How to Format an Academic Paper in APA, MLA, and Chicago

Quick Answer: How to Format an Academic Paper

Read the assignment first. Then set 1-inch margins, double-spaced body text, a 0.5-inch first-line indent, left alignment with a ragged right edge, and one approved font. The styles diverge on the first page, the header, the quotation threshold, and the source-list spacing. Instructor, department, and thesis-office directions overrule every handbook on this page.

Impact of Gender on the Evaluation of Humor
in Romantic Relationships

Cecily J. Sinclair and Adam Gonzaga
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
PSY 201: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Rowan J. Estes
October 18, 2020

Surname 1
Your Name
Instructor Name
Course Number
17 August 2026

                    The Attitude toward Violence in A Clockwork Orange

    The first paragraph begins here, indented 0.5 inches.

                    Title of the Paper:
                         Subtitle


                         First Name Last Name
              COURSE 101: Course Title
                      17 August 2026

Download a working file with the shared geometry already set: APA 7 paper template (.doc) · MLA 9 paper template (.doc). Then check the official pages this guide quotes rather than a generic "standard academic format" list.

Start with the venue, not a generic checklist

Most "how to format an academic paper" pages flatten APA, MLA, and Chicago into one list: 12-point Times New Roman, double space, 1-inch margins, page numbers. Those three settings overlap. The first-page identity, the header, the abstract, the quotation threshold, and the source-list spacing do not. APA Style itself refuses a one-size student manuscript. On its sample papers page it says:

Set the page machine first

Do this before you write the title. If the document is still using single spacing, a default 1.25-inch Word margin, or full justification, every later heading and hanging indent will fight you. Letter paper (8.5 × 11 inches) and 1-inch margins are the shared default. Font, the line spacing of notes, and whether the right edge stays ragged are not.

APA's font page is more specific than "Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point." University reprints of that page (Delaware, UAB) still list the named pairs below and quote the accessibility sentence. They do not name Aptos. APA's Student Paper Setup Guide separately says the word processor's default font is acceptable, which is how a current Word file in Aptos can still comply. Use the same font in the same size for the whole paper, with the published exceptions: a sans-serif 8–14 point font inside figure images, a monospace font such as 10-point Lucida Console or Courier New for code, and the word processor's default footnote font.

MLA publishes two overlapping font rules. The still-hosted Style Center handout (an MLA Handbook 8th-ed. reprint) is the public quotation most instructors still paste. MLA 9 chapter 1, as reprinted by Felician and SFU, keeps the readable-typeface test and sets the size "anywhere between 11 and 13 points" unless the instructor specifies otherwise. Times New Roman 12 remains the safe default.

Build the identity block before the first sentence

This is the first place a generic checklist fails. APA requires a title page. MLA does not, unless the instructor asks for one or the paper is a group project. Turabian expects a class-paper title page, then immediately tells you some instructors put the title on page 1 of the text instead. Get this block right and the rest of the paper can inherit the header, the page count, and the file name.

APA 7 student title page

APA's title page setup page (Publication Manual §§2.3–2.6) opens with a hard rule. Students use the student version unless the instructor or institution asks for the professional version. Place the title three to four lines down from the top of the page, centered and bold, in title case. Leave one extra double-spaced blank line after the title, then add each of the following on its own centered line: author name, affiliation, course number and name, instructor name, and due date. The official table uses the affiliation as department then university, the instructor's preferred designation, and the due date in the month-day-year form used in your country, with the month spelled out.

Impact of Gender on the Evaluation of Humor
in Romantic Relationships

Cecily J. Sinclair and Adam Gonzaga
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
PSY 201: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Rowan J. Estes
October 18, 2020

A professional APA title page keeps the bold title and byline, then swaps the course block for a running head in the header and an author note on the bottom half of the page. APA's official professional example title is Predict and Redirect: Prediction Errors Support Children's Word Learning, with the running head PREDICTION ERRORS SUPPORT CHILDREN'S WORD LEARNING (all capitals, no "Running head:" label, 50 characters or fewer including spaces). Do not add those elements to a course paper unless they are assigned. An abstract is also not a student default.

MLA 9 first-page heading

MLA research papers do not open with a separate title page. The formatting handout is explicit: beginning one inch from the top of the first page and flush with the left margin, type your name, your instructor's name, the course number, and the date on separate double-spaced lines. Months may be spelled out or abbreviated. On the next double-spaced line, center the title in title case. Do not italicize, underline, boldface, or type the title in all capitals, and italicize only the words you would italicize in the text. Begin the first paragraph on the next double-spaced line, indented 0.5 inches. The running head — last name and page number — already appears in the upper right of this page.

Surname 1
Your Name
Instructor Name
Course Number
17 August 2026

                    The Attitude toward Violence in A Clockwork Orange

    The first paragraph begins here, indented 0.5 inches, in the
same readable font and double spacing as the heading.

Turabian 9 / Chicago class title page

For class papers, Turabian A.2.1.2 and the University of Chicago's CMOS Shop Talk title-page note agree on the default and the exception. Place the title about one-third of the way down the page, centered. If there is a subtitle, put a colon at the end of the main title and start the subtitle on the next line after a blank line. Several lines below, add your name and any course information the instructor asked for. The official margins and page-numbers tip sheet is stricter about the number than about the decoration.

                    Title of the Paper:
                         Subtitle


                         First Name Last Name
              COURSE 101: Course Title
                      17 August 2026

Number the pages the style actually asks for

The running-head myth is leftover APA 6. APA 7 student papers carry only a page number, flush right, on every page including the title page (Publication Manual §2.18). Professional papers add a running head in all-capital letters, flush left, on every page. MLA puts the author's last name and the page number, half an inch from the top and flush right, on every page including page 1. Some teachers prefer no running head on the first MLA page; the handout says to follow that preference. Turabian keeps the number off the title page, then places later numbers at the top right or bottom center, half an inch from the edge, and keeps that placement consistent.

Keep body text from fighting the style

Once the machine is set, the body is mostly restraint. APA's student paper setup guide is explicit: do not add blank lines before or after headings, and do not add extra spacing between paragraphs. MLA and Turabian want the same even rhythm. Extra Enter keys, full justification, and decorative fonts are the usual ways a paper stops looking like the sample. APA also says not to begin the text with an "Introduction" heading — the paper title on the first text page already acts as the Level 1 heading; details live in Headings and Subheadings.

• Use a real first-line indent, not five spaces and not a blank line between paragraphs. Set it once in the paragraph style. APA's alignment page says not to use the space bar.
• Leave the right edge ragged. APA, MLA, and Turabian all reject full justification for student papers because it opens uneven word spacing.
• Turn off automatic hyphenation. MLA states this in the public formatting chapter; Turabian says the same for class papers. APA says not to insert manual hyphens at line ends.
• Put headings in the document's heading styles, then restyle those styles to match the handbook. That is an accessibility requirement and a Word requirement. The five APA levels and MLA's lighter heading habits live in Headings and Subheadings, not here.
• Keep italics for titles and emphasis the handbook allows, not for the paper title on an MLA first page or an APA student title (APA bolds that title instead).

Block quotations use three different thresholds

A block quote is a page-geometry problem before it is a citation problem. APA counts words. MLA counts lines of your prose. Turabian counts lines and then changes the line spacing. Mixing those tests is how a paper ends up with quotation marks around an indented block, or with a Chicago quotation still double-spaced.

For the quotation decision itself — when to quote, when to paraphrase, and how short quotations sit inside a sentence — use Paraphrasing vs Quoting. To indent a passage without hand-spacing, use the block quote formatter.

Format the source-list page as part of the same machine

The list is not a new document. It keeps the paper's font, margins, and running head, and it continues the page count. APA starts a References page on a new leaf; MLA starts Works Cited (or Work Cited if there is only one entry); Turabian starts a Bibliography for notes-bibliography papers or References for author-date papers. Center the heading at the top. Do not bold an MLA or Turabian heading. APA bolds References as a Level 1 heading.

Set the hanging indent in the paragraph style. Do not tab the second line by hand. The hanging indent formatter and bibliography alphabetizer will get the geometry right; the citation text still has to match APA, MLA, or Chicago. How to build the list from notes is a different guide: How to Write a Bibliography.

What this page does not replace

A format guide that reprints heading levels, abstract formulas, and table anatomy is competing with pages that already exist on this site. Use those pages for the content of those blocks; use this page for the page they sit on.

• Headings and Subheadings — APA's five levels, MLA's lighter hierarchy, and how to phrase a heading so it is not a full sentence in the wrong style.
• How to Write an Abstract — only after the venue has asked for one. Most APA student papers and almost all MLA papers skip it.
• How to Present Data — table and figure numbers, titles, and notes. APA 7 places the figure number and italic title above the image; MLA's Cassatt and Tchaikovsky captions sit below it.
• How to Write a Research Paper — argument, structure, and drafting. Format is the last pass, not the first.
• APA vs MLA — when the assignment lets you choose a style rather than a page setup.

Submit the file without breaking the layout

LMS uploaders, Google Docs export, and "Save as PDF" are where a correct Word file becomes a crooked PDF. Name the file the way the assignment asks; a common pattern is Surname_Course_Assignment.docx. Keep a copy before you upload. Then open the downloaded file on another device and check the header, the title-page spacing, and the hanging indents. MLA's public handout is still blunt about print and upload: there are "no commonly accepted standards for the electronic submission of research papers," so follow the teacher's channel exactly, and prefer a staple or binder clip over a plastic folder if you print.

• Prefer .docx when the instructor grades in Word comments; prefer PDF when the assignment says "print-ready." A PDF locks the page breaks you already checked.
• Export Google Docs through File → Download, then reopen the .docx. Docs' on-screen pagination is not the Word pagination a grader may see.
• Do not use extra paragraph marks to force a new page. Insert a page break before the abstract, the source list, and each appendix.
• Embed fonts when you make a PDF if the file uses anything other than a system font the grader already has.
• Put the real title and your name in the document properties. Screen readers and some LMS viewers read those fields.

Accessibility that also satisfies the style

APA's font page is an accessibility document as much as a type list: modern screens can render serif or sans serif, and readers who use assistive technology can override the font. The overlap with handbook format is useful. Heading styles, real lists, header rows on tables, descriptive link text, and alt text on figures make the file readable and keep you from faking a heading with bold 14-point body text.

• Use the word processor's heading styles, then restyle them. A bold line that looks like a heading is not a heading to a screen reader.
• Give every figure alt text that states the claim of the image, not "Figure 1."
• Make tables with header rows, not tab-separated text that looks like a table.
• Write link text that names the destination ("APA title page setup"), not "click here."
• Keep body text in one color on a white page. Color belongs inside figures, with a non-color cue as well.

Word, Google Docs, and LaTeX

Microsoft Word

• Set 1-inch margins under Layout → Margins. Set double spacing and a 0.5-inch first-line indent under the Normal paragraph style, not by selecting the whole file each time.
• Insert → Page Number → Top of Page → Plain Number 3 for APA and MLA. For MLA, type the last name in the header before the number. For Turabian, use Different First Page and leave the title-page header empty.
• Use Page Break (Ctrl+Enter) before References, Works Cited, or Bibliography.
• Turn on Show/Hide (¶). Extra paragraph marks and stray tabs are visible there.
• Do not trust Word's References tab to invent a style. Generate the citation, then paste.

Google Docs

• File → Page setup: Letter, 1-inch margins, portrait.
• Format → Line & paragraph spacing → Double. Set a 0.5-inch first-line indent under Format → Align & indent → Indentation options.
• Insert → Page numbers → header, right. Add the MLA last name in the header; remove a Turabian title-page number with a different first-page header.
• Download as .docx or PDF and reopen it. Check hanging indents after the download.
• Avoid Docs' citation sidebar for the final list if the course requires APA 7, MLA 9, or Turabian 9 exactly.

LaTeX

• A student APA paper is closer to a custom article setup than to a journal class. Start from a maintained APA 7 class only if the instructor accepts LaTeX.
• Set 1-inch margins with the geometry package, 12-point Times or the assigned font, and double spacing from the setspace package.
• Use biblatex with the assigned style rather than hand-typed hanging indents.
• Compile to PDF and check the first page against the official sample, not against the .tex source.

Pre-submission checklist

Common formatting mistakes

Treating "standard academic format" as a style

1-inch margins and double spacing are shared. Title pages, abstracts, running heads, quotation thresholds, and bibliography spacing are not. A paper that uses an APA title page with an MLA Works Cited list is not "close enough."

Putting a running head on an APA student paper

APA 7 removed the running head from student papers. The header is the page number, flush right, starting on the title page. A shortened title in all caps is a professional-paper element — the official example is PREDICTION ERRORS SUPPORT CHILDREN'S WORD LEARNING.

Requiring an abstract because "APA papers have abstracts"

Published APA articles have abstracts. APA Style student papers do not, unless the instructor asks. The comparison table that says "Abstract: Required" for APA is describing a journal manuscript.

Full justification and extra paragraph space

Justified text and a blank line between paragraphs make a file look like a web article. APA, MLA, and Turabian all want left-aligned, double-spaced paragraphs with a first-line indent and a ragged right edge.

Hand-made hanging indents and page breaks

Tabs on the second line of a reference, and a stack of Enter keys before Works Cited, collapse as soon as a grader changes the view or comments in the margin. Use a hanging-indent paragraph style and a real page break.

Using CMOS 18 publication rules on a Turabian class paper

The current student manual is Turabian 9 (2018), aligned with CMOS 17. CMOS 18 changed several citation details for publications. The official tip sheets still say they follow Turabian 9 and CMOS 17. The University of Chicago Press tenth-edition page announces Turabian 10, revised by Joseph Bizup, William T. FitzGerald, Juli Parrish, and the Press staff, with new generative-AI coverage. Retail listings such as Brookline Booksmith give 24 November 2026 as the publication date. Until that book is the one your instructor or thesis office names, format the student paper from Turabian 9. See Turabian vs Chicago for the edition gap.

Quick comparison

Related guides and style pages

• Headings and Subheadings in Academic Writing
• How to Present Data in Academic Papers
• How to Write an Abstract
• APA vs MLA Citation Styles
• Turabian vs Chicago
• APA 7 style page
• MLA 9 style page
• Chicago style page