APA Format
General APA Guidelines
Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins
on all sides. You should use a clear font that is highly readable. APA recommends using 12 pt.
Times New Roman font.
Include a page header (also known as the "running head") at the top of every page. To create
a page header/running head, insert page numbers flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR
PAPER" in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened
version of your paper's title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation.
Major Paper Sections
Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body,
and References.
Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional
affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right
at the top of the page. Please note that on the title page, your page header/running head should
look like this:
Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER
Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this:
TITLE OF YOUR PAPER
After consulting with publication specialists at the APA, OWL staff learned that the APA 6th
edition, first printing sample papers have incorrect examples of Running heads on pages after
the title page. This link will take you to the APA site where you can find a complete list of all
the errors in the APA's 6th edition style guide.
Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA
recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain
abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on
the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.
Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use
titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).
Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location
where the author(s) conducted the research.
,Image Caption: APA Title Page
Abstract
Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described
above). On the first line of the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold, formatting,
italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do
not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions,
participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible
implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your
abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150 and
250 words.
You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you
would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your
keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.
,Image Caption: APA Abstract Page
, In-Text Citations: The Basics
Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What
follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.
Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal
phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has
found...
APA citation basics
When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the
author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for
example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of
the paper.
If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or
making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the
author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that
are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining
Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four
letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions
apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing
New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
(Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing
new media.)
When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-
Born Cyborgs.
Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of
Hitchcock's Vertigo."
Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies,
television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The
Wizard of Oz; Friends.
Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles
from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia
Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds"; "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."
General APA Guidelines
Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins
on all sides. You should use a clear font that is highly readable. APA recommends using 12 pt.
Times New Roman font.
Include a page header (also known as the "running head") at the top of every page. To create
a page header/running head, insert page numbers flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR
PAPER" in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened
version of your paper's title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation.
Major Paper Sections
Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body,
and References.
Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional
affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right
at the top of the page. Please note that on the title page, your page header/running head should
look like this:
Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER
Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this:
TITLE OF YOUR PAPER
After consulting with publication specialists at the APA, OWL staff learned that the APA 6th
edition, first printing sample papers have incorrect examples of Running heads on pages after
the title page. This link will take you to the APA site where you can find a complete list of all
the errors in the APA's 6th edition style guide.
Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA
recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain
abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on
the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.
Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use
titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).
Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location
where the author(s) conducted the research.
,Image Caption: APA Title Page
Abstract
Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described
above). On the first line of the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold, formatting,
italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do
not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions,
participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible
implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your
abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150 and
250 words.
You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you
would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your
keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.
,Image Caption: APA Abstract Page
, In-Text Citations: The Basics
Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What
follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.
Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal
phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has
found...
APA citation basics
When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the
author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for
example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of
the paper.
If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or
making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the
author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that
are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining
Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four
letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions
apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing
New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
(Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing
new media.)
When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-
Born Cyborgs.
Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of
Hitchcock's Vertigo."
Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies,
television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The
Wizard of Oz; Friends.
Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles
from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia
Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds"; "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."
