Use ordinary white A4 paper; 500 sheets of multipurpose paper, or 20-lb. paper, comes in a ream. The designation "A4" refers to the size, 8 1/2 by 11 inches. Buy it in bulk and don't be tempted to use leftover mauve stock, heavier résumé paper, or any other size.
Don't use binders, folders or plastic covers. Staple the pages or fasten them with a paper clip on the top left-hand corner.
Use regular black 10 or 12 point Times New Roman or a similar font. Do not use larger fonts or fancy letter styles. Double space all of your work, and make sure that the printer is set for black ink.
Use one-inch margins uniformly on all of the margins. Indent paragraphs five spaces, or one tab, unless instructed otherwise, and indent block quotations 10 spaces. Leave one line empty above and below graphs, charts, or other visual components.
Number the pages in the top right-hand corner.
At the undergraduate level and depending on your school or discipline, you will probably be asked to use either the APA or MLA style, although several other style guides exist.
If using APA style, number the first page and include a Running Head (an abbreviation of the title); if using MLA style, do not number the first page and include your last name before the subsequent page numbers.
If a cover sheet is required, do not count it as page one. For example, APA or MLA guidelines for formatting the cover page are as follows. For APA, center the title of your paper on the cover and type your name and college affiliation below; for MLA, center the title of your paper on the cover and supply your name, instructor's name, course information, and date in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
Format direct quotations with quotation marks and parenthetical citation (depending on the style sheet, this can be simply the author's last name and a page number or last name and the year of publication). Be sure to credit all outside sources you have used. If footnotes are required, use the option in your document software to format them for you; this will save you time and many headaches.
Short quotations (guides vary; three lines or less should be appropriate) are contained within the text of the paper; longer quotations should be centered in a block form and indented 10 spaces as a separate sentence or sentences.
Assume that a "Works Cited" or "Bibliography" section is required (it is necessary if you have used outside sources), and be sure to provide complete bibliographic listings of the source materials you have quoted from ("Works Cited") or referred to ("Bibliography"), in alphabetical order by author's last name. Refer to your style guide for the editorial style they use for these sections, as they vary in their specifics.