English Grammar

                                                                 English Grammar

Imagine this: You’re in class and the instructor is explaining the latest assignment. As they finish the explanation, they mention that the assignment is to be in  format. 

format. You know you’ve heard that term somewhere, but you aren’t 100 percent sure what it entails. Have no fear:  format is just a set of formatting and citation guidelines that tell you how your finished paper should look. 

There are a lot of rules to follow to get format just right, but you can easily find them all online. We’re here to explain where to find them, how to use them, and the reason you’re required to format certain assignments this way. 

10 key points about  format:

1  The sources page is referred to as the works cited page

2  The entire paper should be double-spaced, including block quotations and the references on the works cited page

3  Use block quotes for quotations that are four lines or longer

4  Abbreviations do not include periods between the letters (i.e., US instead of U.S.)

5  The paper should be printed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper

6  There should be a one-inch margin along all sides of the paper

7  The paper should be written in size 12 Times New Roman, Arial, or  font

8  Each page must include the author’s last name and the page number in the top right corner

9  A title page is not required

10  The heading should be left-justified on the first page and include the following:

The author’s name

The instructor’s name

The course number

The date the paper is due  format’s defining characteristics don’t end here. They also include formatting requirements for citations, but we’ll cover that later. First, it’s important to understand when to use  format. 

When to use  format

Use  format for the final draft of every piece of academic writing, including essays, reports, and research papers, that you do in your arts and humanities courses. That means English, history, theater, and any other classes you take that fall into these categories. 

Use  format for every part of an assignment you submit. That includes any essay outline, research proposal, literature review, or list of sources your instructor asks you to submit before or alongside your final paper. There’s no need to format your first draft or any other documents that don’t reach your professor, though you certainly can use  format throughout the writing process if you’d prefer. One benefit of doing this is that you’ll see approximately how many pages your final draft will span before you reach that stage.

 one of the most commonly used academic style guides, especially for high school and undergraduate students. You might also be familiar with  format, the American Psychological Association’s style guide. Both include instructions for formatting citations, crediting your sources, paraphrasing, using quotations in your work, and other aspects of writing academic papers. 

 format is used for academic writing in the arts and humanities.  is used for the social sciences. Both are optimized for their academic areas: While  format has rules for citing creative works like paintings, plays, and videos,  has rules for citing technical papers and scientific research. 

While  and  are two of the most well-known style guides, they aren’t the only ones. The Chicago Manual of Style  is another guide used in literature and the humanities, though it’s usually used at the postgraduate level. 

Other academic style guides include:

Associated Press Style book (AP Style book): This format is used in journalism and magazine writing.

The Economist Style Guide: This format is used in economic and financial writing. 

American Chemical Society Chemistry students and researchers typically format their work according to this guide.

The Manual of Scientific Style: This style guide is primarily used in the physical and biological science fields. 

Academic writing isn’t the only field governed by style guides. Companies and open-source coding projects often require programmers to adhere to specific style guides for the code and attributions submitted. Just like in academic writing, these style guides ensure the code maintains a uniform look and feel, making it easier for collaborators to understand and work with. 

As we mentioned above, one of the key differences between  style and other academic styles is how citations are formatted. This includes both in-text citations, as well as citations on your works cited page. 

For citations on your works cited page,  format requires that the citation be formatted as follows:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title in Title Case. Publisher, year published.

In-text citations should be noted with the author’s last name and the page number of the work you’re citing in parentheses immediately following the reference.