The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries

Formatting Your Paper

The Title Page
The rules of Turabian require a paper to have a title page, though you should check with your instructor. All information on the title page should be justified "center" and single spaced. The title page should include (but consult with your instructor for exact requirements):

The title of your paper centered, located about a third (1/3) of the way down the page. All words in the title should be uppercase.
Several lines below the title, type your name, the name of the course and the date - all on separate lines (single spaced and centered)

Pagination
Number pages in the body of your paper (not the title page) with arabic numerals (1,2,3...). Page numbers may be placed in one of three locations: centered in the footer at the bottom of the page; centered in the header at the top of the page; or flush right in the header. Which ever you choose, be consistent.

Line Spacing, Margins and Font
Your paper must be double spaced (except for the title page, block quotes, notes and the reference list/bibliography) and Turabian recommends using 1" margins and a 12pt Times New Roman font.

Follow these links to view and print more detailed directions for formatting a title page (including page numbering) in Microsoft Word 2007 or continue below.

Title page of a sample paper

True or false: When you set up a paper in Turabian format, capitalize only the first letter in each word of the title.

True

False