Format your essay properly. Type your answer on standard 8.5-inch by 11-inch white paper. Set your margins to 1 inch on all sides, which is the default setting in Microsoft Word and other word processing programs. Double-space your answer. Set your font to 12 point Times New Roman.
Give the author's last name to begin citing your source in-text. You can either refer to the author in the body of your sentence or place his name in parentheses following your sentence. For example:
Dawkins concludes that. . .
or
Much evidence exists for special evolution (Dawkins).
Give the year your source was published to complete your in-text citation. Place it in parentheses following your sentence; if it appears in parentheses next to the author's last name, separate the two using a comma:
Dawkins concludes that (2009). . .
or
Much evidence exists for special evolution (Dawkins, 2009).
Give publication information for your source to complete your reference page entry. For a book, give your reader the following information: the author's last name and initials, the year of publication in parentheses, the book's title in italics and sentence case, the place of publication and the name of the publisher. For example:
Dawkins, R. (2009). The Greatest Show on Earth: The evidence for evolution. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
If your source is an article published in a scientific journal, give the following information: the author's last name, initials, the year of publication in parentheses, the article's title in sentence case, the journal's title in italics, the volume number, the issue number in parentheses and the page numbers it occupies.
Lupin, R. J.. (1987). Effects of moon light on mammalian species. Journal of American Biology, 34, 732-745.