How to format a research paper

Three style manuals dominate research paper formatting: the APA Publication Manual seventh edition (2020), the MLA Handbook ninth edition (2021), and the Chicago Manual of Style seventeenth edition (2017). The mechanical rules in all three overlap more than they differ. The differences that matter sit in three places: the title page, the headings system, and a small set of header and footer conventions. This guide treats each style in turn and then summarises the shared rules.

Universal rules

Across the three styles, expect double-spaced body text, one-inch (2.54 cm) margins on all four sides, and a readable serif or sans-serif font in 11 or 12 point. Paragraphs are indented half an inch on the first line, with no extra blank line between paragraphs. Block quotations are indented half an inch from the left margin. Page numbers appear in the top-right corner of every page, starting with page 1 (APA and MLA) or sometimes with the first page of body text after front matter (Chicago).

The standard font choice across all three is Times New Roman 12, though APA 7 has explicitly broadened the list of acceptable fonts. None of the styles requires a particular line-spacing convention for footnotes, so single spacing inside footnotes with double spacing in the body is universally accepted and is what most word processors default to.

APA 7 formatting

APA 7 distinguishes between a "student paper" and a "professional paper". The professional paper requires more apparatus (an author note, a running head abbreviation in the header, journal-specific elements) that students do not need. Unless your tutor asks otherwise, follow the student paper rules.

The student title page contains the paper title in bold centred about a third of the way down the page, then the author's name, the institutional affiliation, the course number and name, the instructor's name, and the assignment due date, all centred and double-spaced below the title. There is no running head in the student paper, but the page number appears in the top-right corner starting from page 1.

The abstract, when included, sits on its own page after the title page. The word "Abstract" appears centred and bold at the top, with the abstract text as a single paragraph immediately below, not indented. APA 7 sets the abstract length at 150 to 250 words for most journal submissions; student assignments may have their own limit set in the brief.

APA 7 uses five heading levels. Level 1 headings are centred, bold, and in title case. Level 2 headings are flush left, bold, and in title case. Level 3 headings are flush left, bold italic, and in title case. Level 4 headings are indented, bold, ending with a period, and the paragraph runs on from the heading. Level 5 headings are indented, bold italic, ending with a period, also running on. Most undergraduate papers need only levels 1 and 2.

Acceptable APA 7 fonts include Times New Roman 12, Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, and Georgia 11. Line spacing is double throughout, including in the reference list, with no extra space before or after paragraphs. Page numbers go in the top-right corner. The reference list starts on a new page after the body, headed "References" centred and bold.

MLA 9 formatting

MLA does not use a separate title page in standard student papers. The first page carries the writer's name, the instructor's name, the course title, and the date in the upper left, double-spaced, flush left. The title appears centred above the first paragraph, with no extra formatting (no bold, no italics, no underlining, no full caps). The body starts immediately below.

The header on every page, including the first, contains the writer's surname and the page number in the top-right corner, formatted as "Smith 1" with no comma between the name and number. This is non-negotiable in MLA. Without it, your paper looks unfinished.

Margins are one inch on all sides. Spacing is double throughout, including block quotations and the Works Cited list. The font should be readable in both regular and italic; MLA 9 names Times New Roman and Arial as common choices but does not mandate one. Twelve point is the default size; eleven point is acceptable.

MLA does not prescribe a single heading system. For longer papers that need sections, the MLA Handbook suggests numbered headings (1, 1.1, 1.2) or bold and italic distinctions between levels, but tells you to apply whatever system you choose consistently. Most undergraduate MLA papers run as continuous prose with no internal headings.

The Works Cited list starts on a new page after the body, with "Works Cited" centred at the top in plain text. Entries are alphabetised and use a hanging indent. Long-form research papers in MLA may also include an abstract; if so, it sits between the title block and the body, formatted as a single paragraph.

Chicago formatting (Turabian ninth edition)

For student papers, the relevant Chicago reference is Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, ninth edition (2018). Turabian gives Chicago its student-friendly conventions.

Turabian asks for a separate title page. The title is centred about a third of the way down the page in title case, in bold or plain depending on institution. Two-thirds of the way down, give the writer's name, the course information, and the submission date on separate lines, centred. The title page is counted as page i but the number does not appear on the page itself.

The body of the paper starts on page 1 (Arabic numeral 1), with the page number in either the top-right corner or centred at the bottom. The choice is yours but must be consistent throughout. Margins are one inch on all sides; the left margin can be widened to 1.5 inches if the paper will be bound.

Spacing is double in the body, single in block quotations, single inside footnotes (with a blank line between notes), and single in the bibliography with a blank line between entries. The default font is Times New Roman 12. Block quotations are indented half an inch and run for any quotation of roughly five lines or longer.

Chicago uses up to five heading levels. Level 1 is centred and bold or in full caps. Level 2 is centred in title case, not bold. Level 3 is flush left in title case, bold or italic. Level 4 is flush left in sentence case, italic. Level 5 is indented in sentence case, italic, ending with a period, run on with the paragraph. As with APA, most papers use only levels 1 and 2.

Title pages

The title page is the most visible difference between the three styles. APA 7 requires one for both student and professional papers. MLA 9 does not use one in standard student work, putting the identifying block on the first body page instead. Chicago (Turabian) requires one for theses, dissertations, and most longer research papers, but treats it as optional for short class papers, in which case the MLA-style first-page header is acceptable.

Most word processors include title page templates for each style. Use them if they save time, but check the result against the current edition of the manual; Word's built-in APA template was outdated for years after APA 7 published in 2020 and may still produce the older sixth-edition layout in some installations.

Abstracts and keywords

APA 7 papers that include an abstract place it on its own page, headed "Abstract" centred and bold at the top, with the abstract text as a single paragraph below. Below the abstract, "Keywords:" in italic introduces a list of three to five keywords separated by commas, indented half an inch. The abstract is not a summary in the loose sense; it is a structured miniature of the paper, naming the question, the method, the result, and the implication in roughly 150 to 250 words.

MLA papers rarely include an abstract in undergraduate work, but a longer research paper may include one. Place it between the title block and the body, double-spaced, formatted as a single paragraph. Chicago papers in the notes-bibliography system seldom use abstracts; author-date papers, which follow conventions closer to social-science writing, often do.

Page numbers and headers

Page numbers appear in the top-right corner across all three styles. APA 7 requires them starting on the title page (page 1). MLA requires them starting on the first body page (with the writer's surname preceding the number). Chicago counts the title page as page i but does not display the number; body pages start at 1 in Arabic numerals.

A "running head" is not the same as a header. A header is the block of text at the top of each page. A running head is the abbreviated title that appears in the header of a professional APA 7 paper. Student APA papers do not use a running head, only the page number. MLA does not use a running head. Chicago papers do not use a running head except in long-form theses and dissertations, where the chapter title appears in the header.

Tables and figures

All three styles treat tables and figures with similar care. Tables and figures are numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2) and referenced in the body before they appear. Each gets a caption: APA 7 and Chicago put the caption above tables and below figures; MLA 9 places both captions below the item.

APA 7 wants a brief title in italics above the table, with a clear note below explaining any abbreviations. MLA wants a "Source:" line below the table or figure if the data is borrowed, with a full citation. Chicago follows the same source-line convention. In long papers, you may list all tables and figures in a "List of Tables" and "List of Figures" in the front matter.

What to do next

Once your draft is structured, check the word count with the Phrasit word counter, generate correctly formatted references with the citation generator, and review common citation mistakes so the reference list passes the marker's first glance.