When it comes to completing the college assignment, the first thing students consider is "shaping their work". Sure, you can write an excellent essay but how are you going to structure it? What format should you apply to make it engaging? You cannot write all the points and present them to your professor in an unorganized manner. Even a minor formatting error in your essay can deduct your marks. The neatness of an essay is determined by its structure.
Every essay writing work has a specific structure that students are supposed to stick to. For example, a personal and casual essay format is as simple as the introduction, body, and conclusion. However, the format of an academic essay can be a bit complicated with a thesis statement, abstract, citation, introduction, paragraphs, the structure of the paragraphs, and the conclusion.
Why Format Matters in Essay?
Sure, the format is not the only factor that your audience and professor takes into consideration while ranking your piece of writing. Similarly, it cannot conceal the flaws in your writing. If something, it is content that dominates the academic writing work than the structure. This is because the ideas, statements, evidence, and other necessary terms are presented in the form of content. So, the question is “why format matters when content is the first thing your audience notice?”
Have you ever seen an essay where everything, including the thesis, examples, opinions, and sentences, was written in one long paragraph? Well, no one likes to read content with improper formatting. Not only such content look boring but they fail to keep the engagement of the users. That said, here we have come up with the right essay formatting tips everyone should know.
The Title Page
The first page of the academic essay is the title page. Make sure that the font style of the title page and the rest of the academic essay should be Times New Roman whereas the font size must be 12. In the title page, you must include:
- The name of your university, college, institution
- The title you have chosen for the essay
- Name of the author
The essay must start with the "running head" and then the title of your essay. Furthermore, you have to stick to this title pattern for the rest of the pages i.e. the header on every page of your essay must start with the same title pattern. Make sure that the length of the title should not exceed 50 characters or 2 lines. Just below the running head, you have to write the complete title of your essay following your full name as well as the name of your professor at the bottom.
Once you are done with the title page, start writing the abstract on a fresh page. It should start with a header. The standard length of an abstract is somewhere between 150 and 250 words. In this section, you are supposed to give a brief summary of the research and essay topic. It should comprise the following:
- The method of research
- The sources you used
- The analysis
- Research questions
- And, conclusion
Just like the introduction of any regular essay, the students have to mention the main idea behind the research, the major problems the essay will be addressing, and the main sections of your essay. Your introduction should be short and simple. However, it must tempt your readers to continue reading the essay and find out how exactly have you addressed a specific problem. Besides, you have to mention the thesis statement in the introduction itself.
In simple terms, the introduction plays a key role in summarizing the main points that will be highlighted in the essay. It is a short description of what your audience can expect from the copy. You can begin the introduction with a story, shocking news, a motivational quote, or simple introductory lines that describe your main points. You can, then, introduce the thesis statement. Make sure that you do not reveal all the information you have presented in the essay in the introduction. The intro should be short and intriguing. It should only highlight the main focus areas of your academic paper.
Body of the Essay
The body of an essay is divided into paragraphs. Each paragraph has a specific format to be followed. Here’s how each paragraph of an academic essay has to be formatted:
- Start with an introductory line (it should in line with your thesis statement).
- Leave 2-3 lines for the evidence and start with the supportive sentences that back the introductory sentence. Make sure the introductory sentence should be one of the main points of your essay and complement the thesis statement.
- Write the evidence below the introductory line. It can be an example, story, quotation, and anything that proves your statement. You can either get evidence from your own research or the given sources. Make sure that your evidence is strong enough to prove your statement.
The essay ends with a conclusion. The standard length of a conclusion is 5-6 lines. The conclusion is a brief summary of your thesis statement and research. Make sure that you do not copy the thesis statement or main points in the conclusion. Additionally, do not add any evidence or new information. You can use this section to highlight the problems you addressed in the academic paper, the sources you used, and a brief summary of the main points.
Citing the Sources
If you have used the APA formatting style, you need to cite all the sources in the reference list. Basically, the APA formatting is based on the author-date citation system. Every time you cite the sources, write the last name of the author together with the date of the work's publication.
This was the format of an academic essay. Depending on the type of formatting style you choose, the structure of an academic paper can vary. However, this is the standard format that is followed while writing an academic paper.
Oct 31, 2019