Library Guides: APA Guide : Formatting

Formatting Rules

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Order of pages is covered in Section 2.17.

Arrange the pages of an APA Style paper in the following order:

title page
abstract
text
references
footnotes
tables
figures
appendices

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Title page setup is covered in Section 2.3.

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 example.

Accessible Version of the Title Page (Opens PDF, 22KB)

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Font Types are covered in Section 2.19.

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)

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Page Headers are covered in Section 2.18.

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.

How to Delete or Change a Header or Footer on a Single Page
From Microsoft Office
How to Add Page Numbers to a Header or Footer in Word for Windows
From Microsoft Office
How to Add a Header or Footer
From Microsoft Office

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Line spacing is covered in Section 2.21

Line Spacing
From APA Style

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Margins are covered in Section 2.22

Margins
From APA Style

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Paragraph alignment and indentation are covered in Sections 2.23 and 2.24

Paragraph Alignment and Indentation
From APA Style
How to Create a Hanging Indent
From Microsoft Office

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Headings are covered in Sections 2.26 and 2.27

Headings
From APA Style

APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition - Tables and Figures are covered in Chapter 7.

Tables and Figures Rules
From: APA Style

Appendices allow you to include detailed information in your paper that would be distracting in the main body of the paper. See Sample Paper for examples of an Appendix.

Appendices Rules
From: OWL Purdue

Sample Papers

Student Sample Paper (PDF 1.16MB opens new window)
From APA Style: Sample of a paper written for credit in a course.
NOTE: Highlighting is only used to emphasize the location of the citation within the example. Do not highlight within your paper.
Student Sample Paper - Download Version (opens Word, 35.6KB)
From APA Style: Sample student paper in Microsoft Word (.docx) file format without the annotations.
NOTE: Highlighting is only used to emphasize the location of the citation within the example. Do not highlight within your paper.
Student Sample Paper - OWL Purdue
From OWL Purdue
NOTE: Highlighting is only used to emphasize the location of the citation within the example. Do not highlight within your paper.