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APA Style Guide

A guide to help with the APA Citation Style.

Formatting a Paper

  • Typed, double space, with 1" margins. 
  • Page Header (Running Head)
    • Page Number on the top right
    • For professional papers, the Title of your work would be included in all caps on the top left of the paper. 
  • Title Page
    • Title - Centered in the upper half of the page in boldface. 
    • Author's Name- Below title
    • Institution Affiliation- Below Author's Name
    • Course Number- Below Institution
    • Course Professor- Below Course Number
    • Due Date- Below Professor Name

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  • Abstract
    • On a new page, write your abstract. 
    • Your abstract page should already include the page header.
    • On the first line of the abstract page, center and bold the word “Abstract” (no italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
    • An abstract is to 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.

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In-Text Citations

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, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

Basic Reference Formats

  • Books
    • Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
  • Websites
    • Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL
  • Journal Articles
    • Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.

All information found on this page is found on Purdue Owl's website. Please visit their site for more information. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html