APA Formatting

APA format has set guidelines when setting up your paper with the correct format. The following list will give you a brief guide to setting up the paper using the new APA 7th Edition Manual.

 

1. When writing your paper for APA you should use one of the following font sizes and doubled space the entire paper. Check with your instructor to determine which font to use.

• sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, or serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or normal (10-point).

 

2. The page should have 1" Margins on all sides.

 

3. The header should have just the page number flushed to the right margin consecutively on all pages of the paper

 

4. The cover page should have the following centered on the page about 3 to 4 lines after the header all double spaced:

Title written in bold font

• Place one double-spaced blank line between the paper title and your name. 
• Capitalize major words of the title. Place the main title and any subtitle on separate double-spaced lines if desired.

The author's name 

• When there is more than one author separate each with a comma and place the word "and" before the final author's name

School or institution name

• Include both the name of any department and the name of the college, university, or other institution, separated by a comma

Class number and course name

• Provide the course number, followed by a colon and the course name.

Instructor’s name

• Write the name of the instructor for the course include titles as well. Ex: Dr. 

Assignment due date

• When typing the date make sure you spell out the month completely no abbreviations. Use the most commonly used format for writing the date. 

 

5. The abstract and keywords page should follow the cover page if it is required according to your instructor. The title should be Abstract and it is written in bold face font. The word Keywords should be written in italics followed by a colon before listing keywords. The keywords section is written in the next line after abstract and indented.

 

6. The title of the paper should be written in capitalization format and bold font and centered on a new page.

 

7. Make sure when starting a paragraph, you indent.

 

8. the last page of your paper will be the reference page.

 

9. The reference page should have the title "References" centered on the top of the page. (if only one source is used then the title will become Reference instead of References)

 

10. Make sure all citations are in the correct format according to APA guidelines. All citations on the references page should be double spaced and sequent lines should have a hanging indention. All should be in alphabetical order according to author or title.

 

Additional Resources

7th Edition Student Title Page Guide 

Abstracts and keywords are not typically required for student papers according to the APA 7th Edition. Students should consult their instructor to determine whether to include an abstract and/or keywords.

 

Abstract: a brief paragraph describing what your paper will be about, who your target audience is, your hypothesis or thesis, and what tests or methods were used in research.

 

Keywords: addresses essential elements of your paper with key terms.

 

Additional Resources

Abstract and Keyword Guide  

Basic guidelines to creating an abstract and keyword page