come from fixing things by hand, line by line. Set the rules once in your word processor and they apply to the whole essay.

1. Margins: in Layout (Word) or Page setup (Google Docs), set all four to 1 inch or 2.54 cm.
2. Spacing: in paragraph settings, choose double spacing and set the space before and after paragraphs to zero.
3. Indents: set a first-line indent of 0.5 inch for body text and a hanging indent of 0.5 inch for the reference list.
4. Page numbers: insert them through the header, not by typing them on each page.
5. Headings: use the built-in heading styles, then adjust them to match your style guide.

Using heading styles also lets you check your structure in the navigation pane, which is a quick way to see whether the essay flows.

Common Formatting Mistakes

Formatting Checklist Before You Submit

• Margins, font, spacing and indents match your style.
• Title page or heading block follows the style exactly.
• Page numbers appear on every page required.
• Headings follow one consistent system.
• Every source used is cited where it is used.
• Every citation has a matching reference, and the reverse.
• Titles use italics or quotation marks correctly.
• Your tutor's specific instructions are followed where they differ.

How EssayDonkey Helps with Essay Formatting

Send your draft, the style and edition your course uses, and any template from your institution. A writer formats the title page, headings, citations and reference list to that style, and flags any source details that are missing.

You can also order a custom essay that is formatted correctly from the start. Free revisions within the scope of your original request are included.