What You Should Know About Academic Writing Styles


Academic writing styles are the necessary guidelines for the formatting of the research paper or essays to be followed as per the academic requirements of the research needs. Several academic papers are developed in different academic styles and formats as per the university and course requirements. The most common academic styles used for writing are APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago and Turabian style. As per the field of research these styles are sought for. Listed below are some of the fields which require the application of these academic styles:


  • APA (American Psychological Association) This style is used in Education needs, Psychology, and Science streams for research papers.
  • MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used in the Humanities based research paper
  • Chicago/Turabian style is used in Business, History, and the Fine Arts related research papers.

In APA the references are ordered in sequence of author name, (year of publication), title, place of publication and publisher name. The second continuous line of this type of referencing is indented.

In MLA, the referencing is done as per the sequence of inverted auther name, italized title, publisher, year and edition. The page number can also be included.

Chicago style is used in the order of author name, italized title ( Place: publisher, year) pg number. Turabian uses author name, italized title, place: publisher, year order for referencing.

Any information obtained from other sources of literature must be cited properly or else the academic work would be accorded as plagiarized content and hence would lose its credibility on the basis of the plagiarized content. Also, using another author’s publication content in academic applications and research without taking their consent prior to publication may lead to copyright infringement which is a legal issue and would demand the author to pay fine for lifting content from another book or research content.

The font style used in academic papers is Times new roman with size 12. Headings are generally centered. In APA, the beginning of the paragraph is indented while the margin is normal. The line spacing used is double spaced. The language used in academic writing is formal and is supported by in-text citations in case of referring to any quote or argument made by another author in previous works. These in-text citations are then expanded in the reference section of the academic paper. Academic papers also use footnotes for referencing of research works cited in the text document. Turabian uses footnotes for referencing while Chicago can be used in both note form or in the form of references. Running headers of title and page numbers are often used in MLA format.

Get professional help from custom service that writes essay for you. Order today and get a discount!
#