Learning Objectives
- Understand common formats required of college writing
- Locate sources for assistance with formatting requirements
Why does format matter?
The way a text is presented is important. Different situations call for different styles of presentation: an e-mail looks different than a Facebook update, which looks different than a Tweet, which looks much different than a recommendation letter. When you’re writing for another audience, it’s important to work toward their expectations of how your writing should look.
In academic and professional writing, many different standards have been created to make reading multiple works easier. Three major styles of writing are used in most colleges: Modern Language Association (MLA) style, American Psychological Association (APA) style, and Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) (which is sometimes called Turabian style). Each style varies slightly in what it recommends for formatting your paper.
These formats were developed so that an instructor (or boss, or scholarship committee member) would be able to evaluate work that all appeared the same, giving more time for the reader to focus on content. In addition, particularly when dealing with citations, the style is particular so that information is easy to locate. In a Works Cited page, for instance, a reader can always quickly identify the volume number of a source because it will always appear in the same place in a magazine citation.
The most updated version of each style is maintained by the organizations themselves, which publish new style manual editions when major changes are made. As of 2018, MLA is in its 8th edition; APA is in the 6th edition; and CMS is in its 17th edition. All three sell their comprehensive guides in bookstores and online; however, most writing classes will instead assign a writing handbook, which may include brief explanations one, two, or all three styles.
None of this matters, though, if your audience (i.e., your instructor) has a specific format they require. Follow this tree to decide what style to use:
The assignment instructions should always be consulted first, followed by directly asking your instructor. If the instructor does not care (or if you’ve thought about this too late to ask), make a best guess. English, writing, literature, and other composition- or language-focused classes are likely to use MLA. Classes in the social sciences usually use APA. Chicago Style itself is meant more for book publication, but it has been applied to student writing through a handbook written by Kate Turabian. Turabian/Chicago Style is more frequently used in law, long history works, published printed books, and some engineering courses (though science courses do not have any one specific citation style; it varies by institution and instructor). Other styles also exist, including Associated Press style (for journalists), the American Medical Association style (pre-med, some nursing), and even more.
The big three, though, will cove