times new roman essay format

ENG 1002 Writing Resources | R. Rambo Home Page

English Composition 2

The proper format for essays.

Below are guidelines for the formatting of essays based on recommendations from the MLA (the Modern Language Association).

Fonts : Your essay should be word processed in 12-point Times New Roman fonts.
Double space : Your entire essay should be double spaced, with no single spacing anywhere and no extra spacing anywhere. There should not be extra spaces between paragraphs.
Heading : In the upper left corner of the first page of your essay, you should type your name, the instructor's name, your class, and the date, as follows: Your Name Mr. Rambo ENG 1002-100 24 February 2017
Margins : According to the MLA, your essay should have a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, left, and right. However, for this course, just keep the default margins in Word.
Page Numbers : Your last name and the page number should appear in the upper right corner of each page of your essay, including the first page, as in Jones 3 . Insert your name and the page number as a "header." Do not type this information where the text of your essay should be.
Title : Your essay should include a title. The title should be centered and should appear under the heading information on the first page and above the first line of your essay. The title should be in the same fonts as the rest of your essay, with no quotation marks, no underlining, no italics, and no bold.
Indentation : The first line of each paragraph should be indented. According to the MLA, this indentation should be 1/2 inch or five spaces, but pressing [Tab] once should give you the correct indentation.

Putting all of the above together, you should have a first page that looks like the following:

APA 7th ed. Style Guide

Formatting Your Paper
In-text Citations
Textual Works
Data Sets, Software, Tests
Audiovisual Media
Online Media

Formatting guidelines and sample papers are found in chapter 2 of the APA 7th edition Publication Manual

Sample papers.

You can find sample papers from Purdue OWL's website, APA 7th edition Publication Manual, or APA style website.

APA Style Student Paper with Annotations in the Comments A Word Document featuring an APA 7th edition Style Student Paper that includes annotations as comments.
APA Style Professional Paper with Annotations in Comments A Word Document featuring an APA 7th edition Style Professional Paper that includes annotations as comments.
Purdue OWL Sample Papers

General Formatting Guidelines

Follow these guidelines throughout your paper:

Double space text
Header for student and professional papers includes the page number in the upper right hand corner
Single space after ending punctuation
Font size and style: Times New Roman 12 pt, Arial 11 pt, Calibri 11 pt, or Georgia 11 pt
Use the same font type and size throughout the paper (exceptions for figure images, computer code, and footnotes - see 2.19 in APA Manual)
Margins: 1 inch on all sides
Left align paragraphs and leave ragged (uneven) margins on the right
Indention: use 0.5 inch indention for the first line of every paragraph (use tab key for consistency)

Formatting Title Page

The 7th edition Publication Manual for APA introduced the student and professional papers. The major difference between these two types of papers is found on the title page. Please, see the guidelines below for formatting the title page of your document. Also note, follow your professors' guidelines for formatting the title page.

General Title Page Guidelines:

Double space
The title should summarize the main idea and be focused/succinct (avoid unnecessary words)
Title written in title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized), bold, centered, and positioned in the upper half of the title page
Use the author(s) first name, middle initial, and last name as the author's byline

Student Papers:

title of the paper
name of the author(s)
author affiliation (department and institution name)
course number and name
instructor name
assignment due date (i.e. November 4, 2020)
page number (in the header)

Professional Papers:

author affiliation
author note
running head (abbreviated title) - Flush with left margin and written in all capital letters

Formatting Headings

Follow this format for headings (see 2.27 of the Publication Manual for additional details):

Level 1 headings are written in bold title case and aligned to the center. The text begins as a new paragraph.

Level 2 headings are written in bold title case and aligned flush to the left. The text begins as a new paragraph.

Level 3 headings are written in bold, italicized title case, and aligned flush to the left. The text begins as a new paragraph.

Level 4 headings are written in bold title case, indented from the left, and end with a period. The text begins after the period and continues like a regular paragraph.

Level 5 headings are written in bold, italicized title case, indented from the left, and end with a period. The text begins after the period and continues like a regular paragraph.

Formatting Reference List

The following are guidelines for formatting your reference list:

Start on a new page after the last page of text
Label the page Reference(s) with a capitalized R, written in bold and centered
Double space all entries
Use hanging indent for reference entries (first line of the reference is flush with left margin, subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches)
Order alphabetically (see chapter 9 section 44-49 for additional instructions on entry order)
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Last Updated: Mar 20, 2024 11:48 AM
URL: https://guides.uu.edu/APA7

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA General Format

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA Style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and citing research in writing. MLA Style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages.

Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by demonstrating accountability to their source material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material produced by other writers.

If you are asked to use MLA format, be sure to consult the MLA Handbook (9th edition). Publishing scholars and graduate students should also consult the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition). The MLA Handbook is available in most writing centers and reference libraries. It is also widely available in bookstores, libraries, and at the MLA web site. See the Additional Resources section of this page for a list of helpful books and sites about using MLA Style.

Paper Format

The preparation of papers and manuscripts in MLA Style is covered in part four of the MLA Style Manual . Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in MLA Style :

General Guidelines

Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.
Double-space the text of your paper and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are each distinct from one another. The font size should be 12 pt.
Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise prompted by your instructor).
Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
Indent the first line of each paragraph one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the “Tab” key as opposed to pushing the space bar five times.
Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
Use italics throughout your essay to indicate the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, provide emphasis.
If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).

Formatting the First Page of Your Paper

Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested or the paper is assigned as a group project. In the case of a group project, list all names of the contributors, giving each name its own line in the header, followed by the remaining MLA header requirements as described below. Format the remainder of the page as requested by the instructor.
In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks. Write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.
Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text. For example: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number. Number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit the last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)

Here is a sample of the first page of a paper in MLA style:

The First Page of an MLA Paper

Section Headings

Writers sometimes use section headings to improve a document’s readability. These sections may include individual chapters or other named parts of a book or essay.

MLA recommends that when dividing an essay into sections you number those sections with an Arabic number and a period followed by a space and the section name.

MLA does not have a prescribed system of headings for books (for more information on headings, please see page 146 in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing , 3rd edition). If you are only using one level of headings, meaning that all of the sections are distinct and parallel and have no additional sections that fit within them, MLA recommends that these sections resemble one another grammatically. For instance, if your headings are typically short phrases, make all of the headings short phrases (and not, for example, full sentences). Otherwise, the formatting is up to you. It should, however, be consistent throughout the document.

If you employ multiple levels of headings (some of your sections have sections within sections), you may want to provide a key of your chosen level headings and their formatting to your instructor or editor.

Sample Section Headings

The following sample headings are meant to be used only as a reference. You may employ whatever system of formatting that works best for you so long as it remains consistent throughout the document.

Formatted, unnumbered:

Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left

Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left

Level 3 Heading: centered, bold

Level 4 Heading: centered, italics

Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left

Times Newer Roman is a sneaky font designed to make your essays look longer

For when you need to hit that five-page minimum, but you’ve run out of things to say.

By Chaim Gartenberg

Share this story

As someone who is ostensibly a professional writer, I can say with some authority that sometimes, writing is hard. And when you’re staring at page three of an essay that your professor has insisted should be at least five pages, single-spaced, in size 12 Times New Roman font ... sometimes, you need a little help.

Any skiving student worth their salt knows the usual tricks to make an essay look longer: use larger punctuation marks and spaces, mess around with the margins, maybe even try to creep up to a larger font size. But now, there’s an easier solution: Times Newer Roman , a font from internet marketing firm MSCHF (which you may remember from the Tabagotchi Chrome extension ). Times Newer Roman looks a lot like the go-to academic font, but each character is subtly altered to be 5 to 10 percent wider, making your essays look longer without having to actually make them longer.

Please note: The Verge does not actually condone cheating on your essays

According to Times Newer Roman’s website, a 15-page, single-spaced document in 12 point type only requires 5,833 words, compared to 6,680 for the standard Times New Roman. (That’s 847 words you don’t need to write, which is more than twice the length of this post!)

To get around things like the fact that actual Times New Roman is a licensed font, Times Newer Roman is actually “an altered version of Nimbus Roman No.9 L (1), a free and open-source font meant to mimic the size and look of the original Times New Roman typeface.” All the changes that MSCHF has made simply make the Nimbus Roman No.9 L characters wider, leaving the vertical heights untouched. So, hopefully, it’s tougher to notice the difference.

Of course, it’s the digital age, so there are some downsides: Times Newer Roman will only work for assignments you have to submit by hand or in a PDF. If you’re sending in a Word document using a custom font that professors almost certainly don’t have installed won’t help. Similarly, Times Newer Roman is only useful for hitting larger page counts; if you have a strict word count limit, you’re out of luck.

Times Newer Roman is available now as a free download. (Please note that The Verge does not actually condone cheating on your essays.)

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Transparent vice, 20 years of gmail, microsoft splits teams from office as antitrust pressure ramps up, google agrees to destroy browsing data collected in incognito mode.

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Why can’t I buy a refillable version of my favorite pen in the US?

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GM should just bring back the Chevy Volt

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MLA Document Formatting

Overall structure of an mla paper.

One purpose of using MLA format is to streamline the writing process and establish a consistent and uniform way of presenting material. For this reason, there are specific guidelines you’ll need to follow when formatting your paper. The general idea is to use a 12-point font, have 1-inch margins, double-space the paper, include page numbers, and to include your personal information in the upper left-hand corner. Your paper should look like this:

Sample MLA paper showing the student last name and page number in the right corner, student and class information in the left corner, a title, and first paragraph.

This sample paper shows how the first page of a paper written in MLA is formatted. Note the header information in the upper-left corner, the last name and page numbers in the upper-right corner, the double spaced text, and indentations that begin each paragraph. You can also see a more detailed diagram of an MLA-formatted paper at the Purdue Online Writing Center website .

General MLA Formatting Rules

Font : Your paper should be written in 12-point text. Whichever font you choose, MLA requires that regular and italicized text be easily distinguishable from each other. Times and Times New Roman are often recommended.
Line Spacing : All text in your paper should be double-spaced.
Margins : All page margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be 1 inch. All text should be left-justified.
Indentation : The first line of every paragraph should be indented 0.5 inches.
Page Numbers : Create a right-justified header 0.5 inches from the top edge of every page. This header should include your last name, followed by a space and the page number. Your pages should be numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) and should start with the number 1 on your title page. Most word-processing programs have the ability to automatically add the correct page number to each page so you don’t have to do this by hand.
Use of Italics: In MLA style, you should italicize (rather than underline) the titles of books, plays, or other standalone works. You should also italicize (rather than underline) words or phrases you want to lend particular emphasis—though you should do this rarely.
Sentence Spacing : Include just one single space after a period before the next sentence: “Mary went to the store. She bought some milk. Then she went home.”
on the first line, your first and last name
on the second line, your instructor’s name
on the third line, the name of the class
on the fourth line, the date
The title: After the header, the next double-spaced line should include the title of your paper. This should be centered and in title case, and it should not be bolded, underlined, or italicized (unless it includes the name of a book, in which case just the book title should be italicized).
The Oxford Comma: The Oxford comma (also called the serial comma) is the comma that comes after the second-to-last item in a series or list. For example: The UK includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In the previous sentence, the comma immediately after “Wales” is the Oxford comma. In general writing conventions, whether the Oxford comma should be used is actually a point of fervent debate among passionate grammarians. However, it’s a requirement in MLA style, so double-check all your lists and series to make sure you include it!
Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Overall Structure and Formatting of an MLA Paper. Provided by : Boundless. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-writing/chapter/introduction-to-mla-style/ . Project : Boundless Writing. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
MLA 8th Edition - What's New?, sample student paper. Provided by : College of DuPage Library . Located at : http://www.codlrc.org/IL/Future/MLA . License : CC BY: Attribution
MLA: The Works Cited Section. Authored by : Boundless. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-writing/chapter/mla-quotations-and-citations/ . Project : Boundless Writing. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

MLA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Formatting Your Paper

About In-text Citations
In-text Examples
How to Paraphrase and Quote
What to Include
Editors, Translators, etc.
Publication Date
Volume/Issue
Place of Publication
Date of Access (when needed)
Book with Personal Author(s)
Book with Editor(s)
Book with Organization as Author
Work with No Author
Parts of Books or Anthologies
Multi-Volume Works
Journal Article
Newspaper Article
Magazine Article
Government Publication
Web Publications
Other Common Sources
Formatting Your Paper
Formatting Your 'Works Cited' List
Annotated Bibliography

MLA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman font or another readable typeface (e.g. serif ).

Line Spacing & Margins

Use double-spacing throughout the entire paper.

Leave 1 inch margins on the top, bottom, and each side.

Indent the first word of each paragraph 1/2 inch from the left margin.

Indent set-off quotations 1 inch from the left margin.

Heading and Title

An MLA research paper does not need a title page, but your instructor may require one. If no instructions are given, follow the MLA guidelines below:

Type the following one inch from the top of the first page, flush with the left margin (double spacing throughout).

Your Instructor's Name

Course Number

Center the title on the next line. Follow the rules for capitalization. Do not italicize, underline, or bold the title. An exception is when your title includes title. Example: The Attitude toward Violence in A Clockwork Orange

Indent the next line and begin typing your text.

Include your last name and page numbers in the upper right-hand corner of every page. The page numbers will be one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. If your instructor prefers no page number on the first page, begin numbering from 2 on the second page.

Sample MLA Paper

MLA Research Paper Template Properly formatted MLA Style research paper. Download to your PC and save as a template, you will always have the correct format for writing.

MLA Format Setup in Word 2010

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Last Updated: Dec 11, 2020 4:39 PM
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APA Style Guide: Formatting Your Paper

About In-text Citations
In-text Examples
How to Paraphrase
What to Include
Volume/Issue
Non-Routine Information
Place of Publication
Retrieval Statement
Book with Editor(s)
Book with No Author
Book with Organization as Author
Book with Personal Author(s)
Chapters and Parts of Books
Classical Works
Journal Article
Magazine Article
Multi-Volume Works
Newspaper Article
Patents & Laws
Physicians' Desk Reference
Social Media
Technical/Company Reports
Unpublished Manuscripts/Informal Publications (i.e. course packets)
Formatting Your Paper
Formatting Your References
Annotated Bibliography
Avoid Plagiarism

APA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman font. If not using Times New Roman, then another serif typeface should be used for its readability. Only use different typeface in figure descriptions to add style to the paper (section 8.03).

Line Spacing & Margins

Use double-spacing throughout the entire paper.To add double-spacing in Microsoft Word, highlight all the text you want double-spaced, then click on Page Layout . Next to the word Paragraph click on the arrow. Under Spacing , Line Spacing , select Double and then click OK .

Put two spaces after the period for each sentence in the body of the paper (Note, use only one space after a period in your references at the end of the paper) . Microsoft Word does not have a setting to automatically put in two spaces at the end of a sentence, but you can set-up the grammar check to alert you when only one space is used. In Word 2007, click on File, then click Options. Next, click on Proofing. Under When correcting spelling and grammar in Word , click on Settings. Next to Spaces required between sentences , change the setting to 2. Click OK to exit. This setting will alert you to single spaces after a period with the green squiggle that shows when there is a grammar error in your paper.

Leave 1 in. margins from top to bottom and side to side. Microsoft Word usually is set to 1 in. margins. You can check this by clicking on Page Layout , then click on Margins. The margin you are using is highlighted, select Normal if it is not already selected.

Video How-To for Other Popular Applications

Sample Paper

The title page of an APA paper includes a shortened version of your title in the header, with the words: Running head: before it. The shortened title needs to make sense, it is not simply the first 50 characters of the longer title. The running head is on the left, on the right is the page number, starting with 1. Centered on the page is the full title of the paper, the author's name is on the next line, and the institutional affiliation (your school) is on the third line.

If your professor requires an abstract, you will include a summary of your paper on the second page. Start the abstract on a new page. Type the word Abstract on the center top of the page. Include page number and shortened title in the header. You no longer need to type the words

Running head:

before the title. The abstract is typed without any indentation.

Finally, we begin to type the paper! The full title starts it off at the top center of a new page. For the rest of the paper, you only need the title and page numbers in the header. Remember to cite!

APA Research Paper Template

Below is a template you can use every time you need to set-up a research paper using APA style format. Simply open the template and type your own information every time you need to write an APA style research paper. Microsoft Word 2013 will allow you to save personal templates. Once you have the template opened in Word

Click "Save as"

Give the file a name

Under "Save as type", select Word Template

Then when you open Word 2013, you will be able to choose a template rather than a blank document. You might have to select Personal to find your template.

Number of Spaces after a Period

APA style recommends placing two spaces after a period that ends a sentence. This rule is often not enforced by professors. The reasoning behind it is to aid in proofreading. You can read more about it in the APA Style Handbook on pages 87-88. Microsoft Word 2010 and later editions does not allow the user to put in two spaces after a period in any automatic way. You can set-up your grammar check to alert you when you have failed to place two spaces after a period. To do this, go to File-Options-Proofing-Writing Style-Grammar-Settings. In Spaces Required Between Sentences, select 2. Now when you type your paper and insert only one space after a period, you will see a small green squiggly where you fail to put in two spaces, once you do a grammar check of your paper. Keep in mind that APA does not call for two spaces after any period (such as for abbreviations or in the reference list) ONLY when a period ends a sentence do you need two spaces.

Step by Step Instructions for Formatting your APA Style Research Paper

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Last Updated: Oct 27, 2022 9:47 AM
URL: https://gocolumbia.libguides.com/apa

TAFT COLLEGE

APA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Formatting Your Paper

Updated About In-text Citations
Updated In-Text Examples
What to Include
Volume/Issue
Bracketed Descriptions
URLs and DOIs
Book with Editor(s)
Book with No Author
Book with Organization as Author
Book with Personal Author(s)
Chapters and Parts of Books
Classical Works
Journal Article
Magazine Article
Multi-Volume Works
Newspaper Article
Patents & Laws
Personal Communication
Physicians' Desk Reference
Social Media
Unpublished Manuscripts/Informal Publications (i.e. course packets and dissertations)
Formatting Your Paper
Formatting Your References
Headings in APA
Annotated Bibliography

APA recommends using the same font throughout your paper. Taft College library staff recommend using 12-point Times New Roman font. If not using Times New Roman, then another serif or sans serif typeface should be used for its readability. Only use different typeface in figure descriptions, in that case, use a font between 8 and 14 points.

Line Spacing & Margins

Number of Spaces after a Period

APA style recommends placing one space after a period

that ends a sentence,
when the period separates parts of a reference entry,
and after author name abbreviations (i.e. Lander, F. K.).

Do not put a space after a period

for internal abbreviations (i.e., U.S., p.m.).

APA Research Paper Template for Word 206

You can save this template in Microsoft Word (Taft College Students can download Office for free ). Above is a template you can use every time you need to set-up a research paper using APA style format. Simply open the template and type your own information every time you need to write an APA style research paper.

APA Research Paper Template for Word 2016 This template was created and saved as a Word template for Microsoft Word 2016.

The new APA 7th edition has a format for writing a professional paper as well as one for a student paper. These directions are a set-up for student papers. In the header, on the right, is the page number, starting with 1. Centered on the page is the full title of the paper in boldface type. Place one extra space after the title of the paper. Following is the author (or authors if this is a group paper), the department and institution to which the paper is affiliated, the course number and course name, the professor's name, and the due date of the paper.

The text of your paper begins on the second page. The full title starts it off at the top center of a new page, in boldface font. For the rest of the paper, you only need page numbers in the header. Remember to cite!

Your References start on its own page and goes at the end of your paper. Title it References, centered, and bold-faced at the top. The references are alphabetized and have a hanging indent.

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Last Updated: Sep 18, 2023 10:52 AM
URL: https://lib.taftcollege.edu/c.php?g=1060143

Pasco-Hernando State College

MLA Page Format
Finding and Evaluating Sources (Critical Analysis)
Synthesizing Information from Sources
MLA In-Text Citations
MLA Works Cited
APA Documentation
Writing a Research Paper
Sample Essay - Modern Technology

Important Note: Unless your instructor gives you a template, don't use an MLA template or tool since there are commonly errors.

Times New Roman 12 black font
Header in upper right with name and page number: Jones 1
Line Spacing – double throughout
Tab in the first line of a paragraph ½” or .5
Heading in upper left
Title centered after heading
Works Cited, if any, on a new page
1” margins – top, bottom, left, right. Some defaults are 1.25″ left and right.
Margins are not set in the Paragraph box. In Word or Works, margins are set in Page Layout or in File/Page Setup/Margins.
Times New Roman 12 black font.
Do not use bold or underlining.
Do not use all caps except for an abbreviations such as NATO, AIDS.
Do not use italics unless there is a rule that says to use italics.
Check default and reset default if necessary. Your instructor may accept a different font style: however, Times New Roman 12 Black is a standard setting in school and business.
Left align – this is the usual default setting.
Do not block or justify where the right margin is even.
Alignment can be set in the Paragraph box if the icon is not visible.

See Related Documents on right sidebar for an image of alignment settings.

Line Spacing

Double space – and only double space throughout, even after the heading and around the title, if any.
Check default settings in the Paragraph box and reset per instructions under Paragraph Settings below.

Paragraph Settings

Some programs such have defaults in the Paragraph box which interfere with proper double spacing.

The settings in the Paragraph dialogue box should be as follows to have proper double spacing.

Indentation (on top) should be set at 0 left and 0 right.
Spacing (on the lower left) should be set to 0 Before and 0 After.
Line Spacing (on the lower right) should be set to double.
Check the box that says “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style .”
Click Default (at the bottom) and select Yes to change defaults.

In Google docs , you can change Paragraph settings under Spacing to 0 next to Before and 0 next to After by going into the double spacing tool and clicking Custom Settings. You will have to select (highlight) the entire paper including the heading in the upper left before making the change once the paper is typed.

In Pages , you can change the Paragraph settings by clicking on Format on the top navigation bar and then Paragraph. Remember that you have to highlight (select) the entire paper including the heading in the upper left before making change in Paragraph once the paper is typed.

First Line of a Paragraph

Tab in the first line of a paragraph 1/2″ or .5 from the left margin.
The Tab default is usually at this setting. If not, reset defaults.

Spacing after a period or other end punctuation

Unless your instructor advises otherwise, you may use one or two spaces after a period as long as the use is consistent.

If the instructor asks for a title page, prepare the title page as per the assignment instructions.
Do not use a head ing on the first page if a title page is required.

Create a header in the upper right corner using the Header tool with your last name and page number.

In Word 2007 or higher, click Insert/Header/Blank. Do not choose any option with lines, boxes, or other font or color.
Delete Type text
Click Home and align right. Your cursor should be on the right side.
Type in your last name only. Then hit the space bar once. This will put a space between your last name and page number.
After you hit the space bar, hit Insert/Page # to insert pages. Do not manually type in the page number.
Do not use the word page or any abbreviation of the word such a pg. or p. between your last name and the actual page number: Jones 2.
While MLA format calls for the header to appear on the first page, some instructors may ask that there be no header on the first page since your name is already there. To remove the header from the first page, check Different first page in the Header tool.
These instructions may work for higher versions of Works.
For lower versions of Word or Works, click View/Header and Footer to get into the Header tool.
If you are unable to follow on your computer, your program should have a Help button to give directions on how to insert a header.

Instructions for Creating Header in Office 365:

Click Insert/Header.
Tab over to the third box on the right.
Under Home, click the align right button so that your cursor is all the way on the right side.
Hit the space bar and then click Insert Page # and click the box with the number in the upper right.
Click on the body of the paper to get out of the Header box.
You will not see your header in the default view which is the edit view.
You can click View and then Reading View on the left.
Type a heading in the upper left corner of the first page unless your instructor asks for a title page. Do not use the Header tool to create a heading.
Type the heading as follows: your name, your instructor’s name, the course, and the date (in military style – day month year – no commas) double spaced on separate lines.
Do not use commas in the date. Months should be abbreviated if longer than four letters: Sept., Oct., and so on. Here is an example: 14 Oct. 2009
Do not indent the heading.
Your instructor may request different information to be typed into the heading.

After the heading, center the title of the paper or name of assignment.

Do not use bold, underlining, or a different font style or size for the title.
Do not use quotation marks or italics unless the title of the paper includes the title of a published work since short, published works must be in quotation marks, and long, published works must be in italics.
Remember that in MLA format, the requirement is to double space and only double space throughout.
There should not be any more than a double space before or after the title or name of assignment.

Works Cited

If a Works Cited page is required for your assignment, at the end of the body of the paper, click Insert/Page Break or Insert/Break/Page Break – however your computer gives options – to get to the top of a new page to do the Works Cited.

Do not use the Enter key to get to the next page.
Use the same settings including double spacing throughout except that the first line of each source must start at the left margin and the second and any subsequent lines must be indented ½”.
This is called a hanging indent.
To create a hanging indent, make sure to type your sources one under the other hitting Enter at the end of each source.
Then, highlight the Works Cited list and go into the Paragraph dialogue box.
Under Special, select Hanging from the drop-down menu. Once selected, the default under By should be .5″.
Remember that your list has to be alphabetized and the page must have the words Works Cited centered on top.

Troubleshooting Common Page Setup Problems

The whole page is tabbed in. There is an error in settings in the Indentation Box in Paragraph. Highlight paper and change to 0 in both Left and Right under Indentation in the Paragraph dialogue box.
There is no top margin even though you set top margin for 1”. You’ve accidentally hidden your white space. Position your cursor at the top of the page until you see a double line. Then, double click.
The same page number is appearing on every page in the header in the upper right. You have typed in a page number instead of using Insert Page #.
I can’t get my header over to the right without using the tab key. Click to Home, position your cursor at the beginning of your last name, then click the align right button.
The spacing between lines seems larger than double space. You have not reset the setting in Paragraph under Spacing on lower left to 0 before Before and 0 before After. You have to highlight the whole page before changing settings for them to take place on the page.
There’s an extra line between paragraphs or every time I hit the Enter key. You have not checked the box which says “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style. You have to highlight the whole page before changing settings for them to take place on the page.

MLA Format: Everything You Need to Know Here

Welcome to an overview of “What is MLA Format?” in relation to paper formatting. You’ll find in-depth guidelines, examples, and visual samples to help you easily format your paper. This guide does not serve as a reference for MLA citation format.

For help determining the proper structure for citing, refer to the other guides on EasyBib.com. Here is another informative site which may help with further understanding of MLA citation format.

Guidelines for Formatting a Paper in MLA

Use white 8 ½ x 11” paper.
Make 1 inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides.
The first word in every paragraph should be indented one half inch.
Indent set-off or block quotations one half inch from the left margin.
Use any type of font that is easy to read, such as Times New Roman. Make sure that italics look different from the regular typeface.
Use 12-point size.
Double space the entire research paper, even the Works Cited page.
Leave one space after periods and other punctuation marks, unless your instructor tells you to leave two spaces.

These guidelines come from the MLA Style Center’s web page “Formatting a Research Paper.”

MLA Guide Overview

There are various sections in this guide. Each section provides an in-depth overview of the different components to keep in mind when developing an MLA paper.

This guide includes the following sections:

Format background
General paper formatting
MLA heading format & title page instructions
Running head & page numbers
Paraphrases
Abbreviations
Numbers (includes the use of numbers in MLA outline format)
Images, tables, and musical scores
MLA works cited format
MLA citation format (for in-depth citation rules visit this MLA citation guide or MLA in-text citation guide)
Edits & proofreading

If you need more guidance, a website like EasyBib.com usually has guides and tools to help you out. There’s also resources on other styles, like our guide on “ APA reference page ”, otherwise known as a “References” page.

MLA Format Background

The Modern Language Association (MLA) is an organization responsible for developing MLA format. It was developed as a means for researchers, students, and scholars in the literature and language fields to uniformly format their papers and assignments. This uniform, or consistent, method to developing a paper or assignment allows for easy reading. Today, MLA is not only used in literature and language subject areas; many others have adopted it as well.

The Modern Language Association released the 9th and most current edition of their MLA Handbook in April 2021. The Handbook provides thorough instructions on citing, as well as guidelines for submitting work that adheres to the Modern Language Association’s rules and standards. Although we’re not affiliated with the MLA, our citation specialists bring you this thoughtful and informative guide on the format.

Looking for information about previous editions to the Handbook ? Want to learn more about the origin of “What is MLA format?” Click here to learn about the previous editions to the Handbook .

Actually, are you looking for help on using another style? See how to cite an APA journal , learn to create an APA book citation , and more!

Formatting the Header in MLA

To create a header for your first page, follow these steps:

Begin one inch from the top of the first page and flush with the left margin.
Type your name, your instructor’s name, the course name and number, and the date on separate lines, using double spaces between each.
Double space once more and center the title. Do NOT underline, bold, or type the title in all capital letters. Only italicize words that would normally be italicized in the text. Example: Character Development in The Great Gatsby
Do not place a period after the title or after any headings
Double space between the title and first lines of the text

General Paper Formatting

Paper choice.

While many professors, instructors, and publications allow electronic submission, some prefer printed, hard copies of papers. This section focuses on the type of paper to use for printed submission.

If you choose to print your paper, use white paper only. Do not use ivory, off-white, or any other shades or colors.

Choose a standard, high quality paper to print your project on. Do not use cardstock. It is not necessary to use resum é paper. Use typical, high quality printer or copy paper.

When it comes to size, 8 ½-by-11-inch paper is the recommended size. If you’d like to use a different size, ask your teacher prior to submission.

Use One-Inch Margins in MLA

Use one-inch margins around the entire page. The running head should be the only item seen in the one inch margin (see below for more on running heads).

Most word processing programs automatically default to using one inch margins. Check the page settings section of the program to locate the margin size.

Indenting Paragraphs in MLA

Indent the first word in every paragraph. Sentences should begin one half inch from the left margin.

It is not necessary to manually measure half an inch. Use the “tab” button on the keyboard to create a half inch space.

Double Space Paragraphs in MLA

MLA research paper format requires that the entire research paper or MLA format essay includes double-spaced lines. Double-spaced lines should be found in between the written body of the work, in the heading, and also on the MLA reference page.

While it may seem tempting to place a few extra lines between the heading, title, and beginning of the paper, lines should all be double spaced.

Font and Font Size in MLA

In an MLA paper, it is acceptable to use any font type that is easy to read. Many source types, such as books and articles, use fonts that are easy to read, so if you’re seeking an appropriate font style, look at other sources for guidance. Two of the most commonly used fonts are Arial and Times New Roman.

It is important for the reader to be able to distinguish the difference between italicized and regular font, so if you choose a font style different than Arial or Times New Roman, make sure the difference between the two type styles is evident.

The use of a 12-point font size is recommended as this is the default size for many word processing programs. It is acceptable to use another standard size, such as 11-point or 11.5-point.

Some professors or instructors will provide guidance on how to secure hard copies of projects. If your instructor does not provide you with any expectations or guidance, a simple staple in the top left corner should suffice. If a stapler is not available, some instructors allow paper or binder clips.

Do not fold the top left corner down to secure the pages together. The page could easily unfold, causing a mess of papers. While binders and plastic holders are cute, in reality, they add bulk to a professor or instructor who may like to take the papers home for grading purposes. Keep the binding simple and clean. Staples work best, and binder and paper clips are the next best option.

As always, follow any instructions your professor or teacher may provide. The guidelines found here are simply recommendations.

MLA Heading & Title Page Instructions

The web page “Formatting a Research Paper” gives two options when it comes to creating the header for your project:

An MLA format heading can be placed at the top of the first page
A title page can grace the front of the assignment. If you choose to create a title page, keep in mind that there aren’t any official title page or cover page guidelines in MLA format. See more information below.

If choosing option one, creating an MLA heading, you’ll need to include four main components:

Your full name
Your instructor’s name
The name and number of the course or class
The assignment’s due date

The first item typed on the paper should be your full name.

Position your name one inch from the top and left margins of the page.
Add a double space beneath your name, and type the name of your instructor.
Below the professor or instructor’s name should be a double space, followed by the name of the course, class, or section number (if available).
Below it, include another double space and add the assignment’s due date (Day Month Year).

Here’s an example:

The assignment’s title should be placed below the due date, after a double space. Align the title so it sits in the center of the MLA format paper. The title should be written in standard lettering, without underlines, bold font, italicized font, or any quotation marks. Only include italics or quotation marks if your title includes the title of another source.

Here is an example of an MLA header for an MLA format essay, paper, or assignment:

Neal E. Bibdarsh

Professor Haujeemoto

English 201

The Trials and Tribulations of Lincoln’s Reciting of “The Gettysburg Address”

*Note: The quotation marks here are around the title of a speech included in the paper’s title.

Most research papers use a standard MLA format heading, like the one seen above. If your instructor requires you to create a standalone title page, ask him or her for specifications. MLA does not have specific instructions for developing an MLA title page. We recommend you use an MLA header for your project.

If your teacher or professor requires a standalone title page, but has not provided any guidance or specifications, here are a few suggestions from EasyBib.com and this MLA guide :

Center and double space all of the text on your page.
Place the name of your school at the top of the page.
Skip down to about the center of the page and type the title of your paper. Do not bold the title, italicize the entire title, place quotation marks around it, or type the title out in capital letters.
Use italics for the titles of any sources in the title of your paper. Example: An Analysis of Mythical Creatures in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
first letter of the title
first letter of the last word
first letter of any adjectives, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, and verbs
If your paper has a subtitle, include on the next line below your title.
Skip down to the bottom third of the page and add your name, the the name of your instructor, the name/number of the course or class, and the assignment’s due date on four separate lines.
Keep the font size at 12 pt., or a size close to it, to make it look professional.
Use the same font as the text of the paper. The Modern Language Association recommends any font that is easy to read and has a clear distinction between italics and standard font. Times New Roman and Arial are recommended, but many other fonts work as well.
Include a page number in the top right corner of the paper. For more information on how to style page numbers, check out the next section, “Running Head and Page Numbers.”
We do not recommend adding any images or cover art to the title page.

Click additional information about essays to see an example of a formatted header.

You can either create a title page using the EasyBib Title Page creator or omit the title page completely and use a header.

Running Head & Page Numbers in MLA

A running head is a brief heading that is placed in the top right corner of every page in a project. The Modern Language Association Style Center (online) states that the running head consists of:

Last name of the paper’s author
Page number

General tips to keep in mind:

The running head is placed in the upper right-hand corner, half an inch from the top margin and one inch from the right margin of the page.
Type your last name before the page number.
The last name and page number should be separated by a single space.
Do not place the word “page” or use an abbreviation, such as p. or pg., before the page number.
Quite often, the running head begins on the second page, but your instructor may ask you to include the running head on the first page of the assignment. As always, if your instructor provides you with specific directions, follow his or her guidelines.

Before adding this information manually onto every single page, check to see if the word processor you’re using has the capability to automatically add this information for you. Try looking in the settings area where page numbers or headers can be added or modified.

Google Docs: Adding a header

Go to the menu section “Insert.”
Select “Page numbers” and select the option that places the page number in the upper-right corner.
A page number will appear; your cursor will blink next to it.
Move your cursor to the left of the page number.
Type your last name. Add a space between your name and the page number.
You should now have a properly formatted header on every page!

Microsoft Word Document: Adding a header

Double-click in the space at the top of the page (where the page number is).
OR Go to the “Insert” menu, select “Header,” and select “Edit Header.”
Type your last name next to page number. If it isn’t already right-aligned, go to the “Home” menu and right-align your name.

Quotations in MLA

Quotes are added into assignments to help defend an argument, prove a point, add emphasis, or simply liven up a project.

Quotes should not take up the majority of your paper or assignment. Quotes should be sprinkled sparingly throughout, and quotes longer than 4 lines should be formatted as MLA block quotes . Use direct quotes from outside sources to enhance and expand on your own writing and ideas.

Words from quotes belong to the individual who spoke or wrote them, so it is essential to credit that individual’s work. Credit him or her by adding what is called an “in-text citation” into the body of the project.

There are three ways to add quotes: 1. With the author’s name in the sentence (a citation in prose).

Dan Gutman shares a glimpse into the overall plot by stating, “I didn’t know it at the time, but a baseball card—for me—could function like a time machine” (5).

In the above example, Dan Gutman is the author of the book that this quote is pulled from.

2. Without the author’s name in the sentence (a parenthetical citation).

The main character’s confusing experience is realized and explained when he states “I didn’t know it at the time, but a baseball card—for me—could function like a time machine” (Gutman 5).

In the above example, Dan Gutman’s name isn’t included in the sentence. It’s included in the parentheses at the end of the sentence. This is an example of a proper MLA style citation in the body of a project.

3. In a block quote, which is used when a large quote, of 4 lines or more, is added into a project.

Using footnotes and endnotes

The Modern Language Association generally promotes the use of references as described in the sections above, but footnotes and endnotes are also acceptable forms of references to use in your paper.

Footnotes and endnotes are helpful to use in a variety of circumstances. Here are a few scenarios when it may seem appropriate to use this type of referencing:

When you are referring to a number of various sources, by various authors, in a section of your paper. In this situation, it is a good idea to use a footnote or endnote to share information for parenthetical references. This will encourage the reader to stay focused on the text of the research paper, instead of having to read through all of the reference information.
When you are sharing additional information that doesn’t quite fit into the scope of the paper, but is beneficial for the reader. These types of footnotes and endnotes are helpful when explaining translations, adding background information, or sharing counterexamples to research.

To include a footnote or endnote, add a superscript number at the end of the sentence the footnote or endnote refers to. They can be included mid-sentence if necessary, but be sure to add it after any punctuation, such as commas or periods. Find a location that doesn’t distract the reader from the content and flow of the paper.

Within the text example:

Numerous well-known children’s books include characters from a wide range of races and ethnicities, thus promoting diversity and multiculturalism.¹

At the bottom of the page (footnote) or at the end of the section (endnote):

¹See Isadora, Parr, and Velazquez. While Parr’s work features characters of various colors, such as pink or blue, children easily correlate it with individuals of different races and ethnicities.

On the last page of the assignment, the writer includes the full references for the books by Isadora, Parr, and Velazquez.

For more on block quotes and a further, detailed explanation on the use of quotes, including MLA footnotes, refer to our MLA In-Text Citation and Parenthetical Citations Guide. In this guide you’ll find further information including directions for the use of quotes without an author, page numbers, and how to properly credit work from electronic sources.

For guides on citations in another style, check out APA parenthetical citation and APA in-text citation .

Paraphrases in MLA

Paraphrases are created when text or speech from another source are added into a project, but the writer chooses to summarize them and weave in his or her own writing and writing style.

Even though the writer modifies the information from another source, it is still necessary to credit the source using proper format ( Handbook 98). Paraphrased information uses the same MLA reference format as stated in the section directly above this one.

Here is an acceptable paraphrase:

Original text:

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Steve Jobs

Paraphrase:

Steve Jobs encouraged students at Stanford to continue with their determination, drive, and ambitious behavior. They should never be simply satisfied with the status quo. They should continue to push themselves despite possible obstacles and failures.

To develop a well-written paraphrase, follow these simple, step-by-step instructions.

Find a phrase, sentence, paragraph, or section of original text you’d like to turn into a paraphrase.
Read the text carefully and make sure you fully comprehend its meaning. A writer can only develop a well-written paraphrase if the information has been fully grasped and understood. If you’re having difficulty understanding the information, take a few minutes to read up on tricky words and background information. If all else fails, ask a friend to see if they’re able to make sense of the concepts.
After analyzing and completely understanding the original text, put it to the side. Take a moment to think about what you’ve read and connect the idea to your own assignment.
Now that the information is completely understood, take a moment to rewrite what you’ve read, in your own words and writing style. Do not simply substitute words in the original text with synonyms. That’s plagiarism! Show off and demonstrate your ability to process the original information, connect it to the content in your paper, and write it in your own individual and unique writing style.
Include an in-text reference next to the paraphrase. All paraphrases include references, similar to direct quotes. See the “Quotations” section of this guide to learn how to properly attribute your paraphrased information.
Give yourself a pat on the back! Paraphrasing is an important part of the research and writing process.

Wondering if it’s better to quote or paraphrase?

An essential part of the research process involves adding direct quotes and paraphrases into projects. Direct quotes provide word-for-word evidence and allow writers to use another author’s eloquent words and language in their own projects. When it comes to paraphrases, writers are able to take a block of text and shrink the scope of it into the their papers. Paper writers can also use paraphrases to demonstrate their ability to analyze and reiterate information in a meaningful and relevant way.

If you’re wondering which one is better to consistently use, quotes or paraphrases, there’s a clear winner. Paraphrases come out on top. Sure, direct quotes are incredibly beneficial, but copying and pasting too many of these into a project can cause a reader to lose sight of the writer’s own voice. Mixing your own voice with another author’s too much can make for choppy and disjointed reading.

The ultimate goal of a research project is to have your voice and research merged together as one. Paraphrases allow just that. When you combine information from outside sources with your own writing style, it demonstrates your ability as a researcher to showcase your understanding and analyzation of a topic.

Remember, whether you’re adding direct quotes or paraphrases into a project, both types of additions need references. References are placed after the quotes and paraphrases, and also at the end of an assignment.

If you’re looking for additional help with your punctuation or grammar, check out the EasyBib plagiarism checker !

Using Abbreviations in MLA

Abbreviations are commonly used in many source types including websites, blog posts, books, and journal articles. It is acceptable to use abbreviations in all of these sources.

When it comes to school and research assignments, however, the MLA Handbook states that abbreviations should be used rarely in the prose of your paper (293). Spelling out abbreviations into their full words and meanings is recommended. This ensures understanding and avoids any confusion from your reader.

There are times when you may feel it is perfectly acceptable to use an abbreviation rather than its typed out counterpart in a paper. If you do abbreviate, be sure you are using commonly accepted abbreviations, which you can find in the dictionary. You can also review Appendix 1 in the MLA Handbook .

General Abbreviation Tips

Human Immunodeficiency Virus can be abbreviated to HIV, not H.I.V.
United States should be US, not U.S.
Digital video disc should be DVD, not D.V.D.
For lower case abbreviations, it is acceptable to include periods between the letters.
The abbreviation, “For example” = e.g.
If there is a mix of lower case and upper case letters, do not use periods if the majority of the letters are upper case. Examples include PhD and EdD

Abbreviating Months

Type out entire month names when being used in the body of a research paper or assignment.

She rented out the beach house from May through September

When it comes to references, MLA bibliography format requires months longer than four letters to be abbreviated.

July = July
November = Nov.

Other abbreviations that are perfectly acceptable to use in a bibliography (not the body of a project) include:

p. or pp. for page and page numbers
ch. for chapter
ed. for edition
trans. for translation or translated
vol. for volume
no. for number
rev. for revised

Again, these abbreviations should only be used in the final page(s) of a project, the MLA Works Cited list. They should not be used in the body of a project.

For more information on bibliographies, see our MLA format Works Cited List page.

Abbreviating Publishers

One of the quirkiest things about this particular style is how publisher names are structured on the final page of references. Certain words are abbreviated, some words are omitted, and other words are written in full.

Words describing what type of business the publisher is are omitted from the works cited. Here’s a breakdown of the words that should be excluded:

Co. (Company)
Corp. (Corporation)
Inc. (Incorporated)
Ltd. (Limited)
The (when at the beginning of the name)

If a publisher’s name contains the words “University” and “Press” (or the equivalent in another language), the words should be abbreviated to the letters “U” and “P” in your citation. But if only one of the words appears, it should be written out normally.

Here are a few examples:

University of Delaware
U College of London P

All other words related to the names of publishers should be written out in full.

Abbreviating Titles

Certain classical and biblical works are abbreviated in a bibliography, but also in any parenthetical references in the text.

The official handbook provides a lengthy list, spanning over multiple pages, of the preferred abbreviations to use for classical and biblical works ( Handbook 295-301), but here’s a quick snapshot of some of the commonly used ones:

Hebrew Bible or Old Testament = OT

Deut. = Deuteronomy
Gen. = Genesis
Lev. = Leviticus
Num. = Numbers
Ps. = Psalms

New Testament = NT

1 Cor. = 1 Corinthians
Jas. = James
Matt. = Matthew

Shakespeare:

Ado = Much Ado about Nothing
3H6 = Henry VI, Part 3
JC = Julius Caesar
Mac. = Macbeth
MND = A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Oth. = Othello
Rom. = Romeo and Juliet

Again, the titles above are allowed to be abbreviated both in references in parentheses in the body of a project and also on the final page of references. If you’re wondering why, it’s because they’re cited often and it’s unnecessary to type out the entire title names.

Formatting Numbers in MLA

Use of numerals.

If the project calls for frequent use of numbers (such as a scientific study or statistics), use numerals that precede measurements.

247 milligrams

Other items to keep in mind:

In divisions, use numbers, ex: In page 5 of the study

Arabic Numbers

When including a number in a paper, spell out the number if it can be written as one word (such as six ) or two words (such as sixty-two ). For fractions, decimals, or longer numbers, type them out using digits. For larger numbers, write the number itself ( Handbook 82-84).

twenty-seven
one hundred

If the number comes before a unit of measurement or label, type the number using digits.

8 tablespoons
3 July 2018
25 King Street

More on Numbers

Starting a sentence with a number is generally frowned upon. Try modifying the sentence so that the number, or number word, is found elsewhere.

Instead of:

225 children were found in the warehouse, some malnourished and diseased.

Use this sentence:

A total of 225 children were found in the warehouse, some malnourished and diseased.

If modifying the sentence is not possible or does not work well with the flow of the assignment or paper, type out the written number:

Two hundred twenty five children were found in the warehouse, some malnourished and diseased.

Do not include any ISBN numbers in your paper.

Outline Format

The Modern Language Association does not have any requirements regarding the structure of an outline. If your teacher asks you to create an MLA outline, we recommend using roman numerals, capital and lowercase letters, and numbers.

Here is an example of a recommended outline structure:

In addition to outlines, use roman numerals for suffixes.

King George IV

Using Images, Tables, & Musical Scores in MLA

Photographs, data sets, tables, graphs, and other images are often added into projects or papers to promote or aid understanding. They provide meaningful visuals for the reader. If the illustration or visual image does not enhance the quality of the paper, do not include it in the project.

Tables and illustrations should be placed as close as possible to the text that they most closely refer to.

For an image to be significant and easily identifiable, place it as close as possible to the text in the project where it is discussed.

It is not acceptable to simply place an image in a project without including identifiable information. All images must include information about its origin.

Here are the directions to properly attribute an image:

Assign an Arabic number. The image closest to the beginning of the project should be labeled as Fig. 1. The next image in the project should be Fig. 2. and so on.
Provide a caption. The caption should be a brief explanation or the title of the contents of the image. Place the caption directly next to the label.
Immediately following the caption, it is acceptable to include attribution information. If the image is not discussed further in the rest of the paper or project, it is acceptable to include the MLA bibliography format citation below the image and omit it from the bibliography or MLA format works cited page.

In the text of the project or paper where the figure is discussed, include the label in parentheses to ensure the reader knows where to find the figure in your paper.

In the text:

Sarah’s tattoo design was filled with two of her favorite flowers: lilies and daffodils along a thinly curved vine (fig. 1).

Image formatting:

(Image Would Be Here) Fig. 1. Sarah’s Tattoo. barneyWILLIAMSable, Deviant Art , 2011, barneywilliamsable.deviantart.com/art/Sarah-s-Tattoo-design-193048938.

Fig. 1. White Studio. “Houdini and Jennie, the Elephant, Performing at the Hippodrome, New York.” Library of Congress , www.loc.gov/item/96518833/.

When adding a table or data set into a project, it is formatted a little differently. Above the data set, include the label “Table” with an Arabic numeral, and title it. The table number and title should be located flush left and on separate lines. The first table seen in the project is labeled as Table 1. The second table in the project is Table 2, and so on. The table’s title should be written in title case form (the first letter of each word is capitalized, except for small, insignificant words).

Underneath the table, provide the source and any notes. Notes should be labeled with a letter, rather than a numeral, so the reader is able to differentiate between the notes of the text and the notes of the table.

International Scholars from India Enrolled at Yale University a

Source: “International Scholars Academic Year 2015-2016.” Yale University , Office of International Students and Scholars, yale.app.box.com/v/scholar-2015-2016. a. The numbers reflect students who are enrolled full-time.

The information included above and below any images or table should be double spaced, similar to the rest of the project or paper.

Musical Scores

Musical scores need to be labeled as well. When including a musical score in a project, label musical scores with “Ex.” which is short for example. This label should be placed below the musical score. Next to the abbreviation “Ex.”, assign the score an Arabic numeral. The first musical score in the project should be labeled as Ex. 1. The second musical score found in an assignment should be labeled as Ex. 2., and so on.

If possible, provide a caption after to the label. If the caption below the sheet music includes enough information about the source, it is not necessary to include the full reference at the end of the assignment.

Here is an example of a possible label and caption:

Ex. 4. Scott Joplin, The Entertainer, piano, C major.

Another example:

Here’s more on tables and illustrations.

Using Lists in MLA

It’s appropriate to add lists into an MLA format essay as long as the proper rules are followed.

Lists created using MLA essay format look different than a grocery list or any other type of vertical listing of items. Items in a list are included in your prose, rather than the traditional vertical style.

Often, you will use a colon between the introductory sentence and the list. But you should not include a colon if the first item in the list is part of the sentence.

List Example #1

Here is an example of how a list may look incorporated into the prose of a research project or assignment:

William Shakespeare wrote numerous plays, many of which were considered tragedies: Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet , Macbeth , Othello , Julius Caesar , and King Lear .

List Example #2 Here is an example of how a list may look in a research project or assignment when the list is part of the introductory sentence:

Many of William Shakespeare’s were tragedies. Some of his most popular tragedies include Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet , Macbeth , Othello , Julius Caesar , and King Lear.

MLA Works Cited Format

EasyBib.com has a full, comprehensive guide to creating a proper works cited MLA format , but here are a few items to keep in mind when developing this portion of a project:

The list of citations should be the very last page of a research project or essay.
The top of the page should include the running head and the page number.
All entries should be placed in alphabetical order by the first item in the MLA format citation.
The entire page should be double spaced.

For more detailed information, make sure to check out the EasyBib guide to MLA format Works Cited pages.

MLA Citation Format

The majority of this guide focuses on MLA formatting in regards to MLA paper format rules and guidelines. If you’re seeking information related to the proper formatting of an MLA citation, refer to our individual pages and posts on various types of citations.

If you’re simply looking for the general structure for full references, which are found on the final pages of projects, here’s the proper order:

Author’s Last name, Author’s First name. “Title of Source.”* Title of Container , Names of other contributors along with their specific roles, version of the source (if it differs from the original or is unique), any key numbers associated with the source that aren’t dates (such as journal issue numbers or volume numbers), Name of the Publisher, publication date, location (such as the URL or page numbers).

*Note: A title may be in italics instead of quotation marks, depending of the type of source. The general rule is that works that are self-contained (like books, journals, or television shows) are formatted in italics. Works that are part of a larger work (like articles, chapters, or specific episodes) are formatting in quotation marks.

MLA Format Citing FAQs:

“What in the world are containers?”

Containers are what hold the source. If you’re creating a reference for a chapter in a book, the title of the chapter is the title of the source , and the container is the title of the book . The book holds the chapter, so it’s the container. If you’re searching for how to cite a website, here’s a tip: the title of the source is the name of the individual page and the title of the container is the name of the full website.

“This seems like a lot of information for a reference. Is it all necessary?”

The short answer is “No!” When citing, only include the components that help the reader locate the exact same source themselves.

It isn’t necessary to go digging for items such as numbers, version types, or names of other individuals or contributors associated with the source if they aren’t applicable. If you think it’s beneficial for the reader, then include it.

Related to citations, here are helpful pages on:

MLA citation website format
Citing a book
Citing a journal
What is a DOI ?
More on PDFs

If you’re looking for an MLA citation generator, head to the EasyBib homepage. Our formatter will help you create citations quickly and easily!

Need APA, too? There are also EasyBib tools and an APA citation website reference guide to help you learn the basics.

Edits and Proofreading

Editing and proofreading your assignment prior to submission is an incredibly important step in the research process. Editing involves checking the paper for the following items:

Spelling : Are all words spelled correctly? Review all proper names, places, and other unique words to ensure correct spelling. When finished, run the project through a spell checker. Many word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word and Google Drive, provide a free spell checking feature. While spell checks are beneficial, they do not always spot every mistake, so make sure you take the time to read through the assignment carefully. If you’re still not sure if your project contains proper spelling, ask a friend to read through it. They may find a mistake you missed!
Grammar : Check your assignment to make sure you’ve included proper word usage. There are numerous grammar checkers available to review your project prior to submission. Again, take the time to review any recommendations from these programs prior to accepting the suggestions and revisions.
Punctuation : Check to make sure the end of every sentence has an ending punctuation mark. Also make sure commas, hyphens, colons, and other punctuation marks are placed in the appropriate places.
Attribution : Do all quotes and paraphrases include a citation? Did you create an in-text citation for each individual piece of information?

Smart idea: running your paper through a paper checker before you turn it in. EasyBib Plus offers a checker that scans for grammar errors and unintentional plagiarism.

Check out our MLA sample papers . Also, check out the EasyBib MLA Annotated Bibliography Guide.

Don’t forget to use the EasyBib citation generator to develop your Modern Language Association style references.EasyBib.com also has helpful guides on APA format and more styles . Lastly, stay up-to-date on what’s coming by following our EasyBib Twitter account.

Works Cited

“Formatting a Research Paper.” The MLA Style Center , Modern Language Association of America, style.mla.org/formatting-papers/.

MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated July 25, 2021.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau . Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. You can find her here on Twitter. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

Annotated Bibliography
Bibliography
Block Quotes
et al Usage
In-text Citations
Paraphrasing
Page Numbers
Sample Paper
MLA 8 Updates
MLA 9 Updates
View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

Book Chapter
Journal Article
Magazine Article
Newspaper Article
Website (no author)
View all MLA Examples

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The works-cited list provides the reader full information so that a reader can locate the source for further use.

Basic formatting

The works-cited list appears at the end of the paper, after any endnotes if they are present.

Page margins

All margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be set at 1 inch.

Running head

Write the running head in the top right of the page at 0.5 inch from the top. Use the running head “Surname Page #.”

The font should be clear enough to read. For example, Times New Roman font set to 12 points.

Formatting entries

Entries should be double-spaced, including a double-space between the heading and the first entry. If any entry runs over more than a line, indent the subsequent line(s) 0.5 inch from the left margin.

Formatting the title

The title should be “Works Cited.” Center the title. Do not bold, italicize, or underline the title. If you cite only one source in the list, the title should be “Work Cited.” If you include sources that you only consulted and didn’t cite directly, the title should be changed accordingly to “Works Cited and Consulted.”

Arranging works cited

Works-cited-list entries are arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name (or the editor’s last name for entire edited collections). Double-space all entries. Begin each entry flush with the left margin. If any entry runs over more than one line, indent the subsequent line(s) 0.5 inch from the left margin (sometimes called a hanging indent).

Example works cited

Damasio, Antonio. The Feeling of What Happens: Body, Emotion and the Making of Consciousness . Vintage, 2000.

Hill, R. T. “Legitimizing Colonial Privilege: Native Americans at a Quincentenary of Discourse.” Text and Performance Quarterly , vol. 16, no. 1, 1996, pp. 92–100.

MacDonald, Shauna M. “Performance as Critical Posthuman Pedagogy.” Text and Performance Quarterly , vol. 34, no. 2, 2014, pp. 164–81.

Zilio, M. “Canada Will Not Move Embassy to Jerusalem, Federal Government Says.” The Globe and Mail . 7 Sept. 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-will-not-move-embassy-to-jerusalem-federal-government-says/article37219576/ .

An in-text citation is a short citation that is placed in the text. It is styled in two ways: a citation in prose or a parenthetical citation.

The basic element needed for an in-text citation is the author’s name . The publication year is not required in in-text citations. Sometimes, page numbers or line numbers are also included, especially when directly quoting text from the source being cited. When including a page number, do not include a comma or any other punctuation mark between the author’s surname and the page number.

Parenthetical citations usually add only the author’s surname at the end of the sentence in parentheses. Sometimes they include a page number or other locator. An example of a parenthetical citation is given below:

The spiritual geography of the landscape is explained (Cooper).

If you want to cite a chapter number, a scene, or a line number, follow the abbreviation guidelines below:

When including a more specific locator number rather than a page number, place a comma between the author’s surname and the label.

(Cooper, ch. 2).

Here are a few examples of in-text citations for sources with different numbers or types of authors:

Use only the surname of the author in parenthetical citations. If you want to add a page number (or another indicator of the place in a work), add it after the author’s surname without any punctuation between the surname and the page number.

(Abraham 7).

Two authors

Add only the surnames of the authors. Use “and” to separate the two authors.

(Langmuir and Einstein).

Three or more authors

Add only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

(Low et al.).

Corporate author

Shorten the organization name wherever possible, excluding any initial articles and using the shortest noun phrase (e.g., shorten Literary Society of Tamil Culture to Literary Society).

(Literary Society).

If there is no author for the source, use the source title in place of the author’s surname.

When you add such in-text citations, italicize the text of the title. If the source title is longer than a noun phrase, use a shortened version of the title. For example, the title Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is shortened to Fantastic Beasts .

( Fantastic Beasts 160).

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13.1 Formatting a Research Paper

Learning objectives.

Identify the major components of a research paper written using American Psychological Association (APA) style.
Apply general APA style and formatting conventions in a research paper.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use APA style , the documentation and formatting style followed by the American Psychological Association, as well as MLA style , from the Modern Language Association. There are a few major formatting styles used in academic texts, including AMA, Chicago, and Turabian:

AMA (American Medical Association) for medicine, health, and biological sciences
APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the social sciences
Chicago—a common style used in everyday publications like magazines, newspapers, and books
MLA (Modern Language Association) for English, literature, arts, and humanities
Turabian—another common style designed for its universal application across all subjects and disciplines

While all the formatting and citation styles have their own use and applications, in this chapter we focus our attention on the two styles you are most likely to use in your academic studies: APA and MLA.

If you find that the rules of proper source documentation are difficult to keep straight, you are not alone. Writing a good research paper is, in and of itself, a major intellectual challenge. Having to follow detailed citation and formatting guidelines as well may seem like just one more task to add to an already-too-long list of requirements.

Following these guidelines, however, serves several important purposes. First, it signals to your readers that your paper should be taken seriously as a student’s contribution to a given academic or professional field; it is the literary equivalent of wearing a tailored suit to a job interview. Second, it shows that you respect other people’s work enough to give them proper credit for it. Finally, it helps your reader find additional materials if he or she wishes to learn more about your topic.

Furthermore, producing a letter-perfect APA-style paper need not be burdensome. Yes, it requires careful attention to detail. However, you can simplify the process if you keep these broad guidelines in mind:

Work ahead whenever you can. Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” includes tips for keeping track of your sources early in the research process, which will save time later on.
Get it right the first time. Apply APA guidelines as you write, so you will not have much to correct during the editing stage. Again, putting in a little extra time early on can save time later.
Use the resources available to you. In addition to the guidelines provided in this chapter, you may wish to consult the APA website at http://www.apa.org or the Purdue University Online Writing lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu , which regularly updates its online style guidelines.

General Formatting Guidelines

This chapter provides detailed guidelines for using the citation and formatting conventions developed by the American Psychological Association, or APA. Writers in disciplines as diverse as astrophysics, biology, psychology, and education follow APA style. The major components of a paper written in APA style are listed in the following box.

These are the major components of an APA-style paper:

Body, which includes the following:

Headings and, if necessary, subheadings to organize the content
In-text citations of research sources
References page

All these components must be saved in one document, not as separate documents.

The title page of your paper includes the following information:

Title of the paper
Author’s name
Name of the institution with which the author is affiliated
Header at the top of the page with the paper title (in capital letters) and the page number (If the title is lengthy, you may use a shortened form of it in the header.)

List the first three elements in the order given in the previous list, centered about one third of the way down from the top of the page. Use the headers and footers tool of your word-processing program to add the header, with the title text at the left and the page number in the upper-right corner. Your title page should look like the following example.

Beyond the Hype: Evaluating Low-Carb Diets cover page

The next page of your paper provides an abstract , or brief summary of your findings. An abstract does not need to be provided in every paper, but an abstract should be used in papers that include a hypothesis. A good abstract is concise—about one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty words—and is written in an objective, impersonal style. Your writing voice will not be as apparent here as in the body of your paper. When writing the abstract, take a just-the-facts approach, and summarize your research question and your findings in a few sentences.

In Chapter 12 “Writing a Research Paper” , you read a paper written by a student named Jorge, who researched the effectiveness of low-carbohydrate diets. Read Jorge’s abstract. Note how it sums up the major ideas in his paper without going into excessive detail.

Write an abstract summarizing your paper. Briefly introduce the topic, state your findings, and sum up what conclusions you can draw from your research. Use the word count feature of your word-processing program to make sure your abstract does not exceed one hundred fifty words.

Depending on your field of study, you may sometimes write research papers that present extensive primary research, such as your own experiment or survey. In your abstract, summarize your research question and your findings, and briefly indicate how your study relates to prior research in the field.

Margins, Pagination, and Headings

APA style requirements also address specific formatting concerns, such as margins, pagination, and heading styles, within the body of the paper. Review the following APA guidelines.

Use these general guidelines to format the paper:

Set the top, bottom, and side margins of your paper at 1 inch.
Use double-spaced text throughout your paper.
Use a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, in a legible size (10- to 12-point).
Use continuous pagination throughout the paper, including the title page and the references section. Page numbers appear flush right within your header.
Section headings and subsection headings within the body of your paper use different types of formatting depending on the level of information you are presenting. Additional details from Jorge’s paper are provided.

Begin formatting the final draft of your paper according to APA guidelines. You may work with an existing document or set up a new document if you choose. Include the following:

Your title page
The abstract you created in Note 13.8 “Exercise 1”
Correct headers and page numbers for your title page and abstract

APA style uses section headings to organize information, making it easy for the reader to follow the writer’s train of thought and to know immediately what major topics are covered. Depending on the length and complexity of the paper, its major sections may also be divided into subsections, sub-subsections, and so on. These smaller sections, in turn, use different heading styles to indicate different levels of information. In essence, you are using headings to create a hierarchy of information.

The following heading styles used in APA formatting are listed in order of greatest to least importance:

Section headings use centered, boldface type. Headings use title case, with important words in the heading capitalized.
Subsection headings use left-aligned, boldface type. Headings use title case.
The third level uses left-aligned, indented, boldface type. Headings use a capital letter only for the first word, and they end in a period.
The fourth level follows the same style used for the previous level, but the headings are boldfaced and italicized.
The fifth level follows the same style used for the previous level, but the headings are italicized and not boldfaced.

Visually, the hierarchy of information is organized as indicated in Table 13.1 “Section Headings” .

Table 13.1 Section Headings

A college research paper may not use all the heading levels shown in Table 13.1 “Section Headings” , but you are likely to encounter them in academic journal articles that use APA style. For a brief paper, you may find that level 1 headings suffice. Longer or more complex papers may need level 2 headings or other lower-level headings to organize information clearly. Use your outline to craft your major section headings and determine whether any subtopics are substantial enough to require additional levels of headings.

Working with the document you developed in Note 13.11 “Exercise 2” , begin setting up the heading structure of the final draft of your research paper according to APA guidelines. Include your title and at least two to three major section headings, and follow the formatting guidelines provided above. If your major sections should be broken into subsections, add those headings as well. Use your outline to help you.

Because Jorge used only level 1 headings, his Exercise 3 would look like the following:

Citation Guidelines

In-text citations.

Throughout the body of your paper, include a citation whenever you quote or paraphrase material from your research sources. As you learned in Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” , the purpose of citations is twofold: to give credit to others for their ideas and to allow your reader to follow up and learn more about the topic if desired. Your in-text citations provide basic information about your source; each source you cite will have a longer entry in the references section that provides more detailed information.

In-text citations must provide the name of the author or authors and the year the source was published. (When a given source does not list an individual author, you may provide the source title or the name of the organization that published the material instead.) When directly quoting a source, it is also required that you include the page number where the quote appears in your citation.

This information may be included within the sentence or in a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, as in these examples.

Epstein (2010) points out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Here, the writer names the source author when introducing the quote and provides the publication date in parentheses after the author’s name. The page number appears in parentheses after the closing quotation marks and before the period that ends the sentence.

Addiction researchers caution that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (Epstein, 2010, p. 137).

Here, the writer provides a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence that includes the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number separated by commas. Again, the parenthetical citation is placed after the closing quotation marks and before the period at the end of the sentence.

As noted in the book Junk Food, Junk Science (Epstein, 2010, p. 137), “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive.”

Here, the writer chose to mention the source title in the sentence (an optional piece of information to include) and followed the title with a parenthetical citation. Note that the parenthetical citation is placed before the comma that signals the end of the introductory phrase.

David Epstein’s book Junk Food, Junk Science (2010) pointed out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Another variation is to introduce the author and the source title in your sentence and include the publication date and page number in parentheses within the sentence or at the end of the sentence. As long as you have included the essential information, you can choose the option that works best for that particular sentence and source.

Citing a book with a single author is usually a straightforward task. Of course, your research may require that you cite many other types of sources, such as books or articles with more than one author or sources with no individual author listed. You may also need to cite sources available in both print and online and nonprint sources, such as websites and personal interviews. Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , Section 13.2 “Citing and Referencing Techniques” and Section 13.3 “Creating a References Section” provide extensive guidelines for citing a variety of source types.

Writing at Work

APA is just one of several different styles with its own guidelines for documentation, formatting, and language usage. Depending on your field of interest, you may be exposed to additional styles, such as the following:

MLA style. Determined by the Modern Languages Association and used for papers in literature, languages, and other disciplines in the humanities.
Chicago style. Outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style and sometimes used for papers in the humanities and the sciences; many professional organizations use this style for publications as well.
Associated Press (AP) style. Used by professional journalists.

References List

The brief citations included in the body of your paper correspond to the more detailed citations provided at the end of the paper in the references section. In-text citations provide basic information—the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number if necessary—while the references section provides more extensive bibliographical information. Again, this information allows your reader to follow up on the sources you cited and do additional reading about the topic if desired.

The specific format of entries in the list of references varies slightly for different source types, but the entries generally include the following information:

The name(s) of the author(s) or institution that wrote the source
The year of publication and, where applicable, the exact date of publication
The full title of the source
For books, the city of publication
For articles or essays, the name of the periodical or book in which the article or essay appears
For magazine and journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and pages where the article appears
For sources on the web, the URL where the source is located

The references page is double spaced and lists entries in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. If an entry continues for more than one line, the second line and each subsequent line are indented five spaces. Review the following example. ( Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , Section 13.3 “Creating a References Section” provides extensive guidelines for formatting reference entries for different types of sources.)

In APA style, book and article titles are formatted in sentence case, not title case. Sentence case means that only the first word is capitalized, along with any proper nouns.

Key Takeaways

Following proper citation and formatting guidelines helps writers ensure that their work will be taken seriously, give proper credit to other authors for their work, and provide valuable information to readers.
Working ahead and taking care to cite sources correctly the first time are ways writers can save time during the editing stage of writing a research paper.
APA papers usually include an abstract that concisely summarizes the paper.
APA papers use a specific headings structure to provide a clear hierarchy of information.
In APA papers, in-text citations usually include the name(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication.
In-text citations correspond to entries in the references section, which provide detailed bibliographical information about a source.

Generate accurate Chicago citations for free

Knowledge Base
Chicago Style
Chicago Style Format for Papers | Requirements & Examples

Chicago Style Format for Papers | Requirements & Examples

Published on September 25, 2019 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on December 5, 2022.

The information in this article is largely drawn from Turabian style —a version of Chicago style aimed at students and researchers. When writing a paper in Chicago style, these are the guidelines to follow; for the sake of simplicity, the term “Chicago” is used here.

Chicago Reference Generator

To apply Chicago format:

Use a standard font like 12 pt. Times New Roman.
Double-space the text.
Use 1 inch margins or larger.
Indent new paragraphs by ½ inch.
Place page numbers in the top right or bottom center.

Note that any specific formatting advice from your instructor or faculty overrules these guidelines. Template documents set up in Chicago style are available to download below. Just select the one with the citation style you’re following.

Author-date Notes and bibliography

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General formatting, block quotes, numbers and acronyms, in-text citations and notes, bibliography or reference list, frequently asked questions about chicago format.

Chicago doesn’t require a specific font or font size, but recommends using something simple and readable (e.g., 12 pt. Times New Roman). Use margins of at least 1 inch on all sides of the page.

The main text should be double-spaced, and each new paragraph should begin with a ½ inch indent. Text should be left-aligned and not “justified” (meaning that the right margin should look ragged).

Page numbers can be placed either in the top right or the bottom center of the page—one or the other, not both.

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A Chicago title page isn’t required—often it’s sufficient to just include your title at the top of the first page—but if you’re asked to include one, Turabian provides guidelines for how to present it.

All text on the title page should be center-aligned and double-spaced, and written in the same font as the rest of your text. The title should appear about ⅓ of the way down the page, in headline capitalization and in bold.

If you have a subtitle, the main title ends with a colon and the subtitle appears on the following line, also in bold and the same size as the main title.

About ⅔ of the way down the page, add any information your instructor requests you to include—your name, student code, the course name and code, the date, etc. Each new piece of information appears on a new line.

The title page should not have a page number, but should be included in the page count—in other words, the page numbering starts on page 2.

Headings should use headline capitalization:

Summary of results
Summary of Results

If you use different levels of heading (e.g., chapters, sections, subheadings), make sure your presentation makes clear which type of heading each one is.

All headings of one level should be presented the same way, and higher-level headings should stand out more from the text. For example, you might use a larger font for chapter headings, bold for section headings, and italics for subheadings:

Prose quotations of five or more lines (or more than 100 words), as well as poetry quotations of two or more lines, are presented as block quotes .

Block quotes do not use quotation marks . Instead, a blank line separates them from the surrounding text on both sides and they are indented by an additional ½ inch. Unlike the rest of the text, they are not double-spaced.

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Chicago recommends using words, not numerals, for numbers lower than 100. For example, you would write “ninety-five,” not “95.” But numerals should still be used when you’re referring to a specific measurement (e.g., “15 cm”) and when using decimals (e.g., “1.5”).

Acronyms should be introduced the first time you refer to the thing they stand for:

After this point, you can use the acronym alone.

Neither numerals nor acronyms should be used at the beginning of a sentence. Either rewrite the sentence so that the numeral or acronym appears elsewhere, or write out the full phrase or number:

100 people responded to the survey.
One hundred people responded to the survey.
The survey received 100 responses.

Chicago provides guidelines for not one but two citation styles : author-date and notes and bibliography.

In author-date style , citations are placed directly in the text in parentheses . In this style, you have some flexibility about how exactly to integrate the citation:

In notes and bibliography style, citations appear in Chicago footnotes or endnotes (the format is identical either way), and the reader is referred to them by superscript numbers in the text.

Footnote and endnote numbers appear at the end of the relevant clause or sentence, after any punctuation except a dash .

Endnotes appear on their own page just before the bibliography ; footnotes appear at the bottom of each page. Footnotes should be separated from the text by a short rule and be presented in the same font size as the main text, or smaller. Word’s footnote function automatically creates footnotes like this:

At the end of your paper, you’ll likely include a bibliography (for notes and bibliography style) or a reference list (for author-date).

Bibliographies and reference lists are not double-spaced, but leave a blank line between entries.

If an entry extends onto a second line, a ½ inch indent should be applied to all but the first line of the entry.

If you have to create a Chicago style annotated bibliography , follow the same format as a normal bibliography, but indent and double-space the annotations under each source reference.

Turabian style is a version of Chicago style designed specifically for students and researchers. It follows most Chicago conventions, but also adds extra guidelines for formatting research papers , theses and dissertations .

More information can be found in A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian, now in its ninth edition.

A reference list is used with Chicago author-date citations .
A bibliography is used with Chicago footnote citations .

Both present the exact same information; the only difference is the placement of the year in source citations:

In a reference list entry, the publication year appears directly after the author’s name.
In a bibliography entry, the year appears near the end of the entry (the exact placement depends on the source type).

There are also other types of bibliography that work as stand-alone texts, such as a Chicago annotated bibliography .

In Chicago author-date style , your text must include a reference list . It appears at the end of your paper and gives full details of every source you cited.

In notes and bibliography style, you use Chicago style footnotes to cite sources; a bibliography is optional but recommended. If you don’t include one, be sure to use a full note for the first citation of each source.

Footnotes appear at the bottom of the relevant page. Endnotes appear in a list at the end of the text, just before the reference list or bibliography. Don’t mix footnotes and endnotes in the same document: choose one or the other and use them consistently.

In Chicago notes and bibliography style , you can use either footnotes or endnotes, and citations follow the same format in either case.

In APA and MLA style , footnotes or endnotes are not used for citations, but they can be used to provide additional information.

Chicago format doesn’t require you to use any specific font, as long as you choose something readable. A good standard choice is 12 pt Times New Roman.

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How To Write An Essay

Essay Format

Essay Format - An Easy Guide & Examples

10 min read

Published on: Nov 14, 2020

Last updated on: Jan 31, 2024

What is an Essay Format?

An essay format is a way in which the information is organized for your essay. The format of an essay has a lot to do with the presentation of the text. If your essay is poorly structured or lacks a format, your readers will have difficulty understanding the main argument and the idea.

Readers will never continue reading something that is confusing or gives the impression that a writer is sloppy.

A standard format to write your essay or paper is the linear approach. In this, each idea is presented to make it easier for the readers to understand. If you know how to structure an essay, you are halfway through.

Types of Essay Formats

There are 3 basic formatting styles or types in which all essays and papers are formatted. They are:

Whether you are writing a research paper or a general academic essay, you have to choose a format to draft it. Students are often assigned a format by their instructors, so they should read the guidelines carefully.

How to Write an Essay in MLA Format?

MLA format style is quite common in the humanities world. Papers and essays that are to be written in this format should fulfill the following requirements.

The font you are using should be Times New Roman in 12pt.
Double spacing.
No extra space between the new paragraphs
One inch margin on both sides of the paper
Page number in the header.
Essay title in the center of the page.
Sources mentioned in âwork citedâ

MLA vs. APA

Before we move to another common essay format APA, you should know that MLA and APA are different from each other.

Look at the table below and know their differences and similarities.

How to Write an Essay in APA Format?

Unlike MLA format, the APA format is used for scientific papers and essays. Essays are written for behavioral or social sciences follow this format. Following are the guidelines for the American Psychological Association format:

Font or Text in Times New Roman 12pt
One inch margin (both sides)
Double spacing in the text
A short title on the upper left-hand corner in the header
The page number on the right in the header
A title page with the information, including the writerâs name, institution, instructor, and date.
Reference page (for the citation)

APA Format Essay Example

Chicago Essay Format

Chicago style essay format is a bit similar to the other format style guides. This format includes;

Double spacing
Margins (one inch both left margin and right margin)
Times New Roman 12pt font size
Page number in the header
Footnotes on quoted and paraphrased passages
An alphabetical arrangement of citations on the bibliography page.

Chicago Format Essay Example

Basic Parts of an Essay Format

A typical and general format that an essay uses is simple. Every type of essay can be written in that format. Following are the parts that an essay format is based on:

In order to make sure that your academic essay is effective, each of the parts should be drafted professionally.

Here is an essay structure!

Continue reading to understand each part in detail.

1. Cover Or Title Page

The cover or title page is the first page on which the topic of your paper or essay is presented. Along with this, the title page includes other information such as the name of the writer, instructor, institution, course, and the submission date. 2. An Abstract

An abstract is a brief summary of your essay or research paper. It is usually a 300-word long paragraph and precisely presents the purpose of the essay, the main thesis statement, and the studyâs design.

3. Table Of Contents

When you are drafting a long essay or paper, a table of content is developed. In this table, headings and subheadings are presented along with their page numbers. The reader navigates your work using this table of content.

4. Introduction

An introduction is the first section of your essay. When writing a short essay of about 300 - 1000 words, a writer directly starts with an introduction after stating the essay topic.

An introduction of an essay is as important as the body of it. The essay introduction discloses the main idea of the essay and attempts to motivate readers to read the essay. Apart from the presentation of the main idea, it also contains background information about the topic.

A writer then forms a thesis statement which is the main argument of an essay. A thesis statement is the essence of the essay, and all other information provided in the body of an essay justifies it and proves it.

5. Main Body

The main body is the soul of an essay. Without it, the thesis statement will just be meaningless. The information you gather on the topic is presented in the body, which acts as evidence to prove the argument right or wrong depending on the writer.

A format helps the body give a logical flow that walks the reader towards the end. The point to prove your argument is to persuade the reader that your thesis statement is right. Make sure you give a topic sentence to all your body paragraphs.

6. Conclusion

Then comes the conclusion part of the essay. This is the final verdict of an essay writer. In this, a writer avoids giving new ideas to the readers and tries to sum up the whole conversation. This is done by restating the thesis statement in different words and summarizing the key ideas.

7. Appendix

An appendix is formulated when a writer uses unusual terms, phrases, and words in the document. This is a list prepared to describe those unordinary words for the readers.

8. Bibliography

When gathering information for your essay or paper, a writer has to consult different sources. Therefore, when using such sources and information in your content, a bibliography is created to provide their references.

A bibliography is a reference list presented at the end of the essay where all the cited sources are given along with the details.

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Formatting an Essay

Formatting an essay means working on the essay structure. When writing an academic essay, make sure that every part is drafted according to format. Your title page, in-text citation, essay outline, and reference list should be following the chosen format.

To understand the formatting of the different parts better, continue reading.

Title Page Format

According to the MLA style, the title page of an essay should be written in the following way:

Writing the name of the writer, course, instructor, and date.
Double spacing between paragraphs
Instituteâs name in the top center of a page
Title of your essay or paper
Font Times New Roman (12pt)

If you are using an APA style formatting for your essay, make sure to format your title page in the following way:

Title written in all caps
The margin on both sides (1 inch)
12pt font Times New Roman
Name of writer and institute

A title page is the first thing that an instructor sees in your assignment. Therefore, it is very important to form it in a neat format.

First Page of an Essay

Before you start writing your essay, format your first page. To do this, add a header in which you give your last name and the page number. Place the header on the right-hand corner of your page.

Follow this for every page of your essay except the last page; the âwork citedâ page.

On the left upper corner, write your name, instructorâs, courseâs, and the date. Put the title in the center and use double-spacing throughout the essay.

Cite According to Essay Format

When you are conducting research for your essay, you will come across a lot of text which will complement your essay topic. Without knowing the consequences, people take the text from the internet and add it to the essay.

Citing the source properly is essential. If you do not cite the sources properly, you will be accused of plagiarism, a crime in the writing world. Therefore, even if you are using otherâs words in the form of quotation marks or rephrasing it, it needs to be cited to avoid plagiarism.

Get to know which style of the in-text citations is recommended by your instructor and follow that. In APA format, the citation is done in the following way:

Give the authorâs name (last name), followed by the publication date and the paragraph number of the original work.

The other way is to cite in MLA style:

Give the authorâs last name and the page number of the publication you are taking words from.

Therefore, cite your sources according to the essay format and make your essay writing phase easy.

Format The Bibliography

The last page of your essay is the âworks citedâ page. This page is written in the way presented below:

Sources are alphabetically arranged
Double spacing is used on the entire page
Hanging indention is also used.

Essay Format Examples

There are several types of academic essays that students get assigned. No matter which type the essay is, it has to be properly formatted. Carefully examine the formats provided below for the different essay types:

Argumentative Essay Format

College Essay Format

Narrative Essay Format

Descriptive Essay Format

Scholarship Essay Format

Persuasive Essay Format

Essay Format for University

Expository Essay Format

Essay Format Template

Essay Format Outline

Writing a good essay includes the proper representation of the text. For this purpose, formatting is done. Unfortunately, when students rush to finish their assignments, they often end up with poorly formatted content.

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The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability Dissertation

Introduction.

“Nothing endures but change” said the famous Greek philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus (ca. 535 BC – 475 BC). There are many variants to what he said like “Change is the only constant”. Nevertheless we live in a world that is changing constantly. We constantly change and redesign the things we are so used to.

The fonts used by leading newspapers are sourced after much research, taking into consideration the legibility, clarity and printing space. These fonts are the by products of extensive study and are designed by state of the art type foundries who employ individual type designers who specialize in custom newspaper fonts. The typography used in a newspaper represents a sample of the state of the medium. The typography used in today’s newspapers has both conservative traits. In that the fonts used are only subtle innovations and the changes are marginal but tailor-made for this century. 1 2 3

Mario Garcia, who has worked on the redesign of dozens of newspapers worldwide, notes “that much of his work is driven by the need to make this relatively ancient news medium a reading experience attuned to 21st-century habits. “I think there is a more impatient reader,” he says. “Newspapers are not the sole providers of news anymore, and we have to make them more appealing.” Type sizes are getting larger, he notes, citing a recent redesign of the St. Petersburg Gazette which took body copy up to an unprecedented 10 points. (The standard in the 1980s was 7.5 points, he says.) This trend corresponds with an aging readership with ailing eyesight.

Garcia’s team recently broke convention with a free newspaper in the Dominican Republic, El Expreso, which adopts a small, half-tabloid format providing a high-speed read of the daily news—in theory piquing the interest enough to prompt the reader to purchase its larger, traditional parent newspaper, Listin Diario. Launched in May 2001, El Expreso proved extremely popular, with a 120,000 print run and advertising sold in advance for its first three years. In Garcia’s view, more newspapers need to accommodate the reader who wants to get through the news in “seven to eleven minutes flat.” 4

To say that the face of printing and associated technologies have changed in the last couple of years, would be to state the obvious. There is no doubt that printing, like all other fields, has changed to such an extent that it is difficult to even visualize how the process of printing was, half a century ago. From a manual process of typesetting to the present digitalized world of printing, a whole new process has evolved, proving that technological advancements shape every single sphere of our lives. 5

If one were to take a close look at the journey that the print media has made from the Gutenberg era till where it is now, there is a strong correlation in the kind of fonts and typefaces that have been used, during this period of time, with the changes in socio-cultural and economic practices prevalent. The use of huge fonts in order to stress on the importance of the news that was being conveyed is one such event. The tendency to display catchy phrases in big bold lettering caught on in a big way, when the print media realized that it was necessary to catch the attention of the reader, if they wanted to become stable in the business. 6

With the transformation of the shape of letters from curved and ornate designs to the more structured and no-nonsense type of letters, the font designs that have invaded the printing scene seem to have come full circle. 7 There is however, a strong tendency to ensure the legibility of the style and the readability of the writing, at all times. This is true, irrespective of whether the matter for reading is part of a newspaper or book. The evolution of the Times New Roman script has become one of the most well studied and documented journeys of printing history, in recent times.

One of the main reasons why this font and the story of its evolution became so relevant was the period in which the series of events unfolded. During the two world wars, there was a surge of writing that focused on the events in various spheres. The changing political scenario also impacted the cultural and social milieu, giving it a whole new dimension. Since the impact of this was so strongly felt, there was also a need to document these momentous happenings and present them in as appealing and memorable a way as possible. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. It is necessary to recall that the Times New Roman evolved only because of one single newspaper, The Times , an event that would go down as a defining moment in the annals of the history of printing.

Once, the supremacy of this font had been established, it was only a matter of time before it would begin to be adopted in all other media. Over the years since its inception, there have been thousands of fonts or typefaces that have made their entry into the print media. Their exits however have remained unremarked and insignificant. On the other hand, the Times New Roman continues to evolve and change with the times. 8

Though there is a strong foundation of what this font used to be, there is still a tendency to dabble with these fonts, trying to produce a winning combination by blending the old with the snazzy new. This process of blending has furthered the cause of innovative practices in the printing industry. For instance, the Times Classic is a characteristic blend of two styles. On the one hand, the traditional features that are part of this font are relics of the original Times New Roman; on the other hand, there are understated changes that have been made as well. These changes have been made to ensure that a high level of clarity and legibility are maintained, even when the font sizes are reduced considerably.

In the course of this paper, an effort has been made to trace the journey, albeit with its many crests and troughs, of the Times New Roman font and that of its close associates, over a period of time. 9

History of printing

The evolution of type and typefaces can be construed as the pinnacle of printing. The design and redesign of typefaces and the origin of printing can be attributed to the genesis of the printing world. In the years bygone Man began printing or publishing books or rather something akin to books by using some forms of chisels or brushes and or pens. Technically this form of getting a book was rather too expensive and only the nobility could afford. With the advent of typefaces and through machines that were capable of printing in huge quantities, mass production of books came into existence and printing and publishing became cheaper.

It is widely believed that the first person who was responsible for bringing typography at very reasonable rates was one Claude Garamond . 10 He was not just a printer but a typographer as well and so were the early printers. He based his type on the early Roman font Griffo . This typeface was due to one Francesco Griffo . 11 Claude Garamond is attributed to one of the classic cal Roman fonts called by his name Garamond . 12 He worked for the publishing house owned by the printer, Aldus Manutius of Venice. Although I am making an effort to trace the history of typography, it should be remembered that it will be far from complete. Thomas W. Phinney 13 talks of four revolutions in the field of typography.

The first revolution started with the printing process developed by Johannes Gutenberg (ca. 1450-1480). It was through his technique of printing that mass production of books began. His invention of the movable type was responsible for the successful printing of the Gutenberg Bible of 1454. Prior to that, books were produced by scribes. These scribes were based in monasteries and were primarily employed to write religious texts or documents. This process of writing was indeed laborious and labour intensive and these scribes were able to produce only a handful of books. In those days a few books constituted a library and a collection of a hundred books was beyond the imagination of most people.

Gutenberg’s process was very basic and did not change for many centuries. “A punch made of steel, with a mirror image of the letter is struck into a piece of softer metal. Molten metal is poured into this, and you get type. The type is put into a matrix to form the page of text, inked, and then pressed into paper.” 14 This technology spread throughout Europe in a short span and there were over a thousand printers who were operating from over two hundred towns and cities. The typical print run for these books by these early printers were in the range of two hundred to a thousand copies. Phinney says that “Many groups sought to control this new technology.

Scribes fought against the introduction of printing, because it could cost them their livelihoods, and religious (and sometimes secular) authorities sought to control what was printed. Sometimes this was successful: for centuries in some European countries, books could only be printed by government authorized printers, and nothing could be printed without the approval of the Church. Printers would be held responsible rather than authors for the spread of unwanted ideas, and some were even executed. But this was a largely futile struggle, and most such restraints eventually crumbled in the western world.”

The Industrial Revolution brought about a lot of changes and innovations. Among these early innovations was the introduction of Rotary steam presses. These ‘modern’ presses were capable of producing books at 16% of the time taken by the Gutenberg printers. Then the technology took a step forward with the introduction of line-casting machines of Linotype (in the US) and the Monotype (in UK). These line-casting machines were capable of reducing the printing time by over 85%. With introduction of these machines, typesetting and printing speeds increased dramatically so did the speed of punch-cutting.

Photo composition as a science gained widespread acceptance only in the early 1950s although photo composing machines like “Photon” and “Fotosetter” made their entries in 1944. Some of the precursors to the modern typesetting machines, which depended to a large extent on computers, gained popularity between 1973 and 1983. Needless to say, that most of these machines had to be used, taking into consideration, the many problems that were encountered and rectified. Over the years, these problems grew less with the innovative practices and techniques.

Over a brief period of time, it was found that PostScript was the more widely accepted standard for all kinds of typesetting that had a digitalized origin. One of the main reasons why this particular script became popular was its extent and scope. The way in which it could handle graphics, was truly amazing, considering the state of evolution of digital typesetting, at the time. What made this all the more user-friendly was the fact that it was perfectly compatible with both the Macintosh as well as with the PageMaker, thereby making it the most important and vital resource for computerized typesetting.

The next step involved getting into the WYSIWYG mode of typesetting. Up till now it had been the practice to keep typing the entire text after setting it in a particular font. This would not be displayed on the monitor but would appear in the true font when printed. This did pose a few problems, as there were difficulties while trying to envisage what the completed text would look like, without an earlier indication. This process was entirely transformed with the WYSIWYG way of typing wherein you could actually see what the final product would be like.

Today, a lot of the typesetting that is done follow a pattern wherein the printing is first done on a kind of film, which is later on converted into printing plates. This can be repeatedly used in the printing process. This process has now moved on to the next stage which avoids the use of film completely. This can be done with printers that have a very resolution, for instance up to 1200 dpi. It is relevant to mention here that the computer does the entire job, thereby making the preparation of plates, redundant.

History of typography

Understanding the evolution of various typefaces takes one back to the history of scripts and how the letters of a particular alphabet were formed. It is interesting to note the formation of letters on various mediums such as papyrus and stone. For instance, the Egyptian hieroglyphics involved the use of pictures and depictions of various life situations, thereby differentiating words and maybe even sentences. On the other hand, the Roman tendency to write with a chisel on a hard surface, more often stone, led to the clear cut formation of letters.

Over a period of time, letters seemed to take on more shapes, though it is to be mentioned here that, writing in itself began to follow a pattern and became a lot less complicated. The uniformity with which letters were formed or written led to the formation of a script as we know it today. The evolution of small and capital letters as two distinct entities, therefore, is a relatively recent phenomenon.

The Egyptian style of written communication has been a considerable influence on the formation of scripts. It is commonly agreed that when one refers to an old style of writing, one is talking about the more flowery-looking style, one which is replete with strokes and curls albeit fairly illegible. This is true of letterforms such as Blackletter or Old English. The letters could be considered as works of art rather than part of a script that was used to convey a coherent meaning. The spate of criticism on the legibility of these letterforms took on a new meaning also because of the socio-cultural changes that were sweeping across the globe at the specific time in history.

Artistic and flowery flourishes as modes of written expression began to give way to more clear-cut straight forwardness; this was reflected not just in ideologies but also in the very form of written communication. The Renaissance movement of the 14 th century was probably the main cause for the shift from the curves and curls of the old styles. The marked change in the perceptions and views at this particular time had its impact on practically every sphere of life. The flowery flounces gave way to more severe and plain kinds of work.

This was apparent in the fields of art and culture and hence the written language was also impacted. Square forms began to replace curved ones, indicating a very straight forward approach. There were changes in the art scene at the time: approaches to social issues became more open and starker than before, leading to the New Wave, a phenomenon that was to set the foundation for future styles in the fields of literature, theatre, art and music. It is therefore, fairly easy to understand that the letter styles that evolved at the time, tried to focus more on clarity and simplicity of design rather than an intricate pattern that was used till then.

Genesis of the redesign of The Times, London

The year was 1932 and the day was the 3 rd of October. A remarkable font was revealed to this world by a man who had dedicated his whole life designing fonts. The font was Times New Roman and the medium through which the world saw the font (sometimes spelt fount ) was on the leading newspapers of the day: The Times of London. To say that the Times New Roman font is probably one of the most well recognized of all fonts today, would certainly be a gross understatement. When on the subject of the origin of this very popular style of forming the printed letters, one cannot but help refer to the genesis of The Times .

Popular belief has it that, the formation of letters in the paper was the principal forerunner of what the font is now today. In the interim period, between the origin of the paper and the establishment of the font in the year 1932, there were quite a few other fonts that were tried and tested. However, none were as well accepted as the Times New Roman. 15

One might wonder what the popularity of this font had to do with the newspaper. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, The Times came to be recognized as a newspaper of the masses. One could find people from all walks of life, gleaning facts from it as part of their daily routines. It would not be uncommon to find people reading the paper in their spare time. In fact, the paper came to be recognized as the one of the most ubiquitous accessories of travellers on the one hand and a common fixture in public places like hotels and cafes on the other. The constant endeavour of the publisher was to try to zone in on the right font for the paper to ensure that his reader base would escalate.

Another major problem that was being faced was from the technical angle. The clarity of the typeface had to be altered or retained depending also on the flexibility that could be exercised in the cutting of the letters. This technical consideration was one that also played a very important role. Of course, apart from the technical concern, he had to be very conscious of not allowing any form of erosion in the already existing readership that he had.

At the same time that The Times was trying to identify the right font to create the optimum level of reading comfort without compromising on the content quality and quantity, there were also other studies made by the government of the UK regarding the suitability of fonts being used. (It needs to be mentioned here that the word “fonts” has been used interchangeably with “typeface”, since the former is associated more with the IT field). The management of The Times carried out an in-depth study on how to sustain and improve the readership that they had at that point in time. Stanley Morrison, who was the advisor on such issues to The Times in 1930 tried to shed some light on the inadequacies of the typefaces that were being used. 16 17 18 19 However, there was not much attention paid to his contribution, initially. In a couple of month’s time, it did dawn on the management brass of the paper that Morrison was on the right track. In an effort to set things right, they requested him to make a few workable suggestions that could help them turn things round, in terms of readership.

Stanley Morrison began work on improvising on the designs that had been in use hitherto. He had to ensure that sufficient care was taken so that the costs of cutting new typefaces would not impact the paper in an adverse way. Ease of reading was yet another major consideration. On his advice a committee was constituted to go into the alternatives to the present typeface. Referred to as the Committee on Typography, this committee of high ranking officials had its first meeting on the 26 th of November 1930. The committee members involved Morrison in the task of identifying new and modern types that could be screened.

Some of the first designs that were suggested indicated the shape of what was to become the present Times New Roman. After a lot of trials and errors, the job of producing an alternative to the present typeface, was given to the Lanston Monotype Corporation Limited. 20 21 This company came out with the first of the new typefaces in April 1931, which was a 9-point one; this typeface was cut at the Monotype Works, Redhill.

When the company next met on the 4 th of June 1931, they were very keen to ensure that the typeface chosen for the paper would remain exclusive and therefore reflect the new face of the paper for a few years, to begin with. Though increase and sustaining readership was high on the list of priorities, the committee felt that it was important that the typeface chosen would eventually become synonymous with the paper and hence be as well known.

The initial production did not find much favour with the committee and there were repeated efforts to perfect the task. The Monotype Corporation was given the task of producing a typeface that would fulfil all the requisites laid down by the committee. Apart from this, quite a few professionals in the field of printing, library science and other related fields were called upon to give their expert opinions. Among those consulted were, Sir William Lister, Surgeon Oculist to the Royal Family, Sir John William Fortescue, former librarian of Windsor Castle, and John Robertson Riddell, Principal of the London School of Printing.

As specialists in their own fields, these people offered a precise and unbiased view of the readability and precision of the typeface from their individual points of view. Beginning from the eye surgeon who looked at the whole issue from the point of view of readability (in other words, ease of reading) to others who studied the issues of printing techniques and reading in various environments, the study was a thorough one from beginning to end.

Considerable effort was taken to check out how easy or difficult it was to read the Times New Roman font in varied kinds of light. The experts did not just look at the font and give an opinion; on the contrary, a great deal of time was spent on trying to find out the level of tiredness a person would exhibit after reading the particular font for a considerable period of time. The studies revealed that it was easy and no strain to the eye, to read this particular script in poor light.

The actual change within the press

Since the printing of the paper could not be stopped under any kind of condition, a way had to be found to circumvent the problem. If production was stopped and the typeface changed, then there would be a break, which would not augur well for the readership of the paper. At the same time, the staffs were acutely aware of the fact that changing from the present typeface to the new one that was to be tried out would be a long and arduous process.

In order to ensure the minimum loss of time and production, the dies that were used in the printing process were kept ready so that they could immediately replace the present ones, when the time for the changeover arrived. Prior to the actual changeover, quite a few dry runs were executed to gauge the amount of time that would be taken to carry out the removals and replacements. Since the printing and managerial staffs of the newspaper were already aware that the entire process would take around eight hours, a decision was taken to make the actual change on the 3 rd of October 1932, which was a Monday. To ensure that the makeover went off smoothly, the entire process had to commence more than a day earlier.

The midnight of the Friday prior to the 3 rd of October, saw the birth of a revolution in printing history. Since this was the last day of summer that year, which further contributed an extra hour, as summer time moved into GMT.

All the die boxes were stored beneath the machines that were in use in the press. Between Friday night and Sunday afternoon, there was frenzied activity to ensure that all the machines in the press were equipped with the new typeface. In all there were thirty-six machines that had to be handled. A team of twelve mechanics did the job, spending an average of six hours for each machine; with some help they were able to complete the entire job of replacing typefaces fifteen minutes before the scheduled deadline. It was now left to those in the composing section to ensure that the new typefaces were used to carry out the printing in time.

Feeling the initial pulse of the reader

Just as all changes bring varied reactions, the introduction of the new font created quite a flutter among the readers of The Times . There were people who appreciated the font and expressed their reasons for the same. For instance, there were people who felt that the font lent itself to less eye-strain and hence had more of an appeal. There were comments on the efforts made by the paper to pep up the image of The Times through the introduction of the new typeface.

In spite of overall appreciation, there were a few dissenting voices that were quite sharp in their criticism. There were readers who felt that the bigger sizes of the font used slowed down their speed of reading. Reading tastes and preferences came out in the open with the advent of this font. What was amazing was the fact that enormous care was taken by the readers to study the font and offer their criticism and appreciation with the same intensity. The very fact that, opinions kept coming back, was proof that the new typeface had made an impact. Good or bad, it was clear that the new ‘kid on the block’ could not be treated with a mere cursory glance. It was necessary, to offer an opinion, which of course, could be critical or appreciative.

The Times had no doubts whatsoever that it would take a fairly good amount of time for people to get accustomed to the new typeface. Since the inception of the printing industry, no one had ventured so boldly into changing the existing typeface. With this pioneering effort, the paper succeeded in being a trendsetter for others to follow. Among those who considered this font to be ideal for their purpose were publishers like Penguin Books, who decided to use the font in all their paperbacks. Similarly, in the United States, the Cromwell-Collier Publishing Company began using the Times New Roman for its monthly magazines. One more paper that followed suit was The Sydney Morning Herald from the year 1945. It is not surprising to learn that this font came to recognized all over the world as the easiest typeface to read. It also occupied pride of place due to the fact that, it was easy on the readers’ eyes.

The table given below gives an update on the fonts in the masthead have evolved over the years in The Times, London. 22

The above table gives one an idea of serif fonts and its changes over time. Appendix 2 gives an overview of the fonts namely: Times Roman and Times New Roman .

Why serif and why not sans serif for The Times, London

This question is eternally being asked by many “Are serif fonts better than sans serif fonts”? But then there has been an ongoing debate on this issue for many years. A lot of studies show that there is no difference between serif and sand serif fonts when it comes to readability and legibility. 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 But then there are some researchers who feel that serif fonts are better. 39 40 One observation states that a sans serif heading and a serif body text will work better than serif fonts for both heading and body text 41 “Of course, the rules mentioned above have their exceptions. The only way to find out what works is to experiment. The guidelines given may just help to reduce the number of options to be investigated and to explain afterwards what did and didn’t work.” 42

Needless to say arguments about fonts and typefaces are never ending. But a recent study has found that a combination of Times New Roman 43 and Arial were found to be the fonts for reading electronic newspapers 44

The controversy surrounding the design of Times New Roman is that for the past few years there has been a debate that the font was actually designed by Starling Burgess, an American Naval Engineer. 45 Burgess “… has also been regarded as a strong contender to being the true designer of that ubiquitous typeface, Times New Roman. Stanley Morison certainly never admitted it was anything other than the work of himself and the draftsman Victor Lardent.” 46

Most of the early typographers have always preferred serif to sans serif. The renowned type designer, Eric Gill, upon being complemented on his Gill Sans, quipped, “Ah, yes, but how much nicer if they had had serifs!” 47 Now the question of why Stanley Morison chose Times New Roman and why not a sans serif font? The answer may be akin to what Eric Gill said. Also, san serif fonts evolved much later than serif fonts 48 and hence a serif font could have ruled the roost of the day.

About present day fonts and newspapers

Dmitry Kirsanov says that “No other design discipline requires so much learning and training as fontography, and by no other aspect can amateurs be so easily distinguished from professionals. To be font literate, a designer has to study the history and the principles of font design.” 49 Although making fonts in the past were a stupendous job, the advent of computers has made making fonts a very easy job. There is one website where one can actually create one’s own font. 50 With over 50,000 font types available in this world it is very difficult to do justice to all the fonts. 51 According to an independent study by Ascender Corporation the top 10 fonts used by the top newspapers in the US are: Franklin Gothic, Poynter, Futura, Helvetica, Century, Utopia, Times, Nimrod, Bureau and Interstate. 52 53 The following text inside the box makes sense as typesetting by the newspapers are done through computers and information on PostScript and TrueType fonts is necessary. Some good information on “Typography, Layout, and Graphic Design” is available. 54 Two new books on newspaper design are also worth trying. 55 56

History of PostScript and TrueType font formats 57 58

Typefaces on the Mac began with the bitmapped set of designs that came with the Mac 128K back in 1984. These pixel-based fonts, called bitmaps because they were literally a ‘map of bits’ in lego-like arrangements, were provided in a number of different type sizes. These were generally a specific set of point sizes; 9, 12, 18, 24, and 36pt were the most common. The fact that the sizes went up in a clear mathematical progression was no accident. The Mac’s first printers, the dot-matrix ImageWriter and ImageWriter II, printed at 144 dots to the inch, exactly double the 72 pixels per inch of the Mac’s internal resolution standard.

When 12pt text was printed the ImageWriter’s printer driver would use the 24pt bitmap form scaled in its place in order to get a cleaner, less crude-looking result. The ImageWriter LQ (which stood for ‘letter quality’) was a 288dpi device, and it shipped with a set of fonts with bitmaps going up to four times the normal text sizes rather than just double. Right from the start Apple’s WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) vision for display and print was balanced – very astutely – with the understanding that people also want the best a device can provide as well as a replica of their on-screen work.

Clever though this approach was, it was a bit of a cul-de-sac. Adobe showed the way forward when it produced the PostScript page description language and the PostScript type format. This teamed bitmap typefaces – for on-screen display – with precise maths-based vector shapes for recreating the typeface characters on PostScript-compatible devices. This allowed font designs to be printed with all the precision and grace of traditional typesetting. Well, in terms of basic character sets and setting control at least. With PostScript-driven laser-based imaging devices, all the ingredients for the DTP revolution were in place, and the publishing world was never the same again.

The problem was, PostScript was Adobe’s crown jewels, and the licensing costs for producing PostScript Type 1 fonts, and PostScript engines for printers for that matter, were kept high. (PostScript Type 3 fonts were less costly, but they didn’t contain the all-important hints for improving results at small text sizes.) In a bid to break Adobe’s grip on the professional font world Apple developed the TrueType font format while Microsoft worked on their TrueImage page description language.

The TrueType format was championed by Apple and, to an even greater extent, by Microsoft, and the specifications were published for anyone to use. The world was soon flooded with TrueType fonts of all kinds – some well made, others decidedly less so. In response, Adobe made the PostScript Type 1 specifications more generally available. The professional design world generally opted to stick with the PostScript format, in part because of problems encountered with lower-quality forms of TrueType fonts.

The next step, the development of the OpenType format, was driven by Microsoft’s desire to claim the design market and Adobe’s desire to extend the PostScript format’s abilities beyond the increasingly restrictive 256 character per font file limit. OpenType is a format which borrows directly from both PostScript and TrueType, and offers type designers the possibility of having many thousands of different characters (or, more strictly, glyphs, the proper term for each item within a typeface design) in a single font file. For Western language type designs at least this might seem excessive. After all, once you’ve covered the upper and lower case letters, numbers, punctuation, and a pocket full of extras, what more is needed?

Actually, a huge amount. For example ligatures, the customised combination of two or more characters in a font design, can be included no matter how many are created in a typeface’s design. All sorts of character alternates, such as swash capitals, special character designs for the end of lines and sentences, small capitals, non-ranging numeral options, and more can be stored in a single font file rather than split across multiple confusing ‘expert set’ fonts. Some fonts have been designed with more than 1,500 different glyphs, and designers are able to use these extras in more and more applications via intelligent formatting palettes and similar options. True typographic finess is becoming easier to achieve; the typographic limits are now more likely to be the designer’s own creative abilities rather than blindly learned technical knowledge and patience.

OpenType, the best of both worlds

With well-crafted and well-endowed OpenType typefaces and the right software you’ll be able to set type which can be the envy of die-hard traditional typographers. You’ll have to decide which options are appropriate for the work in question, and not all applications yet support these abilities. However, middling or better OpenType support can be found in design-oriented packages such as InDesign, Illustrator, Freeway and Photoshop, although not FreeHand as yet.

Why redesign newspapers?

Matthew Carter, the man behind the New York Times redesign, in an interview with Bob Garfield says that redesign in newspapers is inevitable and that newspapers “have gone over to different technologies, and that has given them an opportunity to sort of re-visit the typography of the paper and make some changes. Sometimes it happens for no other reason than that they’re bored with the way they were. You know, it’s been that way for a long time, and they want to change it. It’s often tied in to some editorial changes. They will add changes or change sections or start moving things around within the paper, so it’s part of the re-organization of a newspaper, from the editorial point of view.” 59

Ron Reason in his article “Rethinking Redesigns: When is it worth It? 6 Questions for 2007” says that “decision to redesign your newspaper is an important one. The process is complex and may be confusing to the uninitiated, and in a business climate of uncertainty, it‘s not a small decision for any news publication.” 60 World-famous newspaper designer Mario Garcia embraces the challenge of blending the old with the new and his mission is to redesign newspapers with today’s readers in mind. In redesigning the Wall Street Journal he says that “A redesign is like plastic surgery… it can change your nose, but not your personality and my design will bring the story, the photos, the whole package to someone who gives it 10 seconds of attention and decides, I read or I don’t read.” 61

After this lengthy discussion on the evolution and readability of the Times New Roman font, there is one factor that runs like a thread connecting the ups and downs in the evolutionary life cycle of this printing style: the economic feasibility, after taking into account all possible factors. One is left with no doubt that no style would have lasted this long if the introduction of the same had caused medium to severe financial damage. Though most newspapers would like to justify their change in printing styles for various reasons, they would have thought otherwise if they found that they decisions to make the change set them back by several thousands (or hundreds) of dollars.

In the history of printing, when one continues to talk about innovation, change and all the other lofty ideas (sometimes, these do not develop into anything more than ideas), there is a strong inclination to sidestep quite a few factors and concentrate on what the real situation is like at the present point in time. This therefore brings us to a few basic changes. To begin with, there is a lot more than just the print media to needs to be concerned, while on the subject of fonts. In today’s world of e-books, websites and e-mails, it is difficult to say that one particular font alone gains acceptability over the others. This might be not only very presumptuous to say that this is possible, especially because of the very wide range of minds that one is trying to cater to.

If one were to look closely at the kinds of minds that view various websites, it is true that the popularity of websites is largely dependent on the kind of fonts and typefaces that are used. What might look good in a book, might not look all that appealing on a website. To the dismay of the entire book and newspaper industry, the growing number of people who use the internet today, has forced them to once again rethink and redesign the writing and lettering styles that are being used.

Going through popular websites today, will reveal a whole new way of presenting facts on a website. Of course, one must remember that the presentation of the content on a website is largely impacted by the nature or purpose of the website itself. It would not be incorrect to say that info on a website is presented in such a way that what one gets is a complete picture. It is in some ways akin to looking at a photograph; the only difference here is that you are looking at a picture that has a lot of images and text put together. Very rarely, you will come across a square frame with just text in it.

To cater to the ever changing and challenging world of media, there is a relentless effort to present info in the most readable way. Print barons would aver that it is far more difficult to be unique on a website than you can be in a book or newspaper. In spite of the power of fonts such as Times New Roman, there is still a lot of effort that goes in to finding the best solutions in lettering styles. To maintain the fragile balance between readability and economics of space, both in the web and print media, is certainly no laughing matter. With the paucity of time in the people’s lives today, there is a tendency to provide for the ingestion of information at double quick speed.

This can be done, only when there are catchy one-liners in blazing fonts that convey the message in the twinkle of an eye. In spite of all this, the Times New Roman continues to sustain the niche that it has carved for itself in the last seventy odd years. Whatever the media may be, this font seems to have found that balance (which is so necessary for survival) and continues to maintain it with single-minded focus on clarity and ergonomic viability.

Francesco Griffo (1459 – 1518) was a “Bolognese punch cutter, working in Venice, Bologna and elsewhere in Italy. Author of at least seven romans, three italics, four Greeks and a Hebrew. None of Griffo’s actual punches or matrices are known to survive, and the house of Aldus Manutius in Venice, where he did most of his work, has vanished. (The site is now occupied by a bank.) Griffo’s letterforms have nonetheless been patiently reconstructed from the printed books in which his type appears. Giovanni Madersteigs’s Griffo type is an exacting replica of one of Griffo’s fonts. Monotype Bembo roman is based more loosely on the same font. Monotype poliphilus is a rough reproduction of another. Mardersteig’s Dante roman and italic are also based on a close study of Griffo’s work. The italics, overall, have received far less attention than the romans.”

“Francesco Griffo da Bologna started his career as a goldsmith, and later worked for the most important publisher of the day, the house of Aldus Manutius of Venice. He was the first modern type designer, in the sense that he devised types for the mechanical craft of printing and not for an alternative to hand-written manuscript. His initial project in Venice was to invent a typeface called Bembo , which is regarded as the most modern in appearance of all 15th century types.

He was the inventor of the cursive or italic style which made a fortune for the printer Aldus Manutius. His life ended in disaster. During a quarrel, he seized an iron bar and inflicted wounds leading to the death of his son-in-law. He disappeared from history after that and is thought to have been executed by hanging in 1518. His name lives on in a 20th century font by Hans Mardersteig called Griffo . In Spanish, italic fonts are known as letra grifa. “Griffo has never received adequate recognition for his enormous contribution to type design. (J. Blumenthal, The Art of the Printed Book 1455-1955, 1973.)”

What is the difference between “Times Roman” and “Times New Roman”?

Charles Bigelow in his article “ Times (New) Roman and its part in the Development of Scalable Font Technology ” 62 describes the difference as “ Times Roman is the name used by Linotype, and the name they registered as a trademark for the design in the U.S. Times New Roman was and still is the name used by The Monotype Corporation. The face was developed by The Times newspaper for its own use, under the design direction of Stanley Morison. Originally cut by the Monotype Corp. in England, the design was also licensed to Linotype, because The Times used Linotype equipment for much of its actual production.

During WWII, the American Linotype company, in a generous spirit of Allied camaraderie, applied for registration of the trademark name “Times Roman” as its own, not Monotype’s or The Times’, and received the registration in 1945.

In the 1980’s, all this was revisited when some entrepreneurs, desirous of gaining the rights to use the name, applied to Rupert Murdoch, who owned The Times; separately, a legal action was also initiated to clarify the right of Monotype to use the name in the U.S., despite Linotype’s registration.

The outcome of all of the legal maneuverings is that Linotype and its licensees like Adobe and Apple continue to use the name “Times Roman”, while Monotype and its licensees like Microsoft use the name “Times New Roman”.

During the decades of transatlantic “sharing” of the Times designs, and the transfer of the faces from metal to photo to digital, various differences developed between the versions marketed by Linotype and Monotype. Especially these became evident when Adobe released the PostScript version, for various reasons having to do with how Adobe produced the original PostScript implementations of Times. The width metrics were different, as well as various proportions and details.

In the late 1980’s, Monotype redrew its Times New Roman to make it fit exactly the proportions and metrics of the Adobe-Linotype version of Times Roman. Monotype claimed that its new version was better than the Adobe-Linotype version, because of smoother curves, better detailing, and generally greater sensitivity to the original designs done for The Times and Monotype by Victor Lardent, who worked under the direction of Stanley Morison. During the same period, Adobe upgraded its version of Times, using digital masters from Linotype, which of course claimed that it had a superior version, so there was a kind of competition to see who had the most refined, sensitive, original, genuine, bona-fide, artistically and typographically correct version. Many, perhaps most, users didn’t notice and didn’t care about these subtle distinctions, many of which were invisible at 10 pt at 300 dpi (which is an em of 42 pixels, a stem of three pixels, a serif of 1 pixel, and so on).

When Microsoft produced its version of Times New Roman, licensed from Monotype, in TrueType format, and when Apple produced its version of Times Roman, licensed from Linotype, in TrueType format, the subtle competition took on a new aspect, because both Microsoft and Apple expended a great deal of time and effort to make the TrueType versions as good as, or better than, the PostScript version. During the same period, Adobe released ATM along with upgraded versions of its core set of fonts, for improved rasterization on screen.

Also, firms like Imagen, now part of QMS, and Sun developed rival font scaling technologies, and labored to make sure that their renderings of Times, licensed from Linotype in both cases, were equal to those of their competitors. Hence, the perceived quality of the Times design became a litmus for the quality of several font formats. Never before, and probably never again, would the precise placement of pixels in the serifs or ‘s’ curves etc. of Times Roman occupy the attention of so many engineers and computer scientists. It was perhaps the supreme era of the Digital Fontologist.

As for the actual visual differences in the designs, well, like any good academic author, I leave the detection and analysis of those ‘as an exercise for the reader’. ”

J. Craig. (1981). Designing with Type . New York: Watson-Guptill Publishers.
Coleman, E.B. and Kim, I. (1961). Comparison of several styles of typography in English. Journal of Applied Psychology , 45: 262-267.
Haley, A. (1990). The ABC’s of Type: A guide to contemporary typefaces . London: Lund Humphries..
Quoted from “The typography of news”. Web.
Søgren P. (1995). Type and Typography . Copenhagen: Danish Design Center.
Zakaluk B.L. and Samuels S.J. (eds.) (1988). Readability: Its Past, Present, and Future . Newark: International Reading Association.
Wilkins, A. J. and Nimmo Smith, M. I. (1987). The clarity and comfort of printed text. Ergonomics , 30(2): 1705-1720.
Lawson, A. S. (1990). Anatomy of a typeface . Godine.
Dyas, E. The changing face of The Times – Times New Roman. Web.
“A brief history of typography”. Web.
See Appendix 1.
The original Garamond font designed by Claude Garamond. Web.
“A Brief History of Type” by Thomas W. Phinney. Web.
Same as Footnote 4.
Fonts designed by Stanley Morison . Web.
More or less these type of fonts. Web.
Table of font analogs. Web.
Briem Times was the basics for Times Millennium. Also see the controversies that surrounded it. Web.
Tinker, M. A. and Paterson, D.G. (1932). Studies of typographical factors influencing speed of reading: X. Style of typeface. Journal of Applied Psychology , 16(6), 605-613.
Zachrisson, B. (1965). Studies in the Legibility of Printed Text . Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Bernard, M., Mills, M., Frank, T. and McKown, J. (2001). Which font do children prefer to read online? Usability News 3.1. Web.
Tullis, T. S., Boynton, J. L. and Hersh, H. (1995). Readability of Fonts in the Windows Environment (Interactive Poster). Proceedings of ACM CHI’95 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , 2, 127-128.
Same as 31.
Moriarty, S. and Scheiner, E. (1984). A study of close-set type. Journal of Applied Psychology , 69: 700-702.
Poulton, E. C. (1965). Letter differentiation and rate of comprehension in reading. Journal of Applied Psychology , 49(5): 358-362.
Coghill, V. (1980). Can children read familiar words in unfamiliar type? Information Design Journal , 1(4): 254-260.
Robinson, D. O, Abbamonte, M. and Evans, S. H. (1971). Why serifs are important: the perception of small print. Visible Language , 4: 353-359.
Weildon, C. (1995). Type and layout: How typography and design can get your message across–or get in your way . Berkeley: Strathmoor.
Gelderman, M. 1998. A short introduction to font characteristics. Najaar , 22(16): 81-88.
Same as 33. Quoted from Page 88.
Times New Roman is still ruling the roost.
Kingery, D. and Furuta, R. (1997). Skimming electronic newspaper headlines: A study of typeface, point size, screen resolution, and monitor size. Information Processing & Management , 33(5): 685-696.
Parker, M. W. (1994). Starling Burgess, Type Designer? The Journal of the American Printing History Association , 16(1-2).
Carter, Day, and Meggs. (2002). Typographic Design: Form and Communication . Hoboken, New Jersey:John Wiley and Sons. Page 35.
“The world of fonts”. Web.
How to make your own fonts . Web.
There is a slight variation in the order of fonts mentioned by this website. The article mentioned in (26) gives an email address to get the actual data and copies of the study are available at no charge from Ascender Corp. Those interested should contact Bill Davis at Ascender Corp.
Contemporary Newspaper Design: Shaping the News in the Digital Age : Typography & Image on Modern Newsprint. Web.
The Best of Newspaper Design: 27th Edition. Web.
This boxed text is relevant here with the composition of news items in computers. Web.
Additional information on TrueType fonts. Web.
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, July 28). The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-times-new-roman-font-evolution-and-readability/

"The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability." IvyPanda , 28 July 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/the-times-new-roman-font-evolution-and-readability/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability'. 28 July.

IvyPanda . 2022. "The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability." July 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-times-new-roman-font-evolution-and-readability/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability." July 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-times-new-roman-font-evolution-and-readability/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability." July 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-times-new-roman-font-evolution-and-readability/.

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Foucault's Discipline and Punish and Deleuze's Postscript on the Society of Control
Helvetica Typeface and Its Use on YouTube
Modernist Typography in Graphic Design
Garamond Font Stylistics: History and Modern Usage
Neville Brody and the Fact of Typography
“Do Designers Show Categorical Perception of Typefaces?" by Dyson
Claude Garamond's History and Aspects of His Font
Readability in Publications
Edward Johnson: His Life, Career, and the Influence on Typography
Grammar Errors and Punctuation Problems
Who Killed Daniels the Detective?
How to Write for the Web' by Dan Petrovic
Official English Grammar in Social Media
Steve Jobs’ Speech "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" Analysis

Readability Tech Tips
Virtual Readability Lab

“The Times (New Roman) are-a Changing”

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken Requires Readability Changes

Personalization matters. one-format-fits-all should no longer be the defacto model of text presentation. research supports the personalization of text format to improve reading speed, accuracy and comprehension for most of the population, not only as an accessibility solution..

Readability Matters was excited to see the State Department’s recognition that text formats are important. The widely reported topic is a move toward giving better readability the attention it deserves. Let’s expand the conversation!

In a widely reported message to all US embassies, Secretary Antony Blinken directed staff not to send any more papers using the Times New Roman typeface. Instead, he directed domestic offices, bureaus, and posts overseas to adopt Calibri in a 14-point size to create better reading. Secretary Blinken positions the change as one supporting greater accessibility of the documents.

John Hudson, Washington Post, tweets: Times New Roman is being phased out by the State Department and replaced by Calibri

John Hudson, State Department Correspondent for the Washington Post, with Annabelle Timsit, reported the shift citing experts. Jack Llewellyn, a London-based designer specializing in typography, notes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Ian Hosking, a senior research associate at the Engineering Design Center at the University of Cambridge, remarked that design factors other than font and size–such as text alignment, spacing and contrast in color– make a difference. Hosking also advocates for personalization.

“Bigger fonts can help those with visual impairments, but he said a better solution would be to ensure people have the option to adjust them to suit their own needs .” – David Berman, the principal of David Berman Communications

New York Times: Citing Accessibility State Department Ditches Times New Roman for Calibri

Reporter Daniel Victor of the New York Times details the debate that has taken place over typefaces that use serifs (small lines or strokes attached to the larger stroke in a character or symbol, as in Times New Roman). “Several experts said the research now leans strongly toward the conclusion that sans serif fonts are more readable, but there is a decades-long history of disagreement.”

Victor cites communications expert David Berman, who notes that a better solution would be to ensure people have the option to adjust [fonts] to suit their own needs.

Is this the right debate?

We don’t think so! The question is not ‘Times New Roman or Calibri?’ nor is it ‘serif or sans-serif font?’ The only question that makes sense in light of recent research is whether it should be one-format-fits-all or personalized text. Technology makes personalization possible; for example, a PDF document can be personalized with Adobe Reader Liquid Mode .

Personalization matters. One-format-fits-all should no longer be the defacto model of text presentation.

Learn more about the growing community working to bring better reading to the world. See the Wiki describing the work of The Readability Consortium , Adobe , Google , the University of Central Florida , and more. Together they are developing research-informed solutions to make each reader the best reader they can be.

Washington Post A font feud brews after State Dept. picks Calibri over Times New Roman

New York Times Citing Accessibility, State Department Ditches Times New Roman for Calibri

Politico Who shot the serif?

The Verge The State Department wants memos written in Calibri now, not Times New Roman

Wired The US State Department Ditches Times New Roman for Calibri

Author: Readability Matters

Readability Matters is a tech-for-good nonprofit organization with the mission to engage an ecosystem of partners to deliver personalized reading environments, empowering everyone everywhere to achieve more.

To use or not to use? Times New Roman, a debate

Aptly titled “Why You Should Stop Using Times New Roman (Research Explains)” this controversial (and really enjoyable to watch) BrainCraft video by behavioral scientist and science communicator Vanessa Hill dives deep into font research looking for answers.

“Many claim that Times New Roman is the most readable or accessible font – but is this really true?” wonders Hill as she begins to explore the accessibility of Arial, Comic Sans, and fonts like Open Dyslexic. “Is there one that stands out from the rest? Or is the world of typefaces as subjective as our opinions about design?” she asks before embarking into this heavy-in-type short film about the world’s most popular fonts.

Eventually, the opinions regarding Times New Roman and other seminal typefaces differ widely so we couldn’t but start scrolling through the comments to discover more. “I’m a chemistry teacher. The MOST important aspect of a font for me is having I and l look VERY different. Identifying Cl (chlorine) rather than CI (carbon and iodine) is very difficult for beginning students without a clear font” reads one of the most-liked comments.

“There is one aspect that was totally missed as an argument in this video: Times covers almost any character there is. When you are writing academic texts, Latin characters get constantly interrupted with Greek characters, the whole thing needs to be in harmony with mathematical expressions and there are also many author names with strange diacritical marks. Times has you covered. There is almost nothing that cannot be typeset in Times. Sans serif fonts on the other hand … well, that is an adventurous journey along all those empty spaces in the character table that aren’t occupied. You may think of Times as a boring typeface, but it is nevertheless the most advanced typeface in terms of available characters” comments another.

“Don't care about serif vs sans-serif. The only thing is for sure: fonts, where uppercase ‘I’ and lowercase ‘L’ look the same, should be banned by the Geneva human rights convention” notes a YouTube user on the controversial video.

Popular by demand or not, press play and enter the debate after the jump.

Commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931 and conceived by Stanley Morison, the artistic adviser to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype, in collaboration with Victor Lardent, a lettering artist in The Times's advertising department, Times New Roman is a serif typeface that is installed on most desktop computers and has become one of the most popular typefaces of all time. The design made its debut in The Times on 3 October 1932 and was released for commercial use after one year.

In Times New Roman’s name, Roman is a reference to the regular or roman style (sometimes also called Antiqua), the first part of the Times New Roman family to be designed. Roman type has roots in Italian printing of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, but Times New Roman's design has no connection to Rome or to the Romans.

The Times stayed with Times New Roman for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused it to switch typeface five times from 1972 to 2007. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman typeface.

Times New Roman, a default font in Microsoft Word for years, remains popular in publishing, helped by the extremely large range of characters available for international and mathematics printing. For example, the American Psychological Association suggests using Times New Roman in papers written in its APA style — interestingly enough, the Supreme Court forbids the use of Times New Roman.

Tags/ typography , typeface , video , times new roman , debate , youtube

Footnotes 4: the annual type design periodical by La Police returns

Fridays for Future: Transatlantika's visual identity proposal for Greta Thunberg's global climate strike movement

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JUNO X Arctic Paper: Munken Creator is generative typography's playground to explore

18th Best Art Vinyl Award: vote your favorite record cover of the year

World Kindness Day: Typecampus Fight For Kindness goes global

There is no design on a dead planet! Design Declares is the must-know creative movement to join in times of climate apocalypse

Alex Trochut X Jaeger-LeCoultre: a bespoke Art Deco alphabet honors a heavy typographic legacy

Mouthwash & Moniker X Air Company: a brand identity that breathes fresh, clean air

TDC’s Ezhishin demystifies type design with indigenous wisdom

Patta Psychogeographic Practice: Experimental Jetset on their typology of taped arrows that gives voice to a post-pandemic urban landscape

Sans versus serifs! Alan Kitching & Quentin Newark join forces for the world’s first ever fairy tale about typefaces

Get out the Vote with AIGA’s Design for Democracy initiative

Fonts report: 12 + 1 fall new releases to know

A book, a day: TOPAFF 10 Years

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IMAGES

Paper Template
Elements of Persuasion and MLA Formatting
PPT
Paper Title (Times New Roman (TNR), 14, Bold,Centered) (Style
Language Grade 8: Proper Journal and Essay Format
How to Change Font to Times New Roman, 12 point in Word 2016

VIDEO

Times New Roman Condensed

COMMENTS

MLA Format
Start by applying these MLA format guidelines to your document: Times New Roman 12. 1″ page margins. Double line spacing. ½" indent for new paragraphs. Title case capitalization for headings. For accurate citations, you can use our free MLA Citation Generator. Download Word template Open Google Docs template.
MLA Style Guide, 8th & 9th Editions: Formatting Your MLA Paper
MLA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman font or another readable ... create a title page instead of listing all authors in the header on page 1 of the essay. On the title page, list each student's full name, placing one name on each double-spaced line. ... give the course name. The last line of the heading will be the date in 5 August ...
ENG 1002 Online: The Proper Format for Essays
The Proper Format for Essays. Below are guidelines for the formatting of essays based on recommendations from the MLA (the Modern Language Association). Fonts: Your essay should be word processed in 12-point Times New Roman fonts. Double space: Your entire essay should be double spaced, with no single spacing anywhere and no extra spacing ...
Research Guides: APA 7th ed. Style Guide: Formatting Your Paper
Font size and style: Times New Roman 12 pt, Arial 11 pt, Calibri 11 pt, or Georgia 11 pt; Use the same font type and size throughout the paper (exceptions for figure images, computer code, and footnotes - see 2.19 in APA Manual) Margins: 1 inch on all sides; Left align paragraphs and leave ragged (uneven) margins on the right
General Format
General Guidelines. Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper. Double-space the text of your paper and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are each distinct from one another.
Proper Essay Format Guide (Updated for 2021)
A scholarship essay should be tailored to the specific fund you are applying for, and it is best to avoid a generalized essay. The main components of the scholarship essay format are similar to those in a standard college essay: 12-point font (Times New Roman or Arial) First line indent. Double-spacing. 1-inch margins.
MLA Style Guide, 9th Edition: Formatting Your MLA Paper
MLA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman font or another readable typeface (e.g. serif). Use double-spacing throughout the entire paper. Leave 1 inch margins on the top, bottom, and each side. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch from the left margin.
Times Newer Roman is a sneaky font designed to make your essays look
Please note: The Verge does not actually condone cheating on your essays. According to Times Newer Roman's website, a 15-page, single-spaced document in 12 point type only requires 5,833 words ...
MLA Document Formatting
General MLA Formatting Rules. Font : Your paper should be written in 12-point text. Whichever font you choose, MLA requires that regular and italicized text be easily distinguishable from each other. Times and Times New Roman are often recommended. Line Spacing : All text in your paper should be double-spaced.
LibGuides: MLA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Formatting Your Paper
Indent the next line and begin typing your text. Include your last name and page numbers in the upper right-hand corner of every page. The page numbers will be one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. If your instructor prefers no page number on the first page, begin numbering from 2 on the second page. Sample MLA Paper.
APA Page Format
Overview. 1" margins. Acceptable fonts and sizes: Size 12-point Times New Roman;11-point Arial, Calibri, and Georgia; or 10-point Lucida. Body of paper is aligned left. Running head (by instructor preference) in header, left aligned. Page number in header right aligned. Line Spacing - double throughout. Tab in the first line of a paragraph ...
A step-by-step guide for creating and formatting APA Style student papers
Many sans serif and serif fonts can be used in APA Style, including 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 12-point Times New Roman, and 11-point Georgia. You can also use other fonts described on the font page of the website. ... The format for the byline depends on whether the paper has one author, two authors, or three or more authors.
Times New Roman
Times New Roman is a serif typeface.It was commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931 and conceived by Stanley Morison, the artistic adviser to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype, in collaboration with Victor Lardent, a lettering artist in The Times's advertising department. It has become one of the most popular typefaces of all time and is installed on ...
LibGuides: APA Style Guide: Formatting Your Paper
APA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman font. If not using Times New Roman, then another serif typeface should be used for its readability. Only use different typeface in figure descriptions to add style to the paper (section 8.03). ... Below is a template you can use every time you need to set-up a research paper using APA style format ...
APA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Formatting Your Paper
Simply open the template and type your own information every time you need to write an APA style research paper. This template was created and saved as a Word template for Microsoft Word 2016. The new APA 7th edition has a format for writing a professional paper as well as one for a student paper. These directions are a set-up for student papers.
MLA Page Format
Works Cited, if any, on a new page; Margins. 1" margins - top, bottom, left, right. Some defaults are 1.25″ left and right. Margins are not set in the Paragraph box. In Word or Works, margins are set in Page Layout or in File/Page Setup/Margins. Font. Times New Roman 12 black font. Do not use bold or underlining.
MLA Format: Everything You Need to Know Here
Here is an example of an MLA header for an MLA format essay, paper, or assignment: Neal E. Bibdarsh. Professor Haujeemoto. English 201. ... Times New Roman and Arial are recommended, but many other fonts work as well. Include a page number in the top right corner of the paper. For more information on how to style page numbers, check out the ...
13.1 Formatting a Research Paper
Use these general guidelines to format the paper: Set the top, bottom, and side margins of your paper at 1 inch. Use double-spaced text throughout your paper. Use a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, in a legible size (10- to 12-point). Use continuous pagination throughout the paper, including the title page and the references ...
Chicago Style Format for Papers
General formatting. Chicago doesn't require a specific font or font size, but recommends using something simple and readable (e.g., 12 pt. Times New Roman). Use margins of at least 1 inch on all sides of the page. The main text should be double-spaced, and each new paragraph should begin with a ½ inch indent.
Essay Format
Title of your essay or paper; Font Times New Roman (12pt) If you are using an APA style formatting for your essay, make sure to format your title page in the following way: Title written in all caps; The margin on both sides (1 inch) 12pt font Times New Roman; Name of writer and institute
Font
A variety of fonts are permitted in APA Style papers. Font options include the following: sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode; serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or normal (10-point) Computer Modern (the default font for LaTeX); We recommend these fonts because they are legible and widely available and because ...
The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability Dissertation
In the interim period, between the origin of the paper and the establishment of the font in the year 1932, there were quite a few other fonts that were tried and tested. However, none were as well accepted as the Times New Roman. 15. One might wonder what the popularity of this font had to do with the newspaper.
"The Times (New Roman) are-a Changing"
One-format-fits-all should no longer be the defacto model of text presentation. Research supports the personalization of text format to improve reading speed, accuracy and comprehension for most of the population, not only as an accessibility solution. ... Secretary Antony Blinken directed staff not to send any more papers using the Times New ...
To use or not to use? Times New Roman, a debate
The Times stayed with Times New Roman for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused it to switch typeface five times from 1972 to 2007. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman typeface. Times New Roman, a default font in Microsoft Word for years ...

English Composition 2

APA 7th ed. Style Guide

Formatting guidelines and sample papers are found in chapter 2 of the APA 7th edition Publication Manual

General Formatting Guidelines

Formatting Title Page

General Title Page Guidelines:

Student Papers:

Professional Papers:

Formatting Headings

Formatting Reference List

MLA General Format

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

Paper Format

General Guidelines

Formatting the First Page of Your Paper

Section Headings

Sample Section Headings

Times Newer Roman is a sneaky font designed to make your essays look longer

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MLA Document Formatting

General MLA Formatting Rules

MLA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Formatting Your Paper

Line Spacing & Margins

Heading and Title

Sample MLA Paper

MLA Format Setup in Word 2010

APA Style Guide: Formatting Your Paper

Line Spacing & Margins

Video How-To for Other Popular Applications

Sample Paper

APA Research Paper Template

Number of Spaces after a Period

Step by Step Instructions for Formatting your APA Style Research Paper

APA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Formatting Your Paper

Line Spacing & Margins

Number of Spaces after a Period

APA Research Paper Template for Word 206

Line Spacing

Paragraph Settings

First Line of a Paragraph

Spacing after a period or other end punctuation

Instructions for Creating Header in Office 365:

Works Cited

Other Resources for Your Setup Problems

MLA Format: Everything You Need to Know Here

Guidelines for Formatting a Paper in MLA

MLA Guide Overview

MLA Format Background

Formatting the Header in MLA

General Paper Formatting

Use One-Inch Margins in MLA

Indenting Paragraphs in MLA

Double Space Paragraphs in MLA

Font and Font Size in MLA

MLA Heading & Title Page Instructions

Running Head & Page Numbers in MLA

Google Docs: Adding a header

Microsoft Word Document: Adding a header

Quotations in MLA

Using footnotes and endnotes

Paraphrases in MLA

Using Abbreviations in MLA

Abbreviating Months

Abbreviating Publishers

Abbreviating Titles

Formatting Numbers in MLA

Arabic Numbers

More on Numbers

Outline Format

Using Images, Tables, & Musical Scores in MLA

Musical Scores

Using Lists in MLA

MLA Works Cited Format

MLA Citation Format