What FormattingNerd Checks
No mystery about what you're paying for. Chuck runs 103 checks across five styles. The report is always free; the $3 fix corrects every issue it safely can and reformats your whole reference list. Here's the full list.
Jump to: APA 7 · MLA 9 · Chicago · Harvard · IEEE
APA (7th edition) (24 checks)
Page formatting · 12 checks
- 1-inch margins — Use 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on every side.
- Approved font and size — Use an APA-approved font, such as 12-pt Times New Roman or 11-pt Calibri.
- Double spacing — Double-space the entire document.
- No extra space between paragraphs — Don't add blank space before or after paragraphs.
- First-line paragraph indent — Indent the first line of every body paragraph by 0.5 inch.
- Left-aligned body text — Body text is aligned to the left (flush left), not justified.
- Page numbers — A page number appears on every page.
- No running head (student paper) — Student papers don't include a running head — just the page number.
- Title page — Your first page should have a bold, centered title, then your name, course, instructor, and due date — centered and double-spaced.
- Heading formatting — APA headings: Level 1 centered bold, Level 2 bold, Level 3 bold italic.
- Long quotations — Long quotations should be set as block quotes.
- No extra blank lines — Use line spacing, not empty paragraphs, to space your text.
References · 12 checks
- References present — Your paper includes a section titled "References".
- References heading is bold and centered — The "References" heading is bold and centered.
- References starts on a new page — The references begins on its own page.
- Hanging indent on each entry — Every entry uses a 0.5-inch hanging indent.
- Double-spaced entries — The list is double-spaced, like the rest of the paper.
- Alphabetical order — Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name.
- Each entry has a year — Every reference includes a publication year, e.g. (2020), or (n.d.).
- Entries end with a period — Each reference ends with a full stop (except after a URL or DOI).
- No “Retrieved from” — Don’t write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
- DOIs use the https://doi.org form — Write DOIs as https://doi.org/10.xxxx, not “doi:” or dx.doi.org.
- No bullets or numbers on entries — The reference list is alphabetical — not a bulleted or numbered list.
- No duplicate entries — Each source appears in the list only once.
MLA (9th edition) (22 checks)
Page formatting · 11 checks
- 1-inch margins — Use 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on every side.
- Readable 12-point font — Use a readable font (such as Times New Roman) at 12 pt.
- Double spacing — Double-space the entire document.
- No extra space between paragraphs — Don't add blank space before or after paragraphs.
- First-line paragraph indent — Indent the first line of every body paragraph by 0.5 inch.
- Left-aligned body text — Body text is aligned to the left (flush left), not justified.
- Page numbers — A page number appears on every page.
- Last name + page number — MLA puts your last name and the page number in the top-right corner of every page.
- Centered title — MLA papers put a centered title above the body (no separate title page), with your name, instructor, course, and date in the top-left of the first page.
- Long quotations — Long quotations should be set as block quotes.
- No extra blank lines — Use line spacing, not empty paragraphs, to space your text.
Works Cited · 11 checks
- Works Cited present — Your paper includes a section titled "Works Cited".
- Works Cited heading is centered — The "Works Cited" heading is centered and not bold.
- Works Cited starts on a new page — The works cited begins on its own page.
- Hanging indent on each entry — Every entry uses a 0.5-inch hanging indent.
- Double-spaced entries — The list is double-spaced, like the rest of the paper.
- Alphabetical order — Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name.
- Entries end with a period — Each reference ends with a full stop (except after a URL or DOI).
- No “Retrieved from” — Don’t write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
- DOIs use the https://doi.org form — Write DOIs as https://doi.org/10.xxxx, not “doi:” or dx.doi.org.
- No bullets or numbers on entries — The reference list is alphabetical — not a bulleted or numbered list.
- No duplicate entries — Each source appears in the list only once.
Chicago / Turabian (9th ed., notes-bibliography) (20 checks)
Page formatting · 10 checks
- 1-inch margins — Use 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on every side.
- Readable 12-point font — Use a readable font (such as Times New Roman) at 12 pt.
- Double spacing — Double-space the entire document.
- No extra space between paragraphs — Don't add blank space before or after paragraphs.
- First-line paragraph indent — Indent the first line of every body paragraph by 0.5 inch.
- Left-aligned body text — Body text is aligned to the left (flush left), not justified.
- Page numbers — A page number appears on every page.
- Title page — Your title page should have a centered title, with your name, course, and date below it.
- Long quotations — Long quotations should be set as block quotes.
- No extra blank lines — Use line spacing, not empty paragraphs, to space your text.
Bibliography · 10 checks
- Bibliography present — Your paper includes a section titled "Bibliography".
- Bibliography heading is centered — The "Bibliography" heading is centered.
- Bibliography starts on a new page — The bibliography begins on its own page.
- Hanging indent on each entry — Every entry uses a 0.5-inch hanging indent.
- Alphabetical order — Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name.
- Entries end with a period — Each reference ends with a full stop (except after a URL or DOI).
- No “Retrieved from” — Don’t write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
- DOIs use the https://doi.org form — Write DOIs as https://doi.org/10.xxxx, not “doi:” or dx.doi.org.
- No bullets or numbers on entries — The reference list is alphabetical — not a bulleted or numbered list.
- No duplicate entries — Each source appears in the list only once.
Harvard (Cite Them Right) (21 checks)
Page formatting · 10 checks
- 1-inch margins — Use 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on every side.
- Readable 12-point font — Use a readable font (such as Times New Roman or Arial) at 12 pt.
- Double spacing — Double-space the entire document.
- No extra space between paragraphs — Don't add blank space before or after paragraphs.
- First-line paragraph indent — Indent the first line of every body paragraph by 0.5 inch.
- Left-aligned body text — Body text is aligned to the left (flush left), not justified.
- Page numbers — A page number appears on every page.
- Title — Put a centered title at the top of your first page (or on a title page if your course requires one).
- Long quotations — Long quotations should be set as block quotes.
- No extra blank lines — Use line spacing, not empty paragraphs, to space your text.
Reference list · 11 checks
- Reference list present — Your paper includes a section titled "Reference list".
- Reference list starts on a new page — The reference list begins on its own page.
- Hanging indent on each entry — Every entry uses a 0.5-inch hanging indent.
- Double-spaced entries — The list is double-spaced, like the rest of the paper.
- Alphabetical order — Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name.
- Each entry has a year — Every reference includes a publication year, e.g. (2020) or (no date).
- Entries end with a period — Each reference ends with a full stop (except after a URL or DOI).
- No “Retrieved from” — Don’t write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
- DOIs use the https://doi.org form — Write DOIs as https://doi.org/10.xxxx, not “doi:” or dx.doi.org.
- No bullets or numbers on entries — The reference list is alphabetical — not a bulleted or numbered list.
- No duplicate entries — Each source appears in the list only once.
IEEE (16 checks)
Page formatting · 8 checks
- 1-inch margins — Use 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on every side.
- Times New Roman font — IEEE uses Times New Roman (10 pt in the template; 12 pt is common for coursework).
- No extra space between paragraphs — Don't add blank space before or after paragraphs.
- First-line paragraph indent — Indent the first line of every body paragraph by 0.5 inch.
- Page numbers — A page number appears on every page.
- Title — Put a centered title at the top of your paper, with your name and affiliation below it.
- Long quotations — Long quotations should be set as block quotes.
- No extra blank lines — Use line spacing, not empty paragraphs, to space your text.
References · 8 checks
- References present — Your paper includes a section titled "References".
- Numbered references in citation order — References are numbered [1], [2], … in the order they're first cited.
- Hanging indent on each entry — Every entry uses a 0.5-inch hanging indent.
- Entries end with a period — Each reference ends with a full stop (except after a URL or DOI).
- No “Retrieved from” — Don’t write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
- DOIs use the https://doi.org form — Write DOIs as https://doi.org/10.xxxx, not “doi:” or dx.doi.org.
- Author initials before surname — IEEE writes authors as “J. K. Author”, not “Author, J. K.”
- No duplicate entries — Each source appears in the list only once.
See where your paper stands against this list.
Check my paper — free →Some items (like rewriting a long quotation) Chuck flags for you to handle, rather than changing your words — your report marks which are auto-fixed and which to check yourself.