Set your word-processing program to double space your text. Adjust the margins so that the margin on the left is slightly wider than the margin on the right, allowing an inch margin at the top and the bottom. Set your word-processing program to use Times New Roman, or a similar font, in size 12. Write your page number on the upper right corner of your paper. Write your name on the upper left corner; under it write the professor's name, and under that the name of the course.
Type your entire text. There is very little difference between a Chicago and a MLA paper in the body of the text. The most important element of style you will have to deal with in the body of the text is citations. With the Chicago Style Manual, you can use in-text citations and or end notes or footnotes. MLA also permits in-text citations and the use of end notes, but no footnotes. Refer to the style sheets in the Resources below to learn exactly how to make in-text citations.
Document all the information you have taken from various sources. Common knowledge does not have to be documented. Even if you use in-text citations, you still have to prepare a list of Works Cited or a Bibliography at the end of your paper.
The references listed must conform to your style sheet. This is the most difficult part of the research paper. Books with only one author are relatively easy to document; others can become very complicated.
Search your style sheet to discover exactly how they want you to document books, journal articles, television programs, and other sources. Without referring to a style sheet, it is impossible to know how to format the items in your Bibliography. See the Resources below for help with this.