Academics & So Much More! Blog - Research Guides at Tidewater Community College

Hey there, paper warriors! 📝

We know formatting your college papers can feel like trying to decode ancient scrolls. But fear not! Whether you're team APA, MLA, or Chicago, we’ve got your back with this quick and quirky guide to making your paper look chef’s kiss perfect.

🧙‍♂️ Choose Your Style Spell

Different classes = different formatting styles. Here’s your magical match-up:

Style	Used For	Edition	Signature Move
APA	Psych, Education, Sciences	7th Edition	(Author, Year) citations + snazzy title page
MLA	English, Arts, Humanities	9th Edition	(Author Page) citations + no title page drama
Chicago	History, Fine Arts	17th Edition	Footnotes galore + a fancy bibliography

🧠 Pro tip: When in doubt, ask your professor. They’re the Sorting Hat of citation styles.

🛠️ Basic Formatting: The Holy Grail

No matter your style, these basics are your besties:

Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt (classic and classy)
Spacing: Double it up! -
- To fix spacing highlight your paper
- Make sure you are on the Home Tab
- Then go to Paragraph and click on the arrow.
- Under Spacing ensure the Before and After is set at 0. Then change line spacing to double.
Margins: 1 inch all around—no cheating!
- To check to see if you have 1 inch margins all around your paper - click on Layout and then click the arrow under Margins.
Indentation: First line of each paragraph = 0.5 inch tab
Page Numbers: Top right corner (unless your style says otherwise) - To insert page numbers: Click the Insert tab in Word and go to Header & Footer

🧠 Librarian Wisdom (a.k.a. Formatting Hacks)

Don’t trust robots blindly: Citation generators are helpful, but double-check them.
- To Format citations properly in Word
  - Be sure you have highlight the citations and that they are in alphabetical order by author's last name unless there is no author then it is by title.
  - Be sure you are on the Home Tab
  - Then go to Paragraph and click on the arrow.
  - Under Indentation, go to Special and select Hanging
Save as you go: Formatting takes time—don’t lose your progress to a rogue laptop crash.
Ask us anything: Seriously. We love this stuff.

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