How to Format MBA Essays in Chicago Style? Ultimate Guide from Experts

Since you are here, it’s quite obvious that you have got an MBA essay writing task and have been asked to do the formatting in Chicago style. If you have not started working on your MBA essay yet, then here’s the good news for you. Our experienced MBA essay help experts can guide you throughout as they bring here a few tips to format each section of the essay in Chicago style. However, if you are done with the whole essay and realized now that you had to do the formatting in Chicago style, then you are in trouble. Hey, but don’t worry, these tips will still work for you!

So, ready to learn how to do the formatting in your MBA essay in Chicago style? Let’s begin.

1.Order of the Essay

So, the first thing that you should keep in mind while formatting in Chicago style is the order. You should assemble your MBA essay in the order highlighted below:

• Cover/Title Page
• Body of the Paper
• Appendix (if required)
• Notes
• Bibliography

In case you have to include any other section in your MBA essay, then you should ask your professor as where to place it.

2.Cover Page Layout

When following the Chicago format, the title or cover page of your essay should be formatted as per the given guidelines.

• Title of the Essay: It should be centered in the middle of the page, halfway down.
• Your Name: Put your name directly under the title of the essay.
• Other Details: Your teacher's name, course title and block, and date have to be mentioned in three lines at the bottom of the page.

Here’s an example of cover page formatted in Chicago style:

Always remember to keep your cover page as simple as possible. Do not try to make use of bold, underline or creative fonts in order to make it decorative. Also, you shouldn’t number the cover page and count it as the part if total page count.

3.Body Pages Layout

When formatting your MBA essay in Chicago style, you need to follow some guidelines to create the layout for each page in the body. The guidelines are mentioned below:

• Margins: Keep one-inch margins on the top, bottom, and both the sides of the page.
• Font Style: You can either go for Time New Roman or Times as they are standard font styles.
• Font Size: The font size followed in Chicago style is generally 12 pt. However, 11 pt font is also considered.
• Spacing: The text written in the paper is double-spaced.
• Alignment: When formatting the essay in Chicago style, use left-justified text. Fully (newspaper-style) justified text is generally not recommended.
• Indent: For paragraphs beginning, block quotes, and hanging (bibliography) indents, use a 1/2” indent.
• Page Numbering: Put the page number at the top right corner of the paper, from the first page of the text to the bibliography page. You can include your last name with that as well. (Example: Davies 15)

4.Footnotes and Endnotes

When writing an essay, you would need some credible information on the topic to make your arguments and discussion strong. Citing those sources from where you have obtained the data is important. There are different ways to do so like, referencing, in-text citation, footnotes, and endnotes. When using the Chicago format, footnotes, and endnotes are used to cite the sources.

• Placement: While footnotes are mentioned at the bottom of the page where references come, endnotes occur after the body of the paper on a separate page. The formatting guidelines for both are the same. Along with the endnotes, put the word notes at the top of the page.
• Superscript Number: A superscript number is placed at the end of the sentence where the reference comes in the text. The corresponding information can be found in the footnotes or endnotes. The superscript numbers go after punctuation and should be written in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).
• Font Style & Size: The font style should be Times/Times New Roman and the font size should be 10 pt.
• Indent: Indent the first line of each note.
• Spacing: Single space each entry; double space between entries.
• Use a new superscript number for each reference, even if you have mentioned that reference previously in your essay.
• If you have to cite multiple sources in a single note, then use a semicolon to separate the two citations. Never use two superscript numbers at the end of a sentence.
• If you are referring to a source more than once, then you should look at shortened form examples.

5.Bibliography

This will be the last section of your MBA essay. It contains a list of all the references that you have used in the work. The formatting guidelines for bibliography are:

• Placement: The bibliography comes on a separate page, with the word “Bibliography” centered at the top of the page.
• Font Style & Size: Use Times/Times New Roman 12 pt font. Avoid using bold or large size font for the heading.
• Indent: Use a "hanging indent" that means the first line of the citation starts at the margin while the subsequent lines are indented.
• If your source has no author, alphabetize by title within the authors. There is no need to make a separate list.
• Don't separate primary and secondary sources, if your professor has not asked you to do so.

Now that you know how to format your MBA essay in Chicago style, go on and make it outstanding. If everything is on point, then your professor won’t think twice in giving you A+ grades. However, if all these formatting guidelines confused you, then you can ask our writers to help you. They have been providing essay writing services to students from the past decade, so they are well-versed with all the formatting styles. With us, you will get an exceptional quality essay in Chicago format that will score second to none. Give it a shot!