The correct format for a term paper depends on which style guide your instructor wants you to use. The most common style guides for term papers are the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) and MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition. Being certain at the outset which style guide your instructor expects you to follow can make the process of typing your paper a lot less stressful.
A paper correctly prepared in Chicago Manual style:
• uses a left-justified (also called rag-right) margin
• is printed on one side only of good-quality 8 ½-by-11-inch paper
• has 1-inch margins on all sides of each sheet
• is double-spaced
• has consecutive page numbers on every page after the first one
• incorporates clearly labeled tables and/or illustrations as close to their references in the text as possible
A paper correctly prepared in APA style:
• uses either the Times Roman or Courier typeface of at least 12 points
• uses a left-justified margin
• is printed on one side only of good-quality 8 ½-by-11-inch paper
• has a uniform margin of at least 1 inch at the top, bottom and sides of each page
• has a maximum line length of 6 ½ inches
• has a maximum of 27 lines of text per page, not counting page numbers or headers
• has a header comprised of the first few words of the title followed by page numbers on all pages, in Arabic numerals, in the upper right-hand corner, at least 1 inch from the right margin
• is double-spaced, with indentions at the beginning of each paragraph
A paper correctly prepared in MLA style:
• uses a serif typeface of at least 12 points
• uses a left-justified margin
• is printed on one side only of good-quality 8 ½-by-11-inch paper
• has 1-inch margins on all sides of each sheet, though the page numbers will encroach on this margin
• is double-spaced
• has a single space between the period at the end of a sentence and the first letter of the next sentence
• has a header on the second and each subsequent page, starting just below the top margin on the left side, that includes your name, instructor's name, the name of the course, and the date on separate lines. Do not underline, italicize, or bold-face any of this information, nor should you enclose any of it in quotation marks.
• has consecutive page numbers on the right-hand side of every page after the first one, ½-inch down, preceded by your first name, like this: Smith 2
• incorporates clearly labeled tables and/or illustrations as close to their references in the text as is possible
• is held together with a paper clip, not with a binder of any sort
Besides the physical specifications for properly prepared papers, each style guide also has differing instructions as to what should be included. For instance, some say you should add a title page, while others say a title page is not necessary. Some say that if you find an error just as you're preparing to turn the paper in, you should retype the page, and others say that within reason, hand-written corrections are acceptable. Be sure to consult the style guide about any style issue you are at all uncertain of.