About APA Style

Source: https://apastyle.apa.org/

APA Style provides a foundation for effective scholarly

communication because it helps writers present their ideas in a
clear, precise, and inclusive manner.

Where Did APA Style Come From?

APA Style originated in 1929, when a group of psychologists,

anthropologists, and business managers convened and sought to
establish a simple set of procedures, or style guidelines, that would
codify the many components of scientific writing to increase the
ease of reading comprehension. They published their guidelines
as a seven-page article in Psychological Bulletin describing a
“standard of procedure, to which exceptions would doubtless be
necessary, but to which reference might be made in cases of
doubt” (Bentley et al., 1929, p. 57).

Since then, the scope and length of the Publication Manual have
grown in response to the needs of researchers, students, and
educators across the social and behavioral sciences, health care,
natural sciences, humanities, and more; however, the spirit of the
original authors’ intentions remains.

Why Is APA Style Needed?

Uniformity and consistency enable readers to (a) focus on the

ideas being presented rather than formatting and (b) scan works
quickly for key points, findings, and sources.

Style guidelines encourage authors to fully disclose essential

information and allow readers to dispense with minor distractions,
such as inconsistencies or omissions in punctuation, capitalization,
reference citations, and presentation of statistics.

When style works best, ideas flow logically, sources are credited
appropriately, and papers are organized predictably and
consistently. People are described using language that affirms
their worth and dignity. Authors plan for ethical compliance and
report critical details of their research protocol to allow readers to
evaluate findings and other researchers to potentially replicate the

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studies. Tables and figures present data in an engaging,
consistent manner.

Whether you use APA Style for a single class or throughout your
career, we encourage you to recognize the benefits of a
conscientious approach to writing.

Although the guidelines span many areas and take time and
practice to learn, we hope that they provide a balance of
directiveness and flexibility and will eventually become second
nature.

Does APA Style Cover Everything About Writing?

APA Style covers the aspects of scholarly writing most pertinent to

writing in psychology, nursing, business, communications,
engineering, and related fields. It specifically addresses the
preparation of draft manuscripts being submitted for publication in
a journal and the preparation of student paper being submitted for
a course assignment.

The Publication Manual does not cover general rules explained in

widely available style books and examples of usage with little
relevance to the behavioral and social sciences. Among the most
helpful general guides to editorial style are Words Into Type (Skillin
& Gay, 1974) and the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.;
University of Chicago Press, 2017).

Style manuals agree more often than they disagree. Where they
disagree, the Publication Manual, because it is based on the
special requirements of psychology, takes precedence for APA
publications.

References

Bentley, M., Peerenboom, C. A., Hodge, F. W., Passano, E. B.,

Warren, H. C., & Washburn, M. F. (1929). Instructions in regard to
preparation of manuscript. Psychological Bulletin, 26(2), 57–
63. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071487

Skillin, M. E., & Gay, R. M. (1974). Words into type (3rd ed. rev.).
Prentice Hall.University of Chicago Press. (2017). Chicago manual
of style (17th ed.).

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 Order of Pages

All papers, including student papers, generally include a title page,

text, and references. They may include additional elements such
as tables and figures depending on the assignment. Student
papers generally do not include an abstract unless requested.
Arrange the pages of an APA Style paper in the following order:
• title page
• abstract
• text
• references
• footnotes
• tables
• figures
• appendices
Order of pages is covered in Section 2.17 of the APA Publication
Manual, Seventh Edition

This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition.

In general, start each section on a new page. However, the order

of pages is flexible in the following cases:
• tables and figures: Embed tables and figures within the text after
they are first mentioned (or “called out”), or place each table and
then each figure on separate pages after the references. If an
embedded table or figure appears on the same page as text, place
it at either the top or the bottom of the page, and insert a blank
double-spaced line to separate the table or figure from the
adjacent text.
• footnotes: Use the footnotes function of your word-processing
program to insert a footnote at the bottom of the page of text on
which the footnote appears, or list footnotes together on a
separate page after the references.;
Papers such as dissertations and theses may require additional
elements not listed here. Follow the institutional or departmental
guidelines of your university to order the pages of a dissertation or
thesis.

Title Page Setup

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A title page is required for all APA Style papers. There are both
student and professional versions of the title page. Students
should use the student version of the title page unless their
instructor or institution has requested they use the professional
version. APA provides a student title page guide (PDF, 199KB) to
assist students in creating their title pages.
Student Title Page
The student title page includes the paper title, author names (the
byline), author affiliation, course number and name for which the
paper is being submitted, instructor name, assignment due date,
and page number, as shown in the following example.
Title page setup is covered in Section 2.3 of the APA Publication
Manual, Seventh Edition

This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition.

Student papers do not include a running head unless requested by

the instructor or institution.

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Follow the guidelines described next to format each element of the
student title page.
Student
title page
element Format Example

Place the title three to four

lines down from the top of
the title page. Center it and
type it in bold font.
Capitalize major words of the
title. Place the main title and
any subtitle on separate
double-spaced lines if
desired. There is no Impact of Gender
maximum length for titles; on the Evaluation of
however, keep titles focused Humor in Romantic
Paper title and include key terms. Relationships

Place one double-spaced

blank line between the paper
title and the author names.
Center author names on their
own line. If there are two
authors, use the word “and”
between authors; if there are
three or more authors, place
a comma between author
names and use the word
Author “and” before the final author Cecily J. Sinclair and
names name. Adam Gonzaga

For a student paper, the

affiliation is the institution
where the student attends
school. Include both the
name of any department and
the name of the college,
university, or other institution,
separated by a comma.
Center the affiliation on the Department of
Author next double-spaced line after Psychology,
affiliation the author name(s). University of Georgia

Course Provide the course number PSY 201:

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number as shown on instructional Introduction to
and name materials, followed by a Psychology
colon and the course name.
Center the course number
and name on the next
double-spaced line after the
author affiliation.

Provide the name of the

instructor for the course
using the format shown on
instructional materials.
Center the instructor name
on the next double-spaced
Instructor line after the course number
name and name. Dr. Rowan J. Estes

Provide the due date for the

assignment. Center the due
date on the next double-
spaced line after the
instructor name. Use the
Assignment date format commonly used October 18, 2020
due date in your country. 18 October 2020
Use the page number 1 on
the title page. Use the
automatic page-numbering
function of your word
processing program to insert
Page page numbers in the top right
number corner of the page header. 1
Professional Title Page
The professional title page includes the paper title, author names
(the byline), author affiliation(s), author note, running head, and
page number, as shown in the following example.

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Follow the guidelines described next to format each element of the
professional title page.
Professional
title page
element Format Example
Place the title three to four
lines down from the top of
the title page. Center it and
type it in bold font.
Capitalize major words of Predict and
the title. Place the main title Redirect:
and any subtitle on separate Prediction Errors
double-spaced lines if Support Children’s
Paper title desired. There is no Word Learning

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 maximum length for titles;
however, keep titles focused
and include key terms.
Place one double-spaced
blank line between the
paper title and the author
names. Center author
names on their own line. If
there are two authors, use
the word “and” between
authors; if there are three or
more authors, place a
comma between author
names and use the word
“and” before the final author
name. Francesca Humboldt

When different authors have

different affiliations, use
superscript numerals after
author names to connect the
names to the appropriate
affiliation(s). If all authors
have the same affiliation,
superscript numerals are not
used (see Section 2.3 of Tracy Reuter1,
Author the Publication Manual for Arielle Borovsky2,
names more on how to set up and Casey Lew-
bylines and affiliations). Williams1
For a professional paper,
the affiliation is the
institution at which the
research was conducted.
Include both the name of
any department and the
name of the college,
university, or other
institution, separated by a
comma. Center the
affiliation on the next
Author double-spaced line after the Department of
affiliation author names; when there Nursing, Morrigan
are multiple affiliations, University

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 center each affiliation on its
own line.

When different authors have

different affiliations, use
superscript numerals before
1
affiliations to connect the Department of
affiliations to the appropriate Psychology,
author(s). Do not use Princeton University
2
superscript numerals if all Department of
authors share the same Speech, Language,
affiliations (see Section 2.3 and Hearing
of the Publication Manual for Sciences, Purdue
more). University
Place the author note in the
bottom half of the title page.
Center and bold the label
“Author Note.” Align the
paragraphs of the author
note to the left. For further
information on the contents
of the author note, see
Section 2.7 of
Author note the Publication Manual. n/a

The running head appears

in all-capital letters in the
page header of all pages,
including the title page. PREDICTION
Align the running head to ERRORS
the left margin. Do not use SUPPORT
Running the label “Running head:” CHILDREN’S
head before the running head. WORD LEARNING
Use the page number 1 on
the title page. Use the
automatic page-numbering
function of your word
processing program to insert
page numbers in the top
Page right corner of the page
number header.

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 Font

A variety of fonts are permitted in APA Style papers. Font options

include the following:
• sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-
point Lucida Sans Unicode
• serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia,
or normal (10-point) Computer Modern (the default font for LaTeX)
We recommend these fonts because they are legible and widely
available and because they include special characters such as
math symbols and Greek letters. Historically, sans serif fonts have
been preferred for online works and serif fonts for print works;
however, modern screen resolutions can typically accommodate
either type of font, and people who use assistive technologies can
adjust font settings to their preferences. For more on how font
relates to accessibility, visit the page on the accessibility of APA
Style.
Use the same font throughout your paper, with the following
exceptions:
• figures: Within figure images, use a sans serif font with a type size
between 8 and 14 points.
• computer code: To present computer code, use a monospace
font such as 10-point Lucida Console or 10-point Courier New.
• footnotes: When inserting footnotes with the footnotes function of
your word-processing program, use the default font settings. The
footnote font might be smaller than the text font (and have different
line spacing), and it is not necessary to change it.
Instructors and publishers vary in how they specify length
requirements. Different fonts take up different amounts of space on
the page; thus, we recommend using word count rather than page
count to gauge paper length if possible.

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 Page Header

The page header appears within the top margin of every page of
the paper.
• For student papers, the page header consists of the page number
only.
• For professional papers, the page header consists of the page
number and running head.
Page headers are covered in Section 2.18 of the APA Publication
Manual, Seventh Edition

Page Numbers
Follow these guidelines to include page numbers in both student
and professional APA Style papers:
• Use the page-numbering function of your word-processing
program to insert page numbers.
• Insert page numbers in the top right corner. The page number
should show on all pages.
• The title page carries page number 1.
Running Head
The running head is an abbreviated version of the title of your
paper (or the full title if the title is already short). The running head
is not required for student papers unless the instructor or institution
requests it. Thus, typically only professional papers include a
running head.
Follow these guidelines to include a running head in an APA Style
paper:
• Type the running head in all-capital letters.
• Ensure the running head is no more than 50 characters, including
spaces and punctuation.
• Avoid using abbreviations in the running head; however, the
ampersand symbol (&) may be used rather than “and” if desired.
• The running head appears in the same format on every page,
including the first page.
• Do not use the label “Running head:” before the running head.
• Align the running head to the left margin of the page header,
across from the right-aligned page number.
View the sample papers to see how the running head and page
number appear in APA Style papers.

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 Line Spacing

In general, double-space all parts of an APA Style paper, including

the abstract; text; block quotations; table and figure numbers,
titles, and notes; and reference list (including between and within
entries). Do not add extra space before or after paragraphs.
Exceptions to double line spacing are as follows:
• title page: Insert a double-spaced blank line between the title and
the byline on the title page. For professional papers, also include
at least one double-spaced blank line above the author note
(student papers do not include author notes). Double-space the
rest of the title page.
• tables: The table body (cells) may be single-spaced, one-and-a-
half-spaced, or double-spaced, depending on which is the most
effective layout for the information. Double-space the table
number, title, and notes.
• figures: Words within the image part of a figure may be single-
spaced, one-and-a-half-spaced, or double-spaced, depending on
which is the most effective layout for the information. Double-
space the figure number, title, and notes.
• footnotes: When inserting footnotes with the footnotes function of
your word-processing program, use the default font settings
(usually single-spaced and a slightly smaller font than the text).
• displayed equations: It is permissible to apply triple- or
quadruple-spacing in special circumstances, such as before and
after a displayed equation.
These guidelines apply to APA Style student papers and to
manuscripts being submitted for publication. If you are using APA
Style in another context (e.g., on a website or in a formal
publication), different line spacing and other formatting
specifications may be appropriate.
Line Spacing

In general, double-space all parts of an APA Style paper, including

the abstract; text; block quotations; table and figure numbers,
titles, and notes; and reference list (including between and within
entries). Do not add extra space before or after paragraphs.
Exceptions to double line spacing are as follows:
• title page: Insert a double-spaced blank line between the title and
the byline on the title page. For professional papers, also include
at least one double-spaced blank line above the author note
(student papers do not include author notes). Double-space the
rest of the title page.

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• tables: The table body (cells) may be single-spaced, one-and-a-
half-spaced, or double-spaced, depending on which is the most
effective layout for the information. Double-space the table
number, title, and notes.
• figures: Words within the image part of a figure may be single-
spaced, one-and-a-half-spaced, or double-spaced, depending on
which is the most effective layout for the information. Double-
space the figure number, title, and notes.
• footnotes: When inserting footnotes with the footnotes function of
your word-processing program, use the default font settings
(usually single-spaced and a slightly smaller font than the text).
• displayed equations: It is permissible to apply triple- or
quadruple-spacing in special circumstances, such as before and
after a displayed equation.
These guidelines apply to APA Style student papers and to
manuscripts being submitted for publication. If you are using APA
Style in another context (e.g., on a website or in a formal
publication), different line spacing and other formatting
specifications may be appropriate.
Margins

Use 1-in. margins on every side of the page for an APA Style
paper.
However, if you are writing a dissertation or thesis, your advisor or
institution may specify different margins (e.g., a 1.5-in. left margin
to accommodate binding).
Paragraph Alignment and Indentation

APA Style includes guidelines for paragraph alignment and

indentation to ensure that papers are formatted in a consistent and
readable manner. All writers should follow these guidelines.
Paragraph Alignment
Align the text of an APA Style paper to the left margin. Leave the
right margin uneven, or “ragged.” Do not use full justification for
student papers or manuscripts being submitted for publication.
Do not insert hyphens (manual breaks) in words at the end of line.
However, it is acceptable if your word-processing program
automatically inserts breaks in long hyperlinks (such as in a DOI or
URL in a reference list entry.
Paragraph alignment and indentation are covered in Sections 2.23
and 2.24 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition

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 This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition.

Paragraph Indentation
Indent the first line of each paragraph of text 0.5 in. from the left
margin. Use the tab key or the automatic paragraph-formatting
function of your word-processing program to achieve the
indentation (the default setting is likely already 0.5 in.). Do not use
the space bar to create indentation.
Exceptions to these paragraph-formatting requirements are as
follows:
• title page: For professional papers, the title (in bold), byline, and
affiliations should be centered on the title page. For student
papers, the title (in bold), byline, affiliations, course number and
name, instructor, and assignment due date should be centered on
the title page.
• section labels: Section labels (e.g., “Abstract,” “References”)
should be centered (and bold).
• abstract: The first line of the abstract should be flush left (not
indented).
• block quotations: Indent a whole block quotation 0.5 in. from the
left margin. If the block quotation spans more than one paragraph,
the first line of the second and any subsequent paragraphs of the
block quotation should be indented another 0.5 in., such that those
first lines are indented a total of 1 in.
• headings: Level 1 headings should be centered (and in bold), and
Level 2 and 3 headings should be left-aligned (and in bold or bold
italic, respectively). Level 4 and 5 headings are indented like
regular paragraphs.
• tables and figures: Table and figure numbers (in bold), titles (in
italics), and notes should be flush left.
• reference list: Reference list entries should have a hanging indent
of 0.5 in.
• appendices: Appendix labels and titles should be centered (and
bold).

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 Headings

Headings identify the content within sections of a paper.

Make your headings descriptive and concise. Headings that are
well formatted and clearly worded aid both visual and nonvisual
readers of all abilities.
Headings are covered in Sections 2.26 and 2.27 of the APA
Publication Manual, Seventh Edition

Levels of Heading
There are five levels of heading in APA Style. Level 1 is the
highest or main level of heading, Level 2 is a subheading of Level
1, Level 3 is a subheading of Level 2, and so on through Levels 4
and 5.
The number of headings to use in a paper depends on the length
and complexity of the work.
• If only one level of heading is needed, use Level 1.
• If two levels of heading are needed, use Levels 1 and 2.
• If three levels of heading are needed, use Levels 1, 2, and 3 (and
so on).
Use only the number of headings necessary to differentiate distinct
sections in your paper; short student papers may not require any
headings. Furthermore, avoid these common errors related to
headings:
• Avoid having only one subsection heading within a section, just
like in an outline.
• Do not label headings with numbers or letters.
• Double-space headings; do not switch to single spacing within
headings.
• Do not add blank lines above or below headings, even if a heading
falls at the end of a page.
Format of Headings
The following table demonstrates how to format headings in APA
Style.

Level Format

Centered, Bold, Title Case Heading

1 Text begins as a new paragraph.

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 Flush Left, Bold, Title Case Heading

Text begins as a new paragraph.

2

Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case Heading

Text begins as a new paragraph.

3

Indented, Bold, Title Case Heading, Ending With

a Period. Text begins on the same line and continues as

a regular paragraph.
4

Indented, Bold Italic, Title Case Heading, Ending

With a Period. Text begins on the same line and

continues as a regular paragraph.

5

Note. In title case, most words are capitalized.

Headings in the Introduction
Because the first paragraphs of a paper are understood to be
introductory, the heading “Introduction” is not needed. Do not
begin a paper with an “Introduction” heading; the paper title at the
top of the first page of text acts as a de facto Level 1 heading.
It is possible (but not required) to use headings within the
introduction. For subsections within the introduction, use Level 2
headings for the first level of subsection, Level 3 for subsections of
any Level 2 headings, and so on. After the introduction (regardless
of whether it includes headings), use a Level 1 heading for the
next main section of the paper (e.g., Method).

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 Creating Accessible Headings
Writers who use APA Style may use the automatic headings
function of their word-processing program to create headings. This
not only simplifies the task of formatting headings but also ensures
that headings are coded appropriately in any electronic version of
the paper, which aids readers who use navigation tools and
assistive technologies such as screen readers.
Here are some tips on how to create headings in some common
word-processing programs:
• If you use Academic Writer to write your APA Style papers, the
headings menu in the Writing Center will format headings for you
in 7th edition APA Style.
• If you use Microsoft Word to write your APA Style papers, use the
Styles menu to format headings.
o Follow these headings directions from Microsoft to customize the
heading formats for your future use.
o To apply Level 4 and 5 headings (which are inline headings,
meaning the heading appears on the same line as paragraph
text), first type the heading and a few words of the text that
follows. Then highlight the text that you want to be your heading
and select the appropriate heading level from the Styles menu.
Only the highlighted text will be formatted as the Level 4 or 5
heading

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