A reader trusts a well-formatted essay before they trust the writer. Sloppy formatting signals sloppy thinking, even when the thinking is sharp.
Before a single argument is read, the reader has already formed an impression from the look of the page, the font, the margins, the reference list.
It's also the easiest grade in the essay to secure, and the easiest to throw away.
Every formatting mark is fully in your control. None of it requires talent, only a checklist and ten unhurried minutes before you submit.
A short list of defaults that hold across disciplines. Set them once, verify them at the end, and the document reads as the work of someone careful.
| Fault | Fix |
|---|---|
| Text fully justified, rivers of white space. | Left-align the body. Justification is for typeset books. |
| “Introduction” and “Conclusion” as headings. | Delete them. Only References is labelled. |
| File named “Essay Final Final v3.” | Rename to your own name. A title never says “Essay.” |
| One reference italicised, the next not. | Sweep the list: book & journal titles italic, article titles not. |
| No page numbers, no word count. | Add both, numbers on every page, count at the end. |
Which formatting fault are you most guilty of, and why does it keep happening?
Conventions shift a little by discipline, and STEM readers see SI-unit slips a mile off. The small rules are where careful writers separate themselves.
| Element | STEM | HASS | BIZ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citation | IEEE | MLA or APA | APA or Harvard |
| Visuals | Common | Rare | Common |
| Headings | Numbered or not | Simple, unnumbered | Numbered or not |
| Title | Concise, technical | Descriptive, thesis-hinting | Clear, professional |
Font, spacing, and margins hold steady across all three. Only citation, visuals, and headings really move.
kim, j (2024) korea's household debt. the korea herald.
Kim, J. (2024, March 12). Korea's household debt hits record high. The Korea Herald. https://koreaherald.com/…
Run your draft through this list. Tick a row only when you've verified it in the document, not when you remember setting it.
One spell-check pass, then read each Grammarly suggestion before accepting. The same error usually hides five or six times, fix the pattern, not the instance.
Chapter 18, pages 79 to 81, including the by-discipline table, the faults-and-fixes page, and the full pre-submission checklist (Exercise 18.1).
Chapter 18 · Next, the do's & don'ts of register