Formatting rules for essays: MLA & APA Rules
General rules for both MLA & APA








Not over 4000 words (you can be penalized if you go over). The upper limit includes only the
introduction, the body, the conclusion and any quotations.
All Times New Roman (font) and size 10
All double spaced
All have a Title page, Abstract, Table of Contents, introduction/body/conclusion, Works Cited
or References page, and perhaps an Appendix.
All new paragraphs are indented (do not leave a line)
A Parenthetical is NOT (http://www.suncoasthumane.org). This is called a Url and NEVER
placed in a parenthetical citation; rather use a reference to an author or abbreviated title of the
text on the website). Use your Works Cited/References page to guide you in what
information to put in the parenthetical. If it’s using the author’s last name, etc., then the
parenthetical would use this; if it’s appearing by title first then an abbreviated title would be
used in the parenthetical.
Works Cited/References: both MUST include date stamping when using web sources
(“Extended Essay”21).
Review the general grading rubric and your specific subject area rubric (see handout Extended
Essay Guide on Teacherweb.com).
In what order should the pages be placed? (Both MLA and APA)
*Title
*Abstract (with a word count at the end of it) (E.g. Word count: 298)
*Table of Contents
*Intro/Body/etc. (Page one of writing)
*Works Cited (or if using APA – References)
*Appendices (if used)
Some rules about diagrams, graphs, and maps
*Graphs, diagrams, tables and maps are effective only if they are clearly labeled and can be
interpreted with ease. All such material that is incorporated into the extended essay must be directly
related to the text and acknowledged where appropriate. The use of photographs and
other images is acceptable only if they are captioned and/or annotated and are used to illustrate a
specific point made in the extended essay.
*Appendices, footnotes and endnotes are not an essential section of the extended essay and
examiners are not required to read them, so care should be taken to include all information of
direct relevance to the analysis and argument in the main body of the essay. An essay that
attempts to evade the word limit by including important material in notes or appendices risks
losing marks under several criteria. Unless considered essential, complete lists of raw data
should not be included in the extended essay. Students should not constantly refer to material
presented in an appendix as this may disrupt the continuity of the essay.
Appendix (at the end of the entire paper still continuing to number pages (e.g. 15.16), and
label each Appendix consecutively with (Appendix A, B, C, etc.) and given a title.
* Most essays are enhanced by the use of charts, tables, technical drawings, sketches and
photographs. The graphical nature of many topics makes these essential. Where possible, these
should appear in the body of the essay, as close as possible to the relevant text. Hand-drawn
diagrams are acceptable. Raw data obtained through experimentation, testing or surveys may
be included within an appendix. Any material that is not original must be acknowledged.
*When might an Appendix be necessary - Examples of items you might have in an appendix
include mathematical proofs, lists of words, the questionnaire used in the research, a detailed
description of an apparatus used in the research, etc.
General Citation Rules for MLA


The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1.) upon the source
medium (e.g. Print, Web, DVD) and (2.) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited
(bibliography) page.
Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on
the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your
readers in the text, must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the
corresponding entry in the Works Cited List (“Welcome to the Owl”).
Short Quotations
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text,
enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in
the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works
Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the
parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation
marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of
your text.
For example, when quoting short passages of prose, use the following examples:
According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others
disagree.
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).
Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?
When short (fewer than three lines of verse) quotations from poetry, mark breaks in short quotations
of verse with a slash, ( / ), at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the
slash).
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
(“Welcome to the Owl”)
Long Quotations
For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a freestanding block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire
quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing. Only indent the first line of
the quotation by an additional quarter inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. Your parenthetical
citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line
breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more
sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By
chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he
found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to
confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house.
(Bronte 78)
(“Welcome to the Owl”)
General Citation Rules for APA
Short Quotations
If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and
the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase
that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was
their first time" (p. 199).
Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does
this have for teachers? (“Welcome to the Owl”)
If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and
the page number in parentheses after the quotation.
She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer
an explanation as to why. (“Welcome to the Owl”)
Long Quotations
Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and
omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in
the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and
indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin.
Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing
punctuation mark.
Jones's (1998) study found the following:
Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time citing sources.
This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many
students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask
their teacher for help. (p. 199)
(“Welcome to the Owl”)
Summary or paraphrase
If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and
year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the
page number (although it is not required.)
According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.
APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199). (“Welcome to the
Owl”)
MLA - Headings
Essays
MLA recommends that when you divide an essay into sections that you number those sections with
an arabic number and a period followed by a space and the section name.
1. Early Writings
2. The London Years
3. Traveling the Continent
4. Final Years
Sample Section Headings
The following sample headings are meant to be used only as a reference. You may employ whatever
system of formatting that works best for you so long as it remains consistent throughout the
document.
Numbered:
1. Soil Conservation
1.1 Erosion
1.2 Terracing
2. Water Conservation
3. Energy Conservation
Formatted, unnumbered:
Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left
Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left
Level 3 Heading: centered, bold
Level 4 Heading: centered, italics
Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left
(“Welcome to the Owl”)
APA Headings
Beginning with level 1. The format of each level is illustrated below:
APA Headings
Level
Format
1
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3
4
5
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the
period.
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.
(“Welcome to the Owl”)
PAPER FORMAT FOR MLA & APA
MLA Title Page (Step-by-Step)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Press enter 14 times (single space, then afterwards make it double space)
Enter the Title of the report.
Press enter 17 times
Type: Your name press enter
Supervisor’s Name
Name of the course with a colon: Literature: Extended Essay
Type the date: 14 November 2013
Word Count: __________
E.G. (See following page)
Katrina’s Economic Impact
Sonia J. Crozier
Ms. Belinda Benner
Literature: Extended Essay
1 November 2013
Word Count: 3965
APA Title Page (Step by Step)
The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation.
Include the page header (flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page). Please
note that on the title page, your page header should look like this:
Running Head: (leave on title page only)
KATRINA’S ECONOMIC IMPACT (left justified)
1(right justified)
Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this:
TITLE OF YOUR PAPER (left justified)
2(right justified)
E.g. (See the following page)
Running head: KATRINA’S ECONOMIC IMPACT (all caps)
Katrina’s Economic Impact (upper and lower case)
Sonia J. Crozier
South Fork High School
Course: Extended Essay
Supervisor’s name
November 1, 2010
Word Count: 3450
1
MLA Abstract
In their most basic form, structured abstracts organize their summaries of publications with the
following headings:
OBJECTIVE
METHODS
RESULTS
CONCLUSIONS
1) Motivation/problem statement: Why do we care about the problem? What practical, scientific,
theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling?
2) Methods/procedure/approach: What did you actually do to get your results? (E.g. analyzed 3
novels, completed a series of 5 oil paintings, interviewed 17 students)
3) Results/findings/product: As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you
learn/invent/create?
4) Conclusion/implications: What are the larger implications of your findings, especially for the
problem/gap identified in step 1?
An abstract is a brief summary of the paper, allowing readers to quickly review the main points and
purposes of the paper.
Title – Abstract (centered)
Do not indent the first line of the Abstract
E.g. (See the following page)
Abstract
(The abstract begins left justified as in this example.)
Crop yields are primarily water-limited under dryland production systems in semiarid regions. (Ra)
This study was conducted to determine whether the growing season water balance could be
manipulated through planting geometry. (O) The effects of row spacing, row direction, and plant
population on the water use, light interception, and growth or grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.)
Moench] were investigated at Bushland, TX, on a Pullman clay loam (fine, mixed, thermic Torrertic
Paleustoll). (M) In 1983, which had a dry growing season, narrow row spacing and higher population
increased seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) by 7 and 9%, respectively, and shifted the partitioning of
ET to the vegetative period. Medium population crops yielded 6.2 and 2.3 Mg/ha of dry matter and
grain, respectively. High population resulted in high dry matter (6.1 Mg/ha) and low grain yield (1.6
Mg/ha), whereas low population resulted in low dry matter (5.4Mg/ha) and high grain yield (2.3
Mg/ha). Row direction did not affect water use or yield. In 1984, dry matter production for a given
amount of ET and light interception was higher in the narrow-row crops. Evapotranspiration was less
for a given amount of light interception in the narrow-row crops and in the northsouthrow crops. (Re)
Narrow-row planting geometry appears to increase the partitioning of ET to the transpiration
component and may improve the efficiency of dryland cropping systems. (C)
Word Count: 298
Key: Ra = Rationale
J. = Objectives
M = Method
Re = Results
C = Conclusions
(Steiner)
APA Abstract
An abstract is a brief summary of the paper, allowing readers to quickly review the main points and
purposes of the paper.
Running header title (left justified), page number (right justified)
Title – Abstract (centered)
Do not indent the first line of the Abstract
E.g. (See the following page)
KATRINA’S ECONOMIC IMPACT
2
Abstract
(The abstract begins left justified as in this example.)
Crop yields are primarily water-limited under dryland production systems in semiarid regions. (Ra)
This study was conducted to determine whether the growing season water balance could be
manipulated through planting geometry. (O) The effects of row spacing, row direction, and plant
population on the water use, light interception, and growth or grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.)
Moench] were investigated at Bushland, TX, on a Pullman clay loam (fine, mixed, thermic Torrertic
Paleustoll). (M) In 1983, which had a dry growing season, narrow row spacing and higher population
increased seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) by 7 and 9%, respectively, and shifted the partitioning of
ET to the vegetative period. Medium population crops yielded 6.2 and 2.3 Mg/ha of dry matter and
grain, respectively. High population resulted in high dry matter (6.1 Mg/ha) and low grain yield (1.6
Mg/ha), whereas low population resulted in low dry matter (5.4Mg/ha) and high grain yield (2.3
Mg/ha). Row direction did not affect water use or yield. In 1984, dry matter production for a given
amount of ET and light interception was higher in the narrow-row crops. Evapotranspiration was less
for a given amount of light interception in the narrow-row crops and in the northsouthrow crops. (Re)
Narrow-row planting geometry appears to increase the partitioning of ET to the transpiration
component and may improve the efficiency of dryland cropping systems. (C)
Word Count: 298
Key: Ra = Rationale
J. = Objectives
M = Method
Re = Results
C = Conclusions
(Steiner)
MLA/APA Table of Contents
When listing chapter headings in the table of contents, make sure they exactly match the chapter
headings in the text. Use a leader to connect the chapter heading or section name (aligned on the left)
with the page number (aligned on the right). Type “Table of Contents” centered at the top of the page.
The table of contents contains a guide to the contents of the whole report. It includes all headings and
subheadings used in the report, exactly as they appear in the report. The table of contents also
includes the page numbers for all parts (“Welcome to the Purdue OWL”).
(For MLA)
Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………............. 1
Recommendations for Research Papers ………………………………………………….…. 2
Academic Integrity/Plagiarism Policy……………………………………………………...... 3
General Format……….……………………………………………………………………….7
Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………....9
______________________________________________________________________________
(For APA)
KATRINA’S ECONOMIC IMPACT
3
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………….................. 4
Recommendations for Research Papers ……………………………………………………..…. 5
Academic Integrity/Plagiarism Policy…………………………………………………….......... 6
General Format……….………………………………………………………………………….7
Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………... 9
**DO NOT WRITE (Introduction, Body, Conclusion). It is about the actual subject matter.
1st Page of Writing the Research Paper in MLA or APA
MLA: You are to have your header of last name page and page, on the upper right hand corner. You
are to also have your full name, teacher’s name, subject: Extended Essay, date, and word count on top
left hand side. You then follow this with a title that is centered. (See next page)
APA: Continue to use a running header with page number. Then center the full title of the paper.
(See following page)
Crozier 1
Sonia J. Crozier
Ms. Belinda Benner
Literature: Extended Essay
1 November 2013
Word Count: 3965
Katrina’s Economic Impact
1. Introduction (or if you are not using sub-headings, just indent each paragraph).
From the beginning of time…
KATRINA’S ECONOMIC IMPACT
Katrina’s Economic Impact
From the beginning of time…
4
MLA/APA Bibliographic Details
MLA
Last name and page number (right justified)
Works Cited (centered)
*List of alphabetized sources you actually used within the body of your paper (you actually used a
parenthetical citation for). Continue to use last name, page number e.g. (Benner 10). Double-space.
*Within each entry, indent every line except the first. (This is the opposite of the indentation pattern
for a paragraph. It is called a hanging indentation.)
E.g. (See the following page)
Crozier 10
Works Cited
List of sources alphabetized.
APA Bibliographic Page
Begin it on a new page. Continue the running header. Center the heading "References" (without
quotation marks) just below the top margin. Continue to number pages. Double-space. Within each
entry, indent every line except the first. (This is the opposite of the indentation pattern for a
paragraph. It is called a hanging indentation.)
E.g. (See following page).
KATRINA’S ECONOMIC IMPACT
10
References
List of sources alphabetized.
Benner 15
Works Cited
"APA Documentation Guide." "APA Documentation" UW-Madison Writing Center Writer's
Handbook. University of Wisconsin, 02 July 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.
<http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocAPA.html>.
"Extended Essay Guide." Extended Essay Guide. International Baccalaureate, 01 Jan. 2012.
Web. 07 Oct. 2013. <http://xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/DP/Group0/d_0_eeyyy_gui_1012_1/
html/production-app3.ibo.org/publication/258/flat.html>.
Steiner, J. L. "Agronomy Journal - Abstract." Home. American Society of Agronomy, 2013. Web. 29
Oct. 2013. <https://www.agronomy.org/publications/aj/abstracts/78/4/AJ0780040720?
access=0>.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide. Purdue University,
4 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/16/>.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Handbook on Report Formats. Purdue
University, 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.
<https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/08/>.
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style Guide. N.p., 19 June
2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/>.