Paper Formatting Tools
The parts of a paper that style guides are strictest about and word processors make fiddly: the title page, heading levels, tables, hanging indents, block quotations and the table of contents. Each tool produces text you can paste into Word or Google Docs with the formatting intact. Free, no sign-up.
Paper Formatting
6 tools · free, no sign-up
Hanging Indent Formatter
Format your bibliography with proper hanging indents. Copy formatted text for APA, MLA, and Chicago reference lists.
Block Quote Formatter
Format long quotes as block quotations with proper indentation for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. Know when to use block quotes.
Title Page Generator
Create a correctly formatted APA 7 (student or professional) title page or MLA 9 first-page heading. Live preview plus copy-as-Word-ready HTML.
APA Heading Generator
Turn an outline into APA 7 headings, Levels 1–5 — centered, flush left, indented, bold, italic — in APA title case, with warnings for skipped levels and copy that pastes into Word.
APA Table Generator
Paste spreadsheet data and get an APA 7 table — bold number, italic title, horizontal rules only, decimal-aligned numbers, and general, specific and probability notes — for Word.
Table of Contents Generator
Turn headings and page numbers into a table of contents, list of figures or list of tables, with dot leaders, right-aligned page numbers and roman-numeral front matter.
What the Paper Formatting Shelf Covers
- First page. The Title Page Generator builds an APA 7 student or professional title page, or the MLA 9 first-page heading, with a live preview.
- Structure. The APA Heading Generator turns an outline into APA's five heading levels and warns when a level is skipped; the Table of Contents Generator sets headings and page numbers with dot leaders, plus lists of figures and tables.
- Tables. The APA Table Generator turns pasted spreadsheet data into an APA 7 table — bold number, italic title, horizontal rules only, and notes underneath.
- References and quotations. The Hanging Indent Formatter sets a reference list with the half-inch hanging indent APA, MLA and Chicago all use, and the Block Quote Formatter sets long quotations to each style's length threshold.
The Rules These Tools Apply
| Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 |
|---|---|---|
| First page | Separate title page; student and professional versions differ | No title page by default — a four-line heading at the top left, then the title centered |
| Headings | Five levels; Level 1 centered and bold, Level 2 flush left and bold | No required system; keep levels consistent |
| Block quotation | 40 words or more, indented 0.5 inch, no quotation marks | More than four lines of prose, indented 0.5 inch, no quotation marks |
| Reference list | "References", double-spaced, 0.5-inch hanging indent | "Works Cited", double-spaced, 0.5-inch hanging indent |
Chicago leaves most of these choices to the instructor or publisher. Follow your assignment sheet where it differs from the manual.
Getting the Formatting into Your Document
The tools copy formatted text, not a screenshot, so indents, bold and italics survive the paste into Word or Google Docs. Paste with the destination's normal paste command; "paste as plain text" strips the formatting you came for. Set the font, size and double spacing for the whole document first, so pasted text inherits them.
The formatting tools do not write citations. Build each reference with a citation generator, then use the Hanging Indent Formatter to set the finished list. The guide to formatting academic papers covers margins, running heads and page numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does a student paper in APA 7 need a running head?
- No. APA 7 dropped the running head from student papers; only professional manuscripts submitted for publication carry one. A student title page needs the title, your name, the affiliation, course, instructor and due date, with the page number at the top right.
- Does an MLA paper need a title page?
- Not unless your instructor asks for one. MLA 9 puts your name, the instructor's name, the course and the date on four lines at the top left of the first page, then the title centered above the text.
- How do I make a hanging indent in Word or Google Docs?
- In Word, select the references, open Paragraph settings and choose Special › Hanging, 0.5 inch. In Google Docs, use Format › Align & indent › Indentation options › Special indent › Hanging. Or paste the list into the Hanging Indent Formatter and copy the formatted result.
- When should a quotation be a block quote?
- In APA 7, at 40 words or more. In MLA 9, when prose runs to more than four lines on the page, or poetry to more than three lines. A block quotation is indented, has no quotation marks, and puts the citation after the final punctuation.
- Will the formatting look the same in my document?
- Bold, italics and indents carry over when you paste normally. Fonts and line spacing follow the document you paste into, so set those for the whole paper before you paste.