essay template microsoft word

Templates for every kind of writing

Make your pages pop with a customizable template for you to put your words into. everything from academic and research papers to work assignments to personal writing and journaling can benefit from starting your writing with a template. see which one gets the words flowing for you..

Write your way with a customizable template matched to your project

There are endless ways to write, to get ideas onto the page (or screen). No matter what kind of writing you're going to do, starting with a customizable writing template can help guide your work (or brainstorming). From resumes , and business plans , to school essays, journal writing, and other hobbies , there's a template for you to take advantage of. Dive into keeping a diary or meal planning. Keep a planner with pen and paper. Practice your penmanship—or your typing. However you like to do your writing, there's an easy-to-use, customizable template to help you get started.

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Write great papers

Write great papers with microsoft word.

You may already use Microsoft Word to write papers, but you can also use for many other tasks, such as collecting research, co-writing with other students, recording notes on-the-fly, and even building a better bibliography!

Explore new ways to use Microsoft Word below.

Getting started

Let’s get started by opening Microsoft Word and choosing a template to create a new document. You can either:

Select Blank document to create a document from scratch.

Select a structured template.

Select Take a tour for Word tips.

Next, let’s look at creating and formatting copy. You can do so by clicking onto the page and beginning to type your content. The status bar at the bottom of the document shows your current page number and how many words you've typed, in case you’re trying to stay maintain a specific word count.

To format text and change how it looks, select the text and select an option on the Home tab: Bold, Italic, Bullets, Numbering , etc.

To add pictures, shapes, or other media, simply navigate to the Insert tab, then select any of the options to add media to your document.

Word automatically saves your content as you work, so you don’t have to stress about losing your progress if you forget to press Save .

Here are some of the advanced tools you can try out while using Microsoft Word.

Type with your voice

Have you ever wanted to speak, not write, your ideas? Believe it or not, there’s a button for that! All you have to do is navigate to the Home tab, select the Dictate button, and start talking to “type” with your voice. You’ll know Dictate is listening when the red recording icon appears.

Tips for using Dictate

Speak clearly and conversationally.

Add punctuation by pausing or saying the name of the punctuation mark.

If you make a mistake, all you have to do is go back and re-type your text.

Finding and citing sources

Get a head start on collecting sources and ideas for a big paper by searching key words in Researcher in the References tab of your document.

Researcher uses Bing to search the web and deliver high-quality research sources to the side of your page. Search for people, places, or ideas and then sort by journal articles and websites. Add a source to your page by selecting the plus sign.

As you write, Researcher saves a record of your searches. Just select My Research to see the complete list.

Keep track of all your sources by using Word's built-in bibliography maker. Simply navigate to the References tab.

First, choose the style you want your citations to be in. In this example, we’ve selected APA style.

Select Insert Citation and Add New Source .

In the next window, choose what kind of work you’re citing—an article, book, etc.—and fill in the required details. Then select OK to cite your source.

Keep writing. At the ends of sentences that need sources, select Insert Citation to keep adding new sources, or pick one you already entered from the list.

Point to Insert Citation, and choose Add New Source

As you write, Word will keep track of all the citations you’ve entered. When you’re finished, select Bibliography and choose a format style. Your bibliography will appear at the end of your paper, just like that.

Make things look nice

Make your report or project look extra professional in the Design tab! Browse different themes, colors, fonts, and borders to create work you're proud of!

Illustrate a concept with a chart or a model by navigating to the Insert tab and choosing SmartArt . In this example, we chose Cycle and filled in text from the writing process to make a simple graphic. Choose other graphic types to represent hierarchies, flow charts, and more.

To insert a 3D model, select Insert > 3D Models to choose from a library of illustrated dioramas from different course subjects and 3D shapes.

Invite someone to write with you

If you’re working on a group project, you can work on a document at the same time without emailing the file back and forth. Select Share at the top of your page and create a link you can send to other students.

Now, everybody can open the same file and work together.

Keep learning

Check out more Microsoft Word training and support

Microsoft paper and report templates

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APA Style (7th ed.)

Cite: Why? When?
Book, eBook, Dissertation
Article or Report
Business Sources
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
In-Text Citation
Format Your Paper

Format Your Paper

Download and use the editable templates for student papers below: .

APA 7th ed. Template Document This is an APA format template document in Google Docs. Click on the link -- it will ask for you to make a new copy of the document, which you can save in your own Google Drive with your preferred privacy settings.
APA 7th ed. Template Document A Microsoft Word document formatted correctly according to APA 7th edition.
APA 7th ed. Annotated Bibliography template A Microsoft Word document formatted correctly for an annotated bibliography.

Or, view the directions for specific sections below:

Order of sections (section 2.17).

Title page including Title, Author, University and Department, Class, Instructor, and Date
Body (including introduction, literature review or background, discussion, and conclusion)
Appendices (including tables & figures)

Margins & Page Numbers (sections 2.22-2.24)

1 inch at top, bottom, and both sides
Left aligned paragraphs and leave the right edge ragged (not "right justified")
Indent first line of each paragraph 1/2 inch from left margin
Use page numbers, including on the title page, 1/2 inch from top and flush with right margin

Text Format (section 2.19)

Times New Roman, 12 point
Calibri, 11 point
Arial, 11 point
Lucinda Sans Unicode, 10 point
Georgia, 11 point
Double-space and align text to the left
Use active voice
Don't overuse technical jargon
No periods after a web address or DOI in the References list.

Tables and Figures In-Text (chapter 7)

Label tables and figures numerically (ex. Table 1)
Give each table column a heading and use separating lines only when necessary
Design the table and figure so that it can be understood on its own, i.e. it does not require reference to the surrounding text to understand it
Notes go below tables and figures

Title Page (section 2.3)

Include the title, your name, the class name , and the college's name
Title should be 12 words or less and summarize the paper's main idea
No periods or abbreviations
Do not italicize or underline
No quotation marks, all capital letters, or bold
Center horizontally in upper half of the page

Body (section 2.11)

Align the text to the left with a 1/2-inch left indent on the first line
Double-space
As long as there is no Abstract, at the top of the first page, type the title of the paper, centered, in bold , and in Sentence Case Capitalization
Usually, include sections like these: introduction, literature review or background, discussion, and conclusion -- but the specific organization will depend on the paper type
Spell out long organization names and add the abbreviation in parenthesis, then just use the abbreviation
Spell out numbers one through nine and use a number for 10 or more
Use a number for units of measurement, in tables, to represent statistical or math functions, and dates or times

Headings (section 2.26-2.27)

Level 1: Center, bold , Title Case
Level 2: Align left, bold , Title Case
Level 3: Alight left, bold italics , Title Case
Level 4: Indented 1/2", bold , Title Case, end with a period. Follow with text.
Level 5: Indented 1/2", bold italics , Title Case, end with a period. Follow with text.

an illustration of the headings -- same detail as is given directly above this image

Quotations (sections 8.26-8.33)

Include short quotations (40 words or less) in-text with quotation marks
For quotes more than 40 words, indent the entire quote a half inch from the left margin and double-space it with no quotation marks
When quoting two or more paragraphs from an original source, indent the first line of each paragraph a half inch from the left margin
Use ellipsis (...) when omitting sections from a quote and use four periods (....) if omitting the end section of a quote

References (section 2.12)

Begins on a new page following the text of your paper and includes complete citations for the resources you've used in your writing.

References should be centered and bolded at the top of a new page
Double-space and use hanging indents (where the first line is on the left margin and the following lines are indented a half inch from the left)
List authors' last name first followed by the first and middle initials (ex. Skinner, B. F.)
Alphabetize the list by the first author's last name of of each citation (see sections 9.44-9.49)
Capitalize only the first word, the first after a colon or em dash, and proper nouns
Don't capitalize the second word of a hyphenated compound
No quotation marks around titles of articles

Appendices with Tables, Figures, & Illustrations (section 2.14, and chapter 7)

Include appendices only to help the reader understand, evaluate, or replicate the study or argument
Put each appendix on a separate page and align left
For text, do not indent the first paragraph, but do indent the rest
If you have only one appendix, label it "Appendix"
If you have two or more appendices, label them "Appendix A", "Appendix B" and so forth as they appear in the body of your paper
Label tables and figures numerically (ex. Table 1, or Table B1 and Table B2 if Appendix B has two tables) and describe them within the text of the appendix
Notes go below tables and figures (see samples on p. 210-226)

Annotated Bibliography

Double-space the entire bibliography. give each entry a hanging indent. in the following annotation, indent the entire paragraph a half inch from the left margin and give the first line of each paragraph a half inch indent. see the template document at the top of this page..

Check with your professor for the length of the annotation and which elements you should evaluate.

These elements are optional, if your professor or field requires them, but they are not required for student papers:

Abstract (section 2.9).

Abstract gets its own page
Center "Abstract" heading and do not indent the first line of the text
Summarize the main points and purpose of the paper in 150-250 words maximum
Define abbreviations and acronyms used in the paper

Running Head (section 2.8 )

Shorten title to 50 characters or less (counting spaces and punctuation) for the running head
In the top margin, the running head is aligned left, with the page number aligned on the right
On every page, put (without the brackets): [SHORTENED TITLE OF YOUR PAPER IN ALL CAPS] [page number]