Essay Format - Essay Writing Outline (MLA, APA, Chicago, AMA format Examples)

Essay Writing Format: MLA, APA, Chicago

Essay Format Outline

	Chicago/ Turabian	MLA	APA	AMA
Fonts	Times Roman , 12-point for text and 10-point for notes	12-point . no clear preference	12-point or 10-point. no requirement for the typeface.	Not specified
Indents	0,5 inch, MLA block quotes 1 inch
Right Justification	justify without leaving large gaps between words. Manuscripts submitted for publication use a ragged right margin	Do not justify the lines of your paper at the right margin	Not specified	A ragged right margin is preferred
Spacing	The text is double-spaced. Block quotations, notes and references, captions, and long headings single spaced with a blank space between items	Double space everything, including long titles that may wrap to a second line.	Single space within the abstract, notes, titles and headings, block quotes, tables and figures, and references (everything but the main text), double space before and after each single spaced block.	Double space the text, single space block quotes, references, abstract. Space once after all punctuation .
Page numbers	Every page beginning a major section, at the bottom center of the page 3/4 inch from the edge. Other pages - upper right corner double spaced above the text.	required on every page.The header and page number go inside the margin space, 0,5 inch from the top margin	Every page starting with the title page. Do not change numbering systems through the text,	Page numbers are required on every page: Number pages consecutively.
Emphasis	Italics	Preference for underlining wherever you might use italics.	Italics	Italics
Footnotes	Start on the page where they are referred to the text, separated by a short rule Each footnote must begin on a new line, are usually single-spaced, with a blank line between notes.	No footnotes! Use only endnotes - if any. References in endnotes require a special style	No footnotes	Rarely used, except for author affiliation and contact information - the author note.

Titles, Headings and Subheadings

Chicago headings format

TITLE AND MAJOR SECTION	Centered	FULL CAPS	b
First-Level Heading	Centered	Heading Caps	b
*Second Level Heading*	Flush Left	Heading Caps	*i,b*
*The third level heading*	Indent	Sentence caps	*i,b*

TITLE dropped two inches from the top of the page
The third level heading ending with a period it need not be a complete sentence

MLA headings format

Title and Major Section	Centered	Heading Caps	b
First-Level Heading	Flush Left	Heading Caps	b
Second level heading	Indent	Sentence caps	b
The third level heading	Indent	none

This run-in or paragraph heading
The third level heading is just a number indented and preceding the paragraph.

AMA headings format

Title and Major Section	Centered / Flush Left	Heading Caps	b
FIRST LEVEL HEADING	Flush Left	FULL CAPS	b
Second Level Heading	Flush Left	Heading Caps	b
The Third Level Heading	Indent	Heading Caps	b

The third level heading is a run-in or paragraph heading

APA headings format

Title and Major Section	Centered	Heading Caps	b
First-Level Heading	Centered	Heading Caps	b
*Second Level Heading*	Flush Left	Heading Caps	*i,b*
*The third level heading*	Indent	Sentence caps	*i,b*

Run-in paragraph heading, need not be a complete sentence but end with a period or other appropriate punctuation

Abbreviation, Acronyms, Initialisms

An abbreviation (from Latin brevis "short") is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, the word "abbreviation" can itself be represented by the abbreviation "abbr." or "abbrev."

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, which are formed using the initial letters of words or word parts in a phrase or name.

General rules of using Abbreviations, Acronyms and initialisms in essay papers

Capitalize

Full caps capitalize every character of every word.
Heading caps capitalize the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and subordinating conjunctions.

Books and Articles

Do not capitalize ...

Sentence caps capitalize just the first letter of the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns in a title, label, or phrase.

Ethnic/Racial Groups.

Geographical Names.

Compound Words (Hyphenation) Writing

Compound words are two or more words that work together in a specified order.

Full-time compound words are hyphenated whatever their role in a sentence as an adjective or a noun.

Conditional compounds are hyphenated as adjectives, but not when used as nouns.

Prefixes. Most common prefixes do not require a hyphen

Emphasis: Italics & Quotation Marks

Italics and quotation marks are used in the text to highlight words, note and translate words in a language foreign to a reader, indicate irony (scare quotes), or mark words and letters that are referred to as words, not to the meaning they convey.

Italicize: Keywords, Titles, Foreign terms

Quotation Marks: Common words used in a special sense, Coined words, slang, nicknames, and words or phrases used ironically, Foreign word,s Title

Numbers

In nontechnical contexts, the following are spelled out: whole numbers from one through one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning a sentence.

What to Spell out?

Numerals are used for…

Making plurals

Block Quotations

Longer quotations are formatted as block quotes. Block quotes are continuously indented from the left margin the same distance as a paragraph indent. They are required with longer quotations, although what constitutes longer varies widely.

(Chicago).
(Turabian).
(MLA).
(APA).

Different types of essay may require certain deflections from the basic essay Format. In order to get acquainted with them proceed to Types of essays: 5-Paragraph essays, Admission, Argumentative topics, Cause/Effect essays, Classification essay topics, Comparison/Contrast, Critical, Deductive, Definition, Descriptive, Evaluation essays, Exploratory, Expository, Instruction essays, Interview, Literary, Narrative, Observation essays, Personal, Persuasive, Position, Reflection.