Introduction
Are you struggling with the formatting of your research paper? Are you having difficulty following the rules of academic formatting styles? If your answer is yes, then you are at the right place. An academic formatting style outlines the rules to format your paper. With proper formatting, you can have your paper accepted without any hassle. Every university has its own formatting requirements. But there are some general academic formatting styles as well. These styles are accepted and used by most universities worldwide.
There is dissertation writing services styles for writing academic papers. Some popular formats are APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, and AMA. These academic formatting styles are important to structure your paper. The proper formatting enhances the readability of your paper and helps you to score well. n this article, I will pen down some common formatting styles and their attributes.
APA Format
If your field is psychology or social sciences, the university may ask you to follow the APA format. You need to follow the formatting guidelines from start till end. You have to focus on four things while following this format.
- Title page: You have to mention the title, author name, and school name on the title page.
- The first page contains the Running head at the top left side of paper. The first page has no page number. Running head is followed by “Title of paper” in caps lock. The second page has only title of the paper in caps lock. The number starts from second page and placed at the top right of the paper.
- Abstract: You have to add the summary of the paper that consists of 150-250 words.
- Main body: It includes many sections like introduction, method, results and conclusion. The text style should be Times New Roman with size 12.
- The level 1 heading should be Bold, and centre aligned. The level 2 heading should be bold and left-aligned. The level 3 heading in APA should be in italics and left align.
- Reference: References must be in alphabetical order and with a hanging indent. You have to use double space. Moreover, you use italics for journals, books, and magazines.
MLA Format
- Students of humanities and literature usually follow the MLA format.
- In MLA there is no title page. You mention your name, course id, professor name and date just before starting your essay. Moreover, the page number is on the top right corner followed by the Last name.
- In MLA, we use Times New Roman at 12 points with a one-inch margin on all sides. The reference page is titled Work cited and contains a list of all the references.
Chicago Style
- We use the Chicago format for manuscripts. This academic formatting style follows two systems: notes-bibliography and the author-date.
- Students of social sciences use author-date to cite the sources. For in-text citation, they write the author’s last name and publication date. Then they provide a complete list of references at the end of the paper.
- In contrast, notes-bibliography is famous among students of history and arts. They use endnotes and footnotes in the paper. Moreover, they also create a list of bibliography at the end of the paper.
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Harvard Format
- Harvard is more or less similar to But in Harvard, the Running head is replaced with a shortened title followed by a page number.
- The title page of Harvard has some extended information like University name, Professor name, State and date.
- The header of the paper contains a shortened title followed by a page number at the top right of paper.
- The formatting of headings is usually done on a similar pattern as that of APA.
There are some important features for every academic formatting style. These features are as follow:
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Complexity
To make a good piece, you should use formal words and avoid too much complex vocabulary. To make your writing more effective, you should avoid general expressions and use proper grammar.
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Objectivity
According to the cheap dissertation writing services firm, your writing must have objectivity. Your emphasis has to be on the major information and your argument.
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Hedging
Make your paper effective by defining the stance in the very start.
Conclusion
Academic formatting styles are important for writing good papers. APA, Harvard, Chicago, and MLA are commonly used in writing. This article has summarized some general rules and types of formatting. Formatting your document is not very hard once you are used to it. It just needs a little practice, patience and a lot of hard work.