Essay Formats
July 8th, 2010Each Essay Format Has Its Own Rules.
In order to complete your academic writing assignments, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the rules of different Essay Formats. When doing an assignment your professor may specify the format that you are required to use, or you may be given the chance to choose your own format style. There are a number of different formats that you may be required to use. It is important that you follow the instructions and guidelines of the format that you are using.
You should realise that you will only be able to correctly stick to one format throughout your essay if you know the rules of that format. As far as possible, try and use an Essay Format that you have used previously for your assignments, unless you have been specifically requested to use a new one for a particular essay. Certainly, there are particular subjects that usually require a certain format. For example, the Modern Language Association, known in short as the MLA format is mostly used for humanities and liberal arts assignments. The American Psychological Association or the APA format on the other hand is generally used for social science projects. Another commonly used format is the Harvard style format. Let’s take a deeper look at these three common format types.
APA Format
The American Psychological Association format is used more often on research assignments than on essay papers. However, the APA style essay is used for a number of specific essay types. This format has four parts to it:
1. The cover, also known as the Title Page
2. The Abstract
3. The Body
4. The References
As per this format, you need to place a margin of 1” on all sides of your paper. The standard paper size is 8.5 by 11 inches. You have to use the Times New Roman font and the font size needs to be 10 or 12. The reference list should be placed at the end of your essay. You also need to be aware of the in-text citation.
MLA Format
This Essay Format is considered to be the most frequently used writing format. You have to use double spacing and your standard paper size must be 8.5 by 11 inches. The font required is Times New Roman or Ariel. The font size must be 12. The MLA style essay is also referred to as the ‘parenthetical citation style’ because it allows essay writers to give their sources credit by parenthetical citations in the cited works page. This page must be placed at the end of the essay.
Harvard Style Format
The Harvard Style is also referred to as the ‘author-date referencing’ format. For this reason it is mandatory that you provide the following information in your in-text citation:
• Name of the author
• Page number
• Publication year of your source/sources
You can use the title of your works in case you are unable to provide the name of the writer. It is also compulsory that you provide your list of references at the end of your essay.
If you are still unsure of the rules of these Essay Formats, you could buy an essay, or consider looking at a few samples, either in textbooks or with the help of an essay writing service.
