Formatting Software - recommend any certain one?

What do you want to format? A hard drive? A paper?

For a paper, APA style

Your school may require a specific format, like APA. You can download APA off the American Psychology Association website. Non-scientific is generally AMA format.

A friend recommended PERRLA software. I haven't used it yet, but she loves it.

APA PERRLA software helps students properly format papers in APA style and create citations and references - PERRLA.com

i personally don't see much use for any of these commercially availableformatting programs, as it is easy enough to format your headings and paragraphstyles in ms word. if you do opt topurchase one, make sure that you can edit the output format if needed. for example, the apa recently published the apa style guide toelectronic references, sixth edition, which is available for purchase as apdf file. one major formatting change isthe manner in which a doi is cited.

if you can, purchase a copy of one of the citation management programs(i.e., endnote, refworks, etc.) at a discounted student rate. if you have downloaded an extensive libraryof articles, you can use these programs as an indexing guide. i purchased a copy of endnote last year. however, i thought that i would try it, as itis advertised to both format references, as well as the in-text citation. the includedtemplate for apa 6^th edition required editing, and the in-textcitations were never quite right.

i realize that formatting the reference list can be tricky. however the biggest problem is in knowingwhich format to use. even with one ofthe commercial programs, you still need to know which reference format isappropriate. if you haven't done so, youreally need to purchase the publication manual of the american psychological association (6^thed.).

there are also several on-line resources available, although some arehorribly inaccurate. one in particular that is very good is the perdue owl: onlinewriting lab. you might also find theapa style blog useful as well.

good luck with your writing.