Source Usage: Learn Formatting

Types of Formatting

There are three main formatting styles used in the American higher-education institutions today: MLA, APA, and Turabian.

Go to the links below to learn more about each of these formatting styles.

Each formatting style has separate guidelines, but the standards for FONT SIZE and STYLE are universal.

No matter the formatting style assigned for your writing, you will need to learn how to indent and tab content in your writing to meet the general format of paragraph indentation, block quote indenting, and the references page hanging indent. Access this site for more help on these formats in Microsoft Office Word.

Formatting and Structure for Assignments

Before you can format your work correctly, there are some key points you must know first:

What formatting style does your instructor expect you to use: MLA, APA, Turabian?
Do you need a Title page?
What ‘voice’ should it be written in: 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd?

Academic writing = 3^rd person voice; however, check with the writing prompt and your instructor to be sure.

What is the structure for your final version?

In my academic writing courses, you will follow the DRAFTING handout for your structure.

Do you need an Abstract (APA formatting)?
Do you need to collect sources?

How many sources and source-types do you need?

Will you need to construct a page of sources formatted?

Works Cited page?
Bibliography page?
References page?

Does your instructor require your pre-writing outline re-submission at the end of the final version of the essay?

Once you know these things—which you can probably locate in the writing prompt—you will need to understand what is expected for the specific assignment.

Are you writing an essay? (ENC1101, ENC1102, and ENC100)

Is there a word count requirement?
Will it be in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person voice?
What kind of essay? (Each type follows a different format.)

Expository

Process
Classification
Report

Narrative

Personal Experience
Descriptive

Argument

Cause and Effect
Persuasion
Analysis

Are you writing a paragraph? (ENC100)

Does it need to follow a specific format and structure?
Is there a word count requirement?

Are you writing a Reflection or Discussion Board Response? (ENC1101, ENC1102, ENC1210, and ENC100)

Will it be in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person voice?
How many paragraphs will it need?
What format and structure should it follow?
Is there a word count requirement?

Are you writing a Technical Document? (ENC1210)

Is there a word count requirement?

Letter
Email
Report
Memo
Resume
Writing Portfolio, etc.

Are you writing a Creative Writing item? (ENC2100)

What genre?

Fiction
Poetry

What theme?

Each of these concepts is essential to creating the assignment your instructor is looking for in your submission. Keep in mind that the point of an assignment is to see what you know or what you have learned. Therefore, be sure to use information from your textbook—whenever possible—to provide the most content your instructor will be looking for. After all, you were assigned readings for a purpose—content comprehension—and your assignment is simply the way your instructor will be able to determine if you have learned the necessary materials for that given section of the class.

Review these Links for Help with the Assignment

Knowing Your Assignment

Understanding Assignments

Page Organization

Source Usage