Essay Format - An Easy Guide & Examples
11 min read
Published on: Nov 14, 2020
Last updated on: Nov 19, 2024
11 min read
Published on: Nov 14, 2020
Last updated on: Nov 19, 2024
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Drafting a perfect college essay is very important for students' academics. And to write a perfect essay, its formatting is important.
An essay is a formal piece of writing. Any formal writing requires proper structure and formatting. You can not just jumble up information and expect your essay to be effective. Its clarity depends on the format you choose.
This blog is written to give a better understanding of an essay format and the general guidelines of each type of format to present the gathered information in a disciplined way.
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An essay format is a way in which the information is organized for your essay. The format of an essay has a lot to do with the presentation of the text. If your essay is poorly structured or lacks a format, your readers will have difficulty understanding the main argument and the idea.
Readers will never continue reading something that is confusing or gives the impression that a writer is sloppy.
A standard format to write your essay or paper is the linear approach. In this, each idea is presented to make it easier for the readers to understand. If you know how to structure an essay, you are halfway through.
There are 3 basic formatting styles or types in which all essays and papers are formatted. They are:
Whether you are writing a research paper or a general essay, you have to choose a format to draft it. Students are often assigned a format by their instructors, so they should read the guidelines carefully.
MLA format style is quite common in the humanities world. Papers and essays that are to be written in this format should fulfill the following requirements.
Before we move to another common essay format APA, you should know that MLA and APA are different from each other.
Look at the table below and know their differences and similarities.
MLA vs. APA Similarities |
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MLA vs. APA Differences |
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Unlike MLA format, the APA format is used for scientific papers and essays. Essays are written for behavioral or social sciences follow this format. Following are the guidelines for the American Psychological Association format:
Chicago style essay format is a bit similar to the other format style guides. This format includes;
A typical and general format that an essay uses is simple. Every type of essay can be written in that format. Following are the parts that an essay format is based on:
In order to make sure that your academic essay is effective, each of the parts should be drafted professionally.
Here is an essay structure!
I. Introduction Hook II. Body Paragraphs Topic sentence III. Counterarguments and Refutation (optional) Address potential counterarguments or opposing viewpoints related to the main argument. IV. Conclusion Restate the thesis statement: V. Works Cited or References (if required) Include a list of all sources cited within the essay, following a specific citation style (such as APA, MLA, etc.). |
Continue reading to understand each part in detail.
1. Cover Or Title Page
The cover or title page is the first page on which the topic or title of the essay is presented. Along with this, the title page includes other information such as the name of the writer, instructor, institution, course, and the submission date.
2. An Abstract
An abstract is a brief summary of your essay or research paper. It is usually a 300-word long paragraph and precisely presents the purpose of the essay, the main thesis statement, and the study’s design.
3. Table Of Contents
When you are drafting a long essay or paper, a table of content is developed. In this table, headings and subheadings are presented along with their page numbers. The reader navigates your work using this table of content.
4. Introduction
An introduction is the first section of your essay. When writing a short essay of about 300 - 1000 words, a writer directly starts with an introduction after stating the essay topic.
An introduction of an essay is as important as the body of it. The essay introduction discloses the main idea of the essay and attempts to motivate readers to read the essay. Apart from the presentation of the main idea, it also contains background information about the topic.
A writer then forms a thesis statement which is the main argument of an essay. A thesis statement is the essence of the essay, and all other information provided in the body of an essay justifies it and proves it.
5. Main Body
The main body is the soul of an essay. Without it, the thesis statement will just be meaningless. The information you gather on the topic is presented in the body, which acts as evidence to prove the argument right or wrong depending on the writer.
An essay format helps the body give a logical flow that walks the reader towards the end. The point to prove your argument is to persuade the reader that your thesis statement is right. Make sure you give a topic sentence to all your body paragraphs.
6. Conclusion
Then comes the conclusion part of the essay. This is the final verdict of an essay writer. In this, a writer avoids giving new ideas to the readers and tries to sum up the whole conversation. This is done by restating the thesis statement in different words and summarizing the key ideas.
7. Appendix
An appendix is formulated when a writer uses unusual terms, phrases, and words in the document. This is a list prepared to describe those unordinary words for the readers.
8. Bibliography
When gathering information for your essay or paper, a writer has to consult different sources. Therefore, when using such sources and information in your content, a bibliography is created to provide their references.
A bibliography is a reference list presented at the end of the essay where all the cited sources are given along with the details.
Formatting an essay means working on the essay structure. When writing an academic essay, make sure that every part is drafted according to format. Your title page, in-text citation, essay outline, and reference list should be following the chosen format.
To understand the formatting of the different parts better, continue reading.
According to the MLA style, the title page of an essay should be written in the following way:
If you are using an APA style formatting for your essay, make sure to format your title page in the following way:
A title page is the first thing that an instructor sees in your assignment. Therefore, it is very important to form it in a neat format.
Before you start writing your essay, format your first page. To do this, add a header in which you give your last name and the page number. Place the header on the right-hand corner of your page.
Follow this for every page of your essay except the last page; the “work cited” page.
On the left upper corner, write your name, instructor’s, course’s, and the date. Put the title in the center and use double-spacing throughout the essay.
When you are conducting research for your essay, you will come across a lot of text which will complement your essay topic. Without knowing the consequences, people take the text from the internet and add it to the essay.
Citing the source properly is essential. If you do not cite the sources properly, you will be accused of plagiarism, a crime in the writing world. Therefore, even if you are using other’s words in the form of quotation marks or rephrasing it, it needs to be cited to avoid plagiarism.
Get to know which style of the in-text citations is recommended by your instructor and follow that. In APA format, the citation is done in the following way:
The other way is to cite in MLA style:
Therefore, cite your sources according to the essay format and make your essay writing phase easy.
The last page of your essay is the “works cited” page. This page is written in the way presented below:
There are several types of academic essays that students get assigned. No matter which type of essay you're writing, it must be properly formatted. Carefully examine the formats provided below for the different essay types:
Writing a good essay includes the proper representation of the text. For this purpose, formatting is done. Unfortunately, when students rush to finish their assignments, they often end up with poorly formatted content.
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WRITTEN BY
Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)
Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.
Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.
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