A Complete Essay Format Guide to Structure Your Essay

Academic writing is an inevitable part of student life. Sometimes students get confused while putting their crafty ideas over a paper. But what they don’t recognize is that once they will know the tips and guidelines, they definitely will find writing an essay more interesting.

A good academic essay will comprise intellectual ideas, arguments, sometimes self-reflection while aligning them logically with the help of a particular format. The following standard format will help the student to achieve good grades. A standard essay format is generated with a step-by-step approach where each idea is developed to grab the interest of the reader.

Here is a tip, a proper format will guide the tips as well as illustrate the proper structure in which the essay will be presented. Each educational organization has its own standard essay formats, therefore it is obligatory to learn the difference between them.

If you’re confused about these formats, then your wait is over! You are going to find out the differences between MLA, Chicago, APA, and Harvard formats. As these are the most common to be used in academic writing. However, the popular one is the MLA.

List of Requirements for an Essay Format

1. Font style
2. Size of the font
3. The title
4. Line spacing ratio
5. Number of pages
6. Running heads (headers)
7. Justification
8. Page margins
9. Reference style
10. Indentation, others

Contrast of MLA and APA

However, these differences might feel minor to an essay writer. But it plays an essential role when the tutor is closely observing the requirements that he asked you to put in.

Either way, now you have fully understood the differences between MLA and APA, let’s gain a more specific insight into each format.

Writing an essay in MLA format would be like…

1. Title: Center, bold, with the same font as the rest text
2. Font style: Times New Roman
3. Size of the font: 12 pt
4. Page margins: 1- inch
5. Line spacing ratio: 2.0 (double)
6. Header: Last name of the author with a page number (William 2)
7. Indentation: Left-indent

Moreover, the headline would be like:

John Snow

Brown William (instructor name)

Social science (subject name)

June 23, 2019

Writing an essay in APA format would be like…

1. Title: Center, with the same font as the rest text, following the full name of the writer
2. Font style: Times New Roman
3. Size of the font: 12 pt
4. Page margins: 1- inch
5. Line spacing ratio: 2.0 (double)
6. Header: Title of the page with a page number (Poverty 2)

Here the cover page will look like this:

Education is the only medicine for poverty

John Snow

Columbia University

Writing an essay in Chicago format would be like…

1. Title: Center, with the same font as the rest text, following the full name of the writer
2. Font style: Times New Roman (unless it’s specified)
3. Size of the font: 12 pt
4. Page margins: 1- inch on top and bottom
5. Line spacing ratio: 2.0 (double)
6. Header: Right indent, your last name with a page number (William 6), no page number would be given on title page
7. Alignment: left side
8. Footnotes: Yes, according to the style.

Writing an essay in Harvard format would be like…

1. Title: Center, with the same font as the rest text, following the full name of the writer
2. Font style: Times New Roman or Arial
3. Size of the font: 12 pt
4. Page margins: 1- inch on top, side, and bottom
5. Line spacing ratio: 2.0 (double)
6. Header: a short version of the paper’s title, with a page number on the top right with five spaces between them
7. Alignment: left side

The above mentioned were the formats used in academic writing. You can use this write-up as a cheat sheet whenever in need.

If your needs are still not satisfied, feel free to get in contact with an expert essay writing service. It will guide you with more details related to any academic writing.