Standard Essay Format

In order to be accepted and assessed, your paper must meet the following requirements or include the following elements:

Length and format

• Meets required page length
• Typed in a 12-point, serif font such as New Times Roman, Baskerville, Georgia, etc. (Sans serif fonts, like this one, are not acceptable. Examples include Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, etc.)
• Double-spaced
• First line of all paragraphs is indented one half-inch
• No “double-double” spacing between paragraphs, unless it denotes a section break
• Paper formatted on white 8½-by-11-inch paper
• 1-inch margins at top, bottom, and both sides
• Nothing on the paper is handwritten
• Except for the first page, all pages are numbered in the top or bottom right-hand corner
  • First page is not numbered
  • All page numbers are typed
  • Bibliography is included in the page numbering

Heading

• Name, block, and date submitted in the upper right corner. Single- or double-spaced
• The paper is titled in a way that captures the thesis
  • Title is centered and formatted in bold
  • Title retains 12-point font

Quotes and Citations (see Citing Sources on this website)

• Quotes are integrated into paper with proper technique
• Parenthetical citations in text adhere to MLA format
• Passages four lines or longer are block quoted. Block quotes are single-spaced and indented one inch from normal text margins on both sides.

Bibliography (see MLA Format on this website)

• Sources, both literature and research, documented in correct MLA format
• Bibliography comes at the end of the paper
• Begins with the title “Work Cited,” centered
• Entries are presented in alphabetical order
• Entries are formatted with a hanging indent
• Entries are double-spaced

Conventions

• Paper is spell-checked
• Every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a concluding punctuation mark
• Verb tense is correct and consistent. Use present tense for literary analysis
• All titles within the text are italicized (books, films, albums) or put in quotation marks (chapters, poem titles, song titles)
• Contractions eliminated: it is rather than it’s, do not rather than don’t, I am rather than I’m, etc.

---

Posted by Justin Wells : 05/25/2009