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Published on: Dec 29, 2019
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Every high school student has to write essays now and then. However, essay writing is not only about narrating information or views on a piece of paper. Instead, a good essay has a proper structure and format according to the universally accepted guidelines.
Most of the time, your institution or subject instructor mentions the essay formatting style that they require. For example, it could be MLA, APA, or Chicago, depending upon your field of study. Each essay format presents the essay in a proper format.
Read this article further to understand the usage of different essay formatting styles. This article also provides the necessary guidelines that you can use to learn to structure your essay.
Essay format refers to the arrangement of your essay, its paragraphs, and its structure. It also determines the presentation of your essay as a whole. The formatting guidelines inform you about the layout of the essay and its structure. This format must be followed to get good grades or increase your essay’s chances of getting published.
The most notable details in an essay format are the title page, text alignment, text presentation, essay structure, paragraph structure, and citation style. Some of them have standard measures followed in all types of formatting, while others are also different.
Majorly there are three types of essay formats. These are briefly described below:
Apart from these, there are a number of other referencing and formatting styles also. All of them are different from each other and when writing a paper following any of them, you must follow the guidelines properly.
The basic parts of an essay that must be formatted to create a good essay structure are as following:
Most institutions ask their students to mention an essay outline at the start. It is just a point-wise description of the essay. The order of the paragraphs in the essay is kept intact in the outline also.
The first paragraph of the essay should be its introductory paragraph. This paragraph should be one paragraph that describes the topic briefly. It could also describe the terms of the topic or its background.
A thesis is a three to four-sentence statement that briefly explains your perspective of the topic. In an argumentative essay, it states your stance on the topic. The thesis statement should always be placed at the end of the introduction paragraph.
After the introduction paragraph starts the body of the essay. The body paragraphs explain the details about the topic. You should always mention one detail in one paragraph.
Also, make sure that your body paragraphs are linked with each other. This is done through transition words and phrases. So they are linking words like In addition to, moreover, furthermore, etc.
The last paragraph of the essay is the conclusion paragraph. It sums up your whole essay in a single paragraph. It should also be one paragraph only and should not include any new information.
The structuring of the essay also includes the formatting of its paragraph. The standard paragraph format for essay paragraphs is as follows:
The first sentence of the paragraph is a topic sentence. The topic sentence should tell the reader what the paragraph is about.
The second and third sentences of the paragraph comprise the supporting detail. The supporting details mention the information about the topic sentence or the topic of the paragraph.
After supporting details, the next is the evidence sentence. It states the example, fact, quotation, or other information that proves the topic sentence.
The last sentence of the paragraph is the conclusion sentence. The concluding sentence should tell how the paragraph links to the thesis statement or the topic of the essay.
The standard formatting of the essay can be done according to the following structure:
The title page of the essay should include the author’s credentials. It should also include the publication details and, most importantly, the topic of the essay. The title page can also include other information like the instructor’s name, subject name, etc., based on the institution’s requirements.
Each page should have margin on all sides. It should be a one-inch margin. This is the standard margin size.
There should be a similar line spacing in the whole essay. Check the line spacing for lines within the paragraphs and also the spacing in between the paragraphs.
The essay should have the same font style. The most commonly used standard font style is Times New Roman. The font style of the essay other than the headings should also be the same. Usually, it is kept at 12 pt.
There should also be page headers. They can consist of the page numbers, topic name, or the author’s name.
If any, the headings and subheadings should be formatted to be prominent in the rest of the text. The essay’s topic is the main heading or the essay title, so it should have a greater font size than the rest of the text. It can also be made bold.
The text of the essay, other than the headings, should be justified for its alignment. The alignment of the essay should only have a half-inch indentation.
What is the MLA format for an Essay?
If you want to create an MLA format essay, then you should follow the below-mentioned formatting criteria.
According to the APA essay format, the paper can be formatted according to the following measures:
An easy key to format your paper according to the Chicago style is the set of guidelines mentioned below:
This formatting guide can be used to style all kinds of academic papers, including essays, research papers, publication articles, etc. In addition, it helps you understand the formatting of the essay paragraphs, text citations, and references at the end.
We understand that reading these guidelines may not be enough to understand the formatting well. It could be possible that you do not have time to go through this whole article.
We have attached some samples below as examples of all types of formatting styles. These samples also guide you to format some commonly written types of essays.
If you have read all the guidelines and gone through the samples, and require more help. Don’t Worry. WriteMyEssay.help is here for you. We offer a ‘write my essay’ service that will provide you quality essays at affordable rates.
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WRITTEN BY
Cathy A., Literature, Marketing
Cathy has been a trusted source of high-quality writing for more than five years. With her in-depth knowledge of mass communication from her Master's degree, she always produces work that meets the needs of her clients. In fact, they often leave her 5-star reviews for being an outstanding writer who is very passionate about their craft.
Cathy has been a trusted source of high-quality writing for more than five years. With her in-depth knowledge of mass communication from her Master's degree, she always produces work that meets the needs of her clients. In fact, they often leave her 5-star reviews for being an outstanding writer who is very passionate about their craft.
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