Temple University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Temple University at a glance

A Philadelphia public research university famous for the Fox School of Business, a top criminal justice program and Temple University Japan — the oldest and largest US university campus in Japan.

The campus sits in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, operates as a public institution, and enrolls about 30,000 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1884 with an acceptance rate around 72%, Temple University pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Temple University actually requires

Temple University courses predominantly require APA 7 or MLA 9 or Chicago. That is not a trivial preference: it decides your title page, heading levels, in-text punctuation and reference format on every graded document.

• APA 7: used across social science, nursing and business courses
• MLA 9: used across humanities and writing-sequence courses
• Chicago: used across history, fine arts and some social science seminars

Verify against the specific course syllabus anyway — instructors can override departmental defaults, and the first paper is where they enforce it.

The writing requirement, decoded

Analytical Reading and Writing (ENGL 0802, with a 0701 stretch version) gates first-year work, and GenEd Writing Intensive courses carry the upper-division load; the Writing Center in Tuttleman Hall also tutors Tokyo students by video.

Plan the sequence early: composition requirements compound, and students who defer them discover the advanced seminars — where the writing-intensity lives — conflict with major courses later. The registrar's degree audit shows exactly which flags remain; check it each semester.

Three things about Temple University papers that surprise new students

• Temple University Japan runs the same gen-ed syllabi as Main Campus, so a workshop group can span a 13-hour time difference.
• Fox School business-communication courses grade client memos and pitch decks against employer rubrics — essay skills transfer, essay formats don't.
• Criminal justice and sociology courses send students into Philadelphia courtrooms and city agencies, and fieldnotes count as graded primary sources.

None of these appear in the course description. All of them appear in the rubric. Students who learn them in week one report smoother first-semesters than students who meet them at the deadline.

Assignments Temple University students face most

• Essay — most frequently assigned across Temple University's programs
• Research Paper — most frequently assigned across Temple University's programs
• Case Study — most frequently assigned across Temple University's programs
• Coursework — most frequently assigned across Temple University's programs

Popular programs at Temple University include business (fox), criminal justice, film and media arts — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.