Essay Checklist

General

• Use only one style for the presentation and documentation of your essay: MLA, APA, or Chicago.
• One-inch (2.5 cm) margins on all sides.
• 12-point Times New Roman font.
• The first lines of all paragraphs (except perhaps the first) are indented by half an inch.
• All lines are double spaced. Block quotations and MLA first-page identifying information can be single spaced.
• No extra blank space between paragraphs. (Microsoft Word often automatically adds extra space between paragraphs: make sure your processor is configured such that no extra space is added.)
• Use left-margin justification (“align text left”): not full justification.
• Do not use subheadings for this essay.
• Make sure all your quotations are accurate.
• Do not use single quotation marks (‘ and ’) except for quotations inside of other quotations.
• Do not use the following words in your own writing: amongst, amidst, whilst.
• Do not use underline anywhere in your essay: use italics instead. The only reason to use underline is when you are quoting something that itself uses underline.
• Titles of essays, television show episodes, poems, etc., are within quotation marks.
• Titles of books, journals, movies, television shows, computer games, computer programs, etc., are in italics.

MLA

• No title page.
• Four lines of identifying information in the top left corner of the first page: your name, prof name, course, and date you submit.
• Title of essay: centred and not underlined, bolded, or in a larger font.
• Prose quotations of more than four lines of your essay are presented as block quotations. (Block quotations do not have quotation marks.)
• A Works Cited list is included, starting on a new page.
• Please always include a URL in your Works Cited list when citing an online resource, except for academic articles from standard academic databases.
• Page numbers (where available) in all paranthetical citations.
• Numbers requiring more than two words are written as Arabic numerals.

APA

• Required title page.
• No abstract.
• Title of essay on title page and on second page: centred and not underlined, bolded, or in a larger font.
• A running header on every page (with title and page number).
• Prose quotations of forty words or more are presented as block quotations. (Block quotations do not have quotation marks.)
• A References list is included, starting on a new page.
• Please always include a URL or a DOI in your References list when citing an online resource, except perhaps for academic articles from standard academic databases.
• Page numbers (where available) in all paranthetical citations, unless referring to the full essay/article/book.
• Numbers greater than nine are written as Arabic numerals.