Formatting Tips for Essays and

Papers
(for Microsoft Word)

Font and Size

Always…
-use Times New Roman in 12-point size for formal
research papers and essays.

-double-space
1. Go to the “Format” menu.
2. Choose “Paragraph.”
3. Find “Line-spacing.” Select “Double.” Hit “OK.”

-indent first lines of paragraphs

(use the “tab” key)
 How to make the heading.

Model:
Beyonce Knowles
Global History
Mr. Joel
April 8, 2009

Steps:
1. Find the “Format” menu.
2. Go to “Paragraph.”
3. Find “Alignment” and choose “Right.” Click “OK.”
4. Type your name. Hit return.
5. Type your subject. Hit return.
6. Type your teacher’s name. Type return.
7. Type the date (month name, date number, year
number).
 How to make the title.

Model:
The French Revolution of 1789

Steps:
1. Find the “Format” menu.
2. Go to “Paragraph.”
3. Find “Alignment” and choose “Center.” Click “OK.”
4. Click (apple + u) to make the text underlined.
5. Type the title. Use Capital Letters for All Major Words.
 How to cite the sources.

Model:
Sources

“The French Revolution,” AGS World History, p.513-515

“French Revolution,” http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h33-fr.html

Steps for book sources:

1. Put the section title in “quotation marks.”
2. Type the title of the book.
3. List the page numbers that you used.

Steps for Internet sources:

 1. Put the title of the webpage in “quotation marks.”
2. Type the entire address of the website. Hit return to
make it active.

How to cite sources using MLA format.

Model:
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood. New York City: Pantheon,

2004.

French Revolution. 3 April 2009. Wikipedia. 5 April 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution>

Steps for book sources:

 1. Write the author’s name. Last, then first.
2. Write the title. Underline the title.
3. Write the city of the publisher.
4. Write the publisher’s name.
5. Write the year in which it was published.

Steps for Internet sources:

1. Write the title of the website. Underline the title.
2. Type the date the website was published.
3. Type the organization that published the site.
4. Type the date that you accessed the site.

(Note: Put dates in Scientific format – number month year.)