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How to Format Your Research Paper

Get help formatting your research papers

Writing Your Paper: Chicago

Things to know before you begin:

  • Font: Times New Roman  
  • Font Size: 12 point
  • Margins:  1 inch
  • Paragraphs: All paragraphs should be indented.
  • Spacing: All of the text in the body of your paper should be double-spaced.

Typical Chicago style papers have three sections:

  1. Title Page
  2. Main Body
  3. Bibliography

See the tabs below for a breakdown of how each portion should be formatted.

Chicago Style Papers

Below you will find an example of an accurately formatted CMOS paper. 

Sample of an accurately formatted Chicago Manual of Style title page

  • Your title should be centered and place a third of the way down the page. Use Times New Roman 12-point font.
  • Capitalize all the words in your title. If there is a subtitle, place it on the second line.
  • Place your course name first, then your name, then the due date of the paper. This should be double-spaced and placed in the bottom third of your paper. 

Sample of an accurately formatted Chicago Manual of Style main body page

  • Start the body of your paper on the first line of a new page.
  • Insert the page number in the top right corner of the page using the header function.
  • CMS uses footnotes. Place the footnote after any punctuation. Each number must have an entry at the bottom of the page.

Sample of an accurately formatted Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography

  • Center the word "Bibliography" on the first line of a new page.
  • Your citations should be alphabetical.
  • Each entry is single-spaced with one blank line separating entries.
  • Be sure to use a hanging indent for any citations that require more than one line.

Need help formatting your Chicago/Turabian style citations using the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style? Click the image or link below to go to the citation guide.

cover image of the citation research guide

Need help learning what hanging indents are and how to create them using Google Docs or Microsoft Word? 

Title slide of "creating hanging indents with Google Docs" video Title slide of "creating hanging indents with MS Word" video

Need help learning what footnotes are and how to create them using Google Docs or Microsoft Word? 

 Title Screen of How to Create Footnotes Using Google Docs VideoTitle slide of How to Create Footnotes Using Microsoft Word Video

To cite this LibGuide use the following templates:

APA: Northern Essex Community College Library. (Date updated). Title of page. Title of LibGuide. URL

MLA: Northern Essex Community College Library. "Title of Page." Title of LibGuide, Date updated, URL.