Students always have problems with writing tasks and essays, in particular. Why? Essays are among the most popular tasks teachers give to students - this way, they want to test their writing skills and knowledge of the subject.

However, essays are not as challenging as they seem - it’s enough to know the basic essay formats, and everything else is just a matter of research.

So, for all you struggling students out there, we’ve put together a short guide breaking down each essay style format to help you navigate your next task.

Let’s dive in!

What is a Basic Essay Format?

What is essay format anyway? Let’s define it.

A basic essay format consists of three parts - introduction (includes the central thesis), body (with at least two subsections), and conclusion (wraps up all the arguments provided in an essay).

Additionally, we can also include citations as a part of a basic essay format. However, some essay tasks, like descriptive essays, don’t require including a list of resources.

When speaking of essay formats, it’s also important to point out the structure of a paragraph, which usually consists of:

  • Topic sentence - includes the main idea of a given paragraph.
  • Supporting details - provide extra information on the main idea; can be taken from sources listed in citations.
  • Concluding sentence - a final statement analyzing the validity of all concepts introduced in the paragraph.

Now, let’s give an overview of the most popular essay formats used in college essays.

Standard Essay Format Guidelines

So, there are three common standard essay formats:

  • MLA - Modern Language Association style
  • APA - American Psychological Association style
  • Chicago/Turabian - Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

Each of these can be called the basic format of an essay as they govern the process of how to set the margins, spacing, headings, titles, and citations. They don’t differ much, but there are certain distinctions.

If you like to see an essay example for each of these formats, make sure to check out our college paper writing service - we have an entire library of essays delivered for our clients.

Now, let’s review each format in detail.

Essay Format MLA Style Guidelines

This essay format was developed by the Modern Language Association to help students, scholars, and researchers unify the style of their papers and make them readable. The latest edition of this format is the 9th.

Here are the formatting basics for the MLA style:

  • Paper size: 5 x 11”
  • Margins: 1 inch from all sides
  • Paragraph indentation: 5 inch
  • Font: Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia (regular font and italics should differ)
  • Font size: 12 pt
  • Spacing: double
  • Running head: top right corner, half-inch from the top margin and one inch from the right margin

Special attention goes to formatting the title page. Here’s how you do it with the MLA style:

  • Full name of the author
  • Full name of the instructor
  • The name of the class
  • The essay’s deadline

Your name should be placed one inch from the top and the left margin of the paper. Next comes double space and your instructor’s name under yours. Then, again, double space and the name of the class. The same goes for the deadline of the essay.

Afterwards comes the title of your paper aligned to the center.

However, these title page requirements aren’t mandatory - your professor can change them if necessary.

Now let’s take a look at the next basic essay format on our list.

Essay Format APA Style Guidelines

The APA essay format was developed by the American Psychological Association for the same reason as the previous one - to create a manual that unifies all scientific papers. The current edition is the 7th.

Here’s the breakdown of the APA formatting requirements:

  • Paper size: 5 x 11”
  • Margins: 1 inch from all sides
  • Paragraph indentation: 5 inch
  • Font: Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia (regular font and italics should differ)
  • Font size: 12 pt
  • Spacing: double
  • Running head: top left corner, one inch from the top margin and one inch from the left margin

As you can see, the requirements for this format are similar to MLA, except for the paragraph indent and the running head.

Now, let’s take a look at how to format the title page using the APA style. This page should include certain items in the following order:

  • The title of the essay
  • Author’s name
  • Course name
  • Instructor’s full name
  • Deadline

The title of the essay should be highlighted in bold, and you should use double space between all title page elements. Apart from that, all of them need to be aligned to the center.

With the APA essay style format clear, now let’s look at the Chicago style.

Essay Format Chicago Style Guidelines

The Chicago format of an essay repeats many requirements the previous two styles included. It is most frequently used in essays on English, Art, and History.

What is essay format belonging to the Chicago style all about?

Here are the rules you need to follow:

  • Paper size: 5 x 11”
  • Margins: 1 inch from all sides
  • Paragraph indentation: 5 inch
  • Font: Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia (regular font and italics should differ)
  • Font size: 12 pt, 10pt is also possible
  • Spacing: double
  • Running head: top right corner, half-inch from the top margin and one inch from the right margin

Essentially, this essay format repeats the MLA requirements, however, there are a few exceptions. For example, you can use a smaller font or completely ditch the running head if your professor allows it.

Now, let’s take a look at the title page requirements:

  • The title of the paper
  • Author’s name
  • Name of the class
  • Instructor’s name
  • Deadline

The essay’s title should be located in the center of the page, and all other details should be closer to the bottom margin but also aligned to the center.

Make a Good Essay Great!

As you now know the basic essay format rules, let’s quickly review how you can make your essay even better:

  • Set the margins, font, its size, indents, and spacing before you start writing a paper. It will save you a lot of time.
  • Prepare the list of citations formatted according to the necessary style beforehand.
  • Don’t start with the introduction. Write the main body of your essay first - it will help you understand the topic better.
  • Proofread your essay section by section. It will speed up the writing process, especially if the task is extensive.

Also, try not to write an entire essay in one day. Planning is everything - it’s better to write small sections every day than a huge paper within 24 hours.

Conclusion

So, clearly, there’s nothing hard about formatting an essay when you know the key rules each style asks you to follow. A couple of essays to practice, and you’ll feel like a pro!

However, if you still feel unsure that you can complete and format an essay by yourself, you can always ask for our help! Our professional writers know all the angles of essay formatting and will help you with the task of any complexity.

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