Introduction to Research Skills: Basics of APA Style (7th Edition)

APA Style is a series of formatting and style guidelines for scholarly writing. It is used across several disciplines, including but not limited to education, health care, and the social sciences.

APA Style Basics

Below is a brief overview of the basics of APA formatting for student papers. This overview is not comprehensive, however, so please consult course materials and the official APA Publication Manual. Always follow additional guidelines and rules outlined by your instructor.

General Format

• Double space text throughout the entire paper.

• Use an accessible font, such as 12-point Times New Roman or 11-point Calibri font. Consult your assignment directions to a see if a particular font is required by your instructor.

• Include 1-inch margins on all sides of the page.

Title Page

• Your title should be in bold text, typed in title-case, and centered 3 to 4 lines from the top of the first page.
• One double-spaced line below the title is the author(s) names, also centered. Use the name format First M. Last.
• Directly below the author(s) name, include an institutional affiliation. For students, this takes the form of the following three lines:
  1. Department and university (Example: Department of Education, Central Methodist University)
  2. Course code and course name (Example: SO101: Introduction to Sociology
  3. Professor's Name (Dr. John Smith)
• Finally, on the next line, include the due date in the month, day, and year format (Example: May 5, 2023)

Running Head

• Student papers do not need a running head. The only heading required for an APA student paper is a page number. This will be included in the top right corner of every page, including the title page.

In-Text Citations

• APA does not require page numbers to be part of in-text citations unless you are directly quoting a source. If the information cited is not a quote, in-text citations will take the format of (Author, Year). 
• If a source is quoted, in-text citations will take the format of (Author, Year, p. ##). If the quoted material spans across more than one page, the in-text citation will take the form of (Author, Year, pp. ##-##).
• When an author(s) name is used within the body of the text, include the publication year of the source after their last name. For example:
  • Walker (2018) argued that federal minimum wage laws...

Reference Page

• The reference page begins on a separate page after the conclusion of the paper. Include the heading References, centered and bold, at the top of the reference page.
• References are arranged alphabetically by order of the first author's last name.
• The reference page uses a special indentation called a hanging indent.