Format is a set of mechanical settings: page size, margins, font, line spacing, where page numbers go, how headings look, how tables are captioned, how the reference list is laid out. Every one of them is decided by your style guide and your department, and every one can be set once and left alone.
This post gives the settings for APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago in a single table, the order sections appear in, and a short pass you can run before submission.
Correctly formatted from the first draft
ThesisAI drafts full academic documents with consistent structure, numbered sections and inline citations verified against the papers they came from, so formatting is not something you retrofit at the end.
ابدأ الكتابةFormat Is Not Structure
These get conflated constantly, and they fail in different ways. Structure is what goes in each section and in what order - the argument's skeleton, covered in our guide to research paper structure. Format is how the pages physically look. A paper can be perfectly structured and badly formatted, and the second is fixable in twenty minutes.
One rule overrides everything below: your department's handbook beats the style guide. APA does not know that your faculty requires 3 cm binding margins. Where the two conflict, follow the handbook and stop worrying about it.
Page Setup in APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago
| Setting | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago (Turabian 9) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margins | 1 in / 2.54 cm all sides | 1 in / 2.54 cm all sides | 1 in minimum, 1.5 in left if bound |
| Font | Any legible: 12 pt Times New Roman, 11 pt Calibri or Arial, 11 pt Georgia | Any legible with clear regular/italic contrast; 12 pt Times New Roman is standard | 12 pt Times New Roman or similar serif |
| Line spacing | Double throughout, including references | Double throughout | Double body; single-space block quotes, notes and bibliography entries |
| Paragraph indent | 0.5 in first line | 0.5 in first line | 0.5 in first line |
| Alignment | Left-aligned, ragged right | Left-aligned, ragged right | Left-aligned, ragged right |
| Page numbers | Top right, from page 1 | Top right with your surname, from page 1 | Top right or bottom centre; title page counted, not numbered |
| Title page | Required; title, author, affiliation, course, instructor, date, centred | Not used for most papers; four-line header on page 1 instead | Required for Turabian; title one third down, centred |
| Running head | Not required for student papers in APA 7 | Surname and page number on every page | Not required |
| Reference list title | References | Works Cited | Bibliography |
| Reference layout | Hanging indent 0.5 in, alphabetical | Hanging indent 0.5 in, alphabetical | Hanging indent 0.5 in, alphabetical |
The single biggest source of wasted time here is setting indents with the space bar or the tab key. Set a first-line indent in the paragraph style once, and a hanging indent in the reference style once. Everything after that is automatic.
The Order of Sections
Front matter, body, back matter. The body order varies by discipline; the front and back matter barely do.
- Title page
- Abstract, with keywords underneath - see how to write an abstract
- Table of contents (theses and longer reports only)
- List of tables and list of figures, if you have more than a handful
- List of abbreviations, if the field demands it
- Body: introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion
- Reference list, starting on a new page
- Appendices, each starting on a new page and labelled Appendix A, B, C in order of first mention
- Declarations: plagiarism statement, AI use statement, ethics approval - wherever your handbook puts them
Front matter is numbered in lower-case roman numerals (i, ii, iii) and the body restarts at arabic 1 in most thesis handbooks. Use a section break, not a manual page number.
Headings
Headings carry the structure visually, so inconsistent heading levels read as an inconsistent argument.
| Level | APA 7 | MLA 9 / Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centred, bold, title case, text starts on a new line | Style is free but must be consistent; numbered headings (1, 1.1, 1.1.1) are normal in Chicago-based theses |
| 2 | Flush left, bold, title case, text on a new line | As above, one visible step down |
| 3 | Flush left, bold italic, title case, text on a new line | As above |
| 4 | Indented, bold, title case, ends with a full stop, text runs on | As above |
Three practical rules. Use built-in heading styles rather than manually bolded text, or your table of contents will never generate. Never go past four levels. And never leave a heading with no text under it before the next heading.
Tables and Figures
The split is simple: a table has rows and columns, and everything else - charts, photographs, diagrams, screenshots, maps - is a figure. They are numbered in two separate sequences.
- Placement of the label. In APA 7 the number and title go above both tables and figures. In Chicago, table titles go above and figure captions go below.
- Numbering. Table 1, Table 2 in order of first mention; Figure 1, Figure 2 in their own sequence. In a thesis, number by chapter: Table 3.1, Table 3.2.
- Mention before you show. Every table and figure is referred to in the text before it appears ("as Table 2 shows"), never dropped in unannounced.
- Table rules. Horizontal lines only: above the header row, below it, and at the foot. No vertical lines, no shaded cells, no borders around every cell.
- Notes. General notes, then probability notes, go under the table. Define every abbreviation used in the table, even if you defined it in the text.
- Reused figures need permission and a source line, not just a citation. This catches people out at publication rather than at submission.
In-Text Citations and the Reference List
Format and citation style are set by the same guide, so they change together.
| APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago (notes-bibliography) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-text | (Berger, 2026, p. 14) | (Berger 14) | Superscript note number, full detail in the footnote |
| Two authors | (Berger & Novak, 2026) | (Berger and Novak 14) | Both names in the note |
| Three or more | (Berger et al., 2026) | (Berger et al. 14) | First author et al. in the note |
| List heading | References | Works Cited | Bibliography |
| Block quote threshold | 40 words or more | 4 lines of prose or more | 5 lines or more |
Block quotes are indented 0.5 in with no quotation marks, and the citation goes after the closing punctuation rather than before it. Full patterns for each source type are in our citation examples guide, with website citations and AI tool citations covered separately.
What Your Department Overrides
Check the handbook for these before formatting anything, because they are the ones that differ most and the ones that get papers sent back.
- Binding margin width, and whether the document is single or double sided
- Word count rules: whether abstract, references, tables and appendices count
- Whether headings are numbered, and to what depth
- Required declarations, and whether they are signed
- File format and naming convention for submission
- Whether an anonymised version is required for marking
A Ten-Minute Format Pass Before You Submit
- Generate the table of contents. If it is wrong, your heading styles are wrong.
- Select all and confirm one font and one size across the body.
- Confirm line spacing is uniform, including the reference list.
- Check the page numbering restarts correctly after the front matter.
- Walk the table and figure numbers in order, and confirm each is mentioned in the text.
- Check every heading has text beneath it.
- Confirm the reference list is alphabetical with hanging indents and no stray manual line breaks.
- Spot-check five in-text citations against the reference list in both directions.
- Confirm appendices are lettered in order of first mention.
- Export to PDF and read the PDF, not the source file. Layout breaks appear on export.
Run this after the final content edit, not before - reordering a section undoes half of it. Our guide to proofreading and editing a thesis covers the content pass that should come first.
FAQs About Research Paper Format
What is the standard research paper format?
There is no universal standard. APA 7 dominates the social sciences, health and education; MLA 9 the humanities; Chicago and Turabian history and some social sciences; IEEE and Vancouver engineering and medicine. Your department's handbook decides, and it overrides the style guide where they conflict.
What font and size should a research paper use?
12 pt Times New Roman is accepted everywhere. APA 7 also permits 11 pt Calibri, 11 pt Arial and 11 pt Georgia. Use one font for the whole body; captions and table text may be one or two points smaller if the handbook allows it.
Should a research paper be single or double spaced?
Double spaced throughout in APA and MLA, including the reference list. Chicago doubles the body but singles block quotes, footnotes and bibliography entries.
What are the parts of a research paper?
Title page, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, references and appendices. What belongs in each is covered in research paper structure; this page covers how those parts are laid out.
Do tables and figures count towards the word count?
Usually not, but it varies and some departments count table text. Check the handbook rather than assuming, because moving prose into tables to duck a word limit is treated as gaming it.
Where do page numbers go?
Top right in APA and MLA, with your surname before the number in MLA. Chicago allows top right or bottom centre. The title page is counted but not numbered.
How do I format appendices?
After the reference list, each on a new page, labelled Appendix A, B, C in the order they are first mentioned in the text. If there is only one, call it "Appendix" with no letter. Tables inside an appendix are numbered A1, A2.
Set the page, the paragraph style and the reference style once, at the start, and use built-in heading styles from the first sentence. Doing it in that order turns formatting into a ten-minute check instead of a weekend. The order of the sections themselves is covered in our guide to structuring a research paper.