apa research paper format 2021

APA Formatting and Style (7th ed.) for Student Papers

• What's New in the 7th ed.?
• Principles of Plagiarism: An Overview
• Basic Paper Formatting
• Basic Paper Elements
• Punctuation, Capitalization, Abbreviations, Apostrophes, Numbers, Plurals
• Tables and Figures
• Powerpoint Presentations
• Reference Page Format
• Periodicals (Journals, Magazines, Newspapers)
• Books and Reference Works
• Webpage on a Website
• Discussion Post
• Company Information & SWOT Analyses
• Dissertations or Theses
• ChatGPT and other AI Large Language Models
• Online Images
• Online Video
• Computer Software and Mobile Apps
• Missing Information
• Two Authors
• Three or More Authors
• Group Authors
• Missing Author
• Chat GPT and other AI Large Language Models
• Secondary Sources
• Block Quotations
• Fillable Template and Sample Paper
• Government Documents and Legal Materials
• APA Style 7th ed. Tutorials
• Additional APA 7th Resources
• Grammarly - your writing assistant
• Writing Center - Writing Skills This link opens in a new window
• Brainfuse Online Tutoring

APA 7th ed. Fillable Word Template and Sample Paper

• APA 7th ed. Template Download this Word document, fill out the title page and get writing!
• Sample Paper APA 7th ed. Our APA sample paper shows you how to format the main parts of a basic research paper.
• APA 7th Sample Papers from Purdue Owl
• << Previous: Block Quotations
• Next: Government Documents and Legal Materials >>
• Last Updated: May 3, 2024 2:22 PM
• URL: https://national.libguides.com/apa_7th

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APA Format Quick Guide

Additional Navigation

Note to students using Grammarly: See this resource on Grammarly’s Place in the Writing Process

APA-7 delineates two versions: the student version and the professional version. Formatting elements except the title page, running head, and abstract are the same across both versions. At Liberty University, all undergraduate must use the student version and all graduate and doctoral students must use the professional version. Sample papers and templates in each version are linked below.

Have a formatting question?

Online students.

See a list of all services available to  online students at  www.liberty.edu/onlinewritingcenter

Residential Students

See a list of all services available to  residential  students at  www.liberty.edu/writing

Undergraduate Students

• Will follow APA-7’s “Student Version”
• Simplified title page
• No running head
• No abstract

Detailed sample APA-7 paper with visual aids, indexed by topic for Undergraduate Students APA-7 template for Undergraduate Students

Graduate & Doctoral Students

• Will follow APA-7’s “Professional Version”
• Expanded title page
• Running head required (same on all pages)
• Abstract required (unless specified in instructions)

Detailed sample APA-7 paper with visual aids, indexed by topic for Graduate/Doctoral Students APA-7 template for Graduate/Doctoral Students

Helpful Resources

• Comprehensive APA-7 Reference List (PDF)
• APA-7 References to Legal Materials – Bluebook (PDF)
• Sample Annotated Bibliography for  Undergraduate  Students (PDF)
• Sample Annotated Bibliography for  Graduate/Doctoral  Students
• Choosing Appropriate Resources for Academic Papers (PDF)
• Citing Artificial Intelligence (AI) when permitted to use (PDF)

Video Tutorials – Plagiarism

• Plagiarism series – Video #1 of 4: Introduction: How often can students quote other sources?
• Plagiarism series – Video #2 of 4: How and when to cite your sources
• Plagiarism series – Video #3 of 4: The three kinds of plagiarism
• Plagiarism series – Video #4 of 4: Proactive and foolproof steps to avoid plagiarism
• Use active voice, rather than  passive voice (PDF) .
• Be specific and concise.
• Avoid poetic or figurative language; scientific writing is the most appropriate for APA.
• Use past or present perfect tense (e.g., researchers have shown) for a literature review and description, and past tense when referring to results and experiments previously conducted.
• Title case = all significant words, usually those with 4+ letters, must be capitalized. Title case is used for titles of works mentioned in the body of your paper, and for the names of journals in your reference list.  All five heading levels also use title case.
• Sentence case = only the first letter of the first word, proper nouns, and the word following a colon, if any, should begin with capital letters. Sentence case is used for all resource titles in the reference list (i.e., book or article titles, webpages, etc.).
• Use quotation marks around the titles of shorter works (i.e., articles or poems) and italics for the names of larger words (i.e., books or plays) mentioned in the body of your paper.
• APA-7 allows a wide array of fonts and sizes but Liberty University prefers all course assignments to be completed in  12-point Times New Romans or 11-point Calibri font .
• APA papers use headings to separate paper sections and establish a hierarchy of information. Short papers (usually five pages or less in the body of the paper) may not have any headings unless required, but longer papers benefit from the organizational aspects of headings.
• Always begin with Level 1 headings and apply the appropriate heading and subheading levels from there. Do not simply progress from Level 1 to Level 2 to Level 3.
• For each heading, include at least two subsection headings or none at all. This follows the same principle as an outline: Section one would be divided into sections A and B or more; A cannot stand alone.
• As such, heading levels align with outline levels: Capital Roman letters in an outline become Level 1 headings, Capital Arabic letters become Level 2 headings, etc.
• Please note that some of the sample papers published by APA to demonstrate proper APA-7 format (including the “professional” version on pp. 50-60 of the APA-7 manual) depict the “Conclusion” section with a Level-2 heading. This is limited to empirical papers that are being submitted for publication in scholarly journals, as those conclusions pertain to the “Discussion” sections in such papers and are not conclusions of the overall papers themselves. Conclusions in academic papers at Liberty University will be Level 1 headings (including dissertations and theses, which are divided by chapters, unlike journal article manuscripts).
• A paper may only have Level 1 headings if it is not divided into smaller subsections — or the content under some Level 1 headings may include two or more Level 2 headings (and some content under Level 2 headings may include two or more Level 3 headings).
• Level 1 : centered, boldface, in title case, with the content beginning on the line below
• Level 2 : left-aligned, boldface, in title case, with the content beginning on the line below
• Level 3 : left-aligned, boldface, italicized, in title case, with the content beginning on the line below
• Level 4 : indented, boldface, in title case with a period, then one space, and begin your content on the same line
• Level 5 : indented, boldface, italicized, in title case with a period, then one space, and begin your content on the same line
• An in-text citation is used whenever another author’s work is directly quoted or paraphrased.
• Citations for paraphrases use an author/date format: (Author, Publication Year), e.g. (Smith, 2007).
• The citation for a direct quote should also include the page number: (Author, Year, p. #). If no page number is available (as in the case of an online webpage), list the paragraph: (Author, Year, para. 11). APA-7 expands this to including descriptive location details to get your reader to that content in longer non-paginated electronic resources such as e-books.  In such cases, provide a heading or section name. If the heading or section name is brief (generally four words or less) include the full name, without quotation marks (i.e., Owen, 2020,  Attachment Disorders section, para. 8).  If the heading or section name is too long (generally, more than four words), use an abbreviation of the heading or section, encapsulated in quotation marks. For example, for a section named “Peace and Power in Modern Day Relationships,” the citation would be (Owen, 2020, “Peace and Power” section, para. 3).
• You can move information from the in-text citations to other parts of the sentence that the quote is part of as long as all required elements are present: e.g. Smith (2007) says, “arrows are sharp” (p. 8). However, the date follows the author’s/authors’ name(s), unless APA’s exception applies for subsequent citations of the same resource in a paragraph in which the first such citation was narrative in-text (not parenthetical; discussed further in Liberty University OWC’s sample APA papers).
• The page number   follows a direct quote, even if these elements are split within your sentence. For example, Smith and Harlow (2011) elaborated on this by suggesting that “paper planes can float” (p. 8).  Owen (2017) posited that “foxes can fly” (p. 17) in her dream analysis.
• Any quotation longer than 39 words should be made into a freestanding “block” of text, with  no quotation marks (see Liberty University OWC’s sample APA papers due to formatting limitations of this webpage ).
• The entire left margin of block quotes should be indented one-half inch as a whole “block” (with no extra indent on the first line).
• The parenthetical citation with the page number on block quotes follows the quote and period, with no additional punctuation after it (unlike shorter quotes, where the parenthetical citation falls within the sentence itself with the period following it).

Special Rule Regarding Repeat Cit ations

• APA-7 allows writers to cite their source only once per paragraph,  provided   the reader can discern where the other sentence(s) derived from. This requires specific structuring. For example: Owen (2020) claimed that “foxes can fly” (p. 17). She detailed their nocturnal habits. Her research gave critical insight into this population.
• In each of the second and third sentences above, the sentences were structured in such a way that the content clearly refers back to Owen’s work. In the case of Bible verses, it is easy for the reader to understand that subsequent citations of those came from whichever Bible version was cited earlier in that paragraph. For any subsequent verses cited in a paragraph that already has a full Bible citation, you can just use the verse itself. In each new paragraph (or if you change versions in the same paragraph), you will need to include the full citation.
• For example: God calls each of us to witness to others to “make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” ( New American Standard Bible , 1971/1995, Ephesians 6:19-20). Mark 13:10 and Matthew 28:19 command us to preach to all nations and make disciples… There is no need to add the Bible version in that second sentence because the reader knows both of those verses refer to the same version of the Bible cited in the previous sentence.
• The rules for Bible citations have changed completely; you must now cite the Bible version in the body of the paper and include it in your reference list. Please see the appropriate sample APA-7 paper for your level of study for a detailed discussion of this .
• Note that APA-7 specifies to cite Bibles in “book formats” (p. 302) that are “treated as having no author.” Below are some examples of the hard copy references versus online references of some common versions. The citations are the same for both, as they contain the version name and the year(s) of publication. If you are using a different version, you will format it by following the examples given below (be sure to include a hanging indent, which this webpage cannot feature).
• Scripture should be cited from one of the mainstream Bible versions (see list of some below). Study Bibles are generally NOT considered scholarly, as the notes within can be quite biased depending on the author of those notes, and thus Study Bibles should only be used sparingly by Divinity students as to exegetical projects.
• When including a verse, place it in the locator position after the year (in place of the page number). For example, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” ( New American Standard Bible , 1971/1995, John 3:16). You can also introduce it in the text of the sentence itself: John 3:16 proclaims that “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” ( New American Standard Bible , 1971/1995).

Liberty University Class Lectures

Since the purpose and function of APA references is to ensure the reader has sufficient information to be able to locate the original source if necessary, include course details and credit Liberty University when referencing class lectures and PowerPoint presentations since the URL does not provide sufficient locator details itself. Italicize the name of the lecture itself. If the course has multiple lectures per week, you can include the week and lecture numbers; otherwise omit those elements.

If you have a direct URL, use that (see the Peters reference below); otherwise use the URL to Liberty University’s Canvas homepage (the reference on the left below). If the date is provided (see the Peters reference below), use that; otherwise use the year and semester that you took the course in (the reference on the left below):

When no presenter is named in the video itself, name Liberty University in the author’s position : Liberty University. (2021, Spring). BIOL 102: Human biology. Week one, lecture two:  Name of class lecture . https://canvas.liberty.edu

When a presenter is provided, name that person in the author’s position and include Liberty University in the publisher’s position after the name of the lecture:  Peters, C. (2012). COUN 506, Week one, lecture two:  Defining integration: Key concepts . Liberty University. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/definingintegration-keyconcepts/id427907777?i=1000092371727

 References

• Center the word “ References ” (in bold font but without quotation marks) on the top line of a new page following your conclusion.  This term is also now regarded as a Level 1 heading.  If you have only one resource to cite in the entire paper, APA authorizes the use of singular “ Reference .”
• Use hanging indents (the first line of each entry should be left-justified, with lines two+ indented ½” from the left margin).
• Alphabetize all entries by the first word in each (usually the first author’s last name for each).
• Note that you must include a comma after the author’s name that precedes the ampersand in the reference list, even when there are only two authors.  This does not apply to citations in the body of the paper.
• There should only be one space after periods in the reference list entries, just as in the body of the paper.
• If a work has more than 20 authors, list the first 19 followed by an ellipsis (…).  Include the last author’s name immediately after the ellipsis as the final author mentioned.   Do not include an ampersand (&) in references with 20 or more authors .
• Note that APA-7 allows writers to superscript the suffixes of ordinal numbers, as long as the writer is consistent throughout (see section 6.35 of the APA-7 manual).  The examples included in the resources in this Quick Guide include superscripted suffixes for all book edition numbers, in accordance with APA-7’s option to do so.
• Do include reference entries for classical works including the Bible.
• Do not include reference entries for personal communication.
• Do not include a period after a URL or DOI.
• Note that the issue number of a journal article should be connected/attached to the volume number — e.g.,  12 (8).  The volume number should be italicized, but the attached parentheses and issue number should not.
• Check  Google Scholar or Crossref  for DOIs of all articles published since 2007, if one is not readily denoted on the article itself.
• Format all DOI entries in URL format (https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxx).
• Omit the publisher city and state in most cases (exception: conferences and symposiums).
• Only include the access date for online content that is likely to change (such as wikis).

• See the links at the top of this page for expansive reference entry examples.

Material on this page and related links adapted from the Seventh Edition of the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association .

How to Write a Research Paper in APA Format

Table of contents

• 1 Understanding APA Style
• 2 What’s New in APA 7th Edition?
• 3.1 Title Page Components
• 3.2 Running Heads
• 3.3 Table of Contents
• 4.1 Abstract
• 4.3 Reference Page
• 5 In-text Citations
• 6 Rules for Abbreviations
• 7 How to Use Numbers in APA?
• 8 Rules for Punctuation
• 9 Usage of Graphics (Photos, Tables, and Figures) in APA Format
• 10 APA Style Helps to Make Your Research Unique and Accurate!

The APA writing style format stands for American Psychological Association and represents a set of rules and conventions used in research papers. This guide will help you learn basic APA formatting guidelines and showcase the practical use.

• You will learn the general requirements for the APA format.
• We focus on the general structure used in the APA research paper.
• You will master in-text citations by exploring various examples.
• An analysis of abbreviation rules, punctuation, and numbers in APA.
• An exploration of graphics, tables, and figures used in APA research.

Take your time to look through each part presented below. If you are new to APA style or need to check yourself before submitting your research assignment, you will find help!

Understanding APA Style

By learning to write research papers in APA and understanding the rules, you can organize your arguments and credit both primary and secondary sources. The purpose is to give due credit and avoid plagiarism issues. Understanding the APA style format well is directly related to being academically successful. The most important thing is to take your time to learn formatting rules and conventions before starting with a research paper. The complexity and time it requires often force students to seek additional help based on APA formatting rules. While there are basic templates on how to write an APA research paper, every assignment will represent subtle changes that every student must know.

APA style can be used for almost any style of research work because it is meant to represent references and is a unified style used for research purposes. Moreover, the APA style improves accessibility and allows readers to comprehend things more easily. Correct consistency, citation format, and punctuation rules allow one to focus on the paper’s content and structure by easily finding all the required bits. The most important aspect of understanding APA-style research format is knowing how to provide credit to original authors and implement various types of citing. Since there are graphics, tables, and figures that a research paper may require, one should take time to see how to format it correctly.

The APA-style guidelines are constantly updated according to feedback from researchers and educational stakeholders. Looking through the manuals, authors use the same credible and well-recognized format, which makes their research content organized, unique, and easy to read. It helps to avoid confusion as you write a research paper in APA format when searching for similar research papers or finding bibliographic data.

Currently in its 7th edition, the APA style constantly brings updates and corrections officially published by the American Psychological Association manual.

What’s New in APA 7th Edition?

If your college professor asks you to submit a research paper in APA 7th edition, yet you do not know what is APA format, have no worries! it means you should follow the latest updates and changes since the prior formatting style. The major update mostly focuses on the differences between a professional research paper and a basic student assignment regarding accessibility. You will also encounter diverse writing examples that can be followed and brief APA guidelines. We have narrowed things down to the most important changes, including the title page in APA style. Since the talk is about a research paper, its presence becomes essential.

An APA research paper format cover page must include the following elements:

• Paper’s title.
• Student’s name.
• Affiliation (school, university, department, etc).
• Course number and title
• Your course instructor.
• Submission date.

Recommended fonts include:

• Times New Roman, pt. 12.
• Calibri, Arial, Georgia, pt. 11.
• Lucida, Sans Unicode, Computer Modern, pt. 10.

Running heads are no longer necessary when you write a paper in APA format. When dealing with a professional paper or something meant for publishing, omit the “Running Head:” part before your title’s paper.

APA 6th edition: Running Head: Video Games and Teenage Violence Cases

APA 7th edition: Video Games and Teenage Violence Cases

Some other updated APA 7th edition rules include:

• In writing a paper in APA format, pronouns should include “They” as a gender-neutral construction.
• Bias-free language guidelines have been added to focus on socioeconomic status, cultural norms, and intersectionality.
• Spacing after sentences should be single.
• Tables and figures had minor changes as well. Tables and figures should include a name and number above the element and a note underneath.
• If you implement three or more authors for your source, you can shorten your references with the Latin “et al.” addition after the author’s first name.

APA 6th edition: (Blake, Jones, Yannick 2021)

APA 7th edition : (Blake et al., 2021) When you cite books in APA format for a research paper, the publisher’s location is no longer required. E-books do not need the medium part (Kindle, PDF, etc). The use of DOIs should be formatted as a hyperlink. URLs do not need the “Retrieved from” part.

General Requirements for APA Format

The main requirements for APA format include attention to the paper’s length, margins, basic page layout, and structural elements.

• Recommended introduction and conclusion should be 15% of the total word count.
• The margin requirements should be 8.5 x 11 inches, double-spaced.
• When writing an APA research paper, the recommended font size is Times New Roman, 12-point.

Title Page Components

The latest APA edition requires a research paper’s updated APA title page. One must include the paper’s title, the author’s name, your institutional affiliation, course name, instructor’s credentials, and the assignment’s due date. The rest of the rules when writing in APA format for a title page in APA are:

• The title should be centered and typed in a bold font.
• Your paper should have a title one or two lines long.
• The title may contain both uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Do not make your title irrelevant, and avoid abbreviations.
• The title’s formatting should be double-spaced.

When it’s not an APA format for college paper, the rules will change. If you are dealing with a professional paper, your title should be followed by your research’s location and affiliation. Such papers will include special notes from the author in three paragraphs. The first paragraph should include the author’s name and a special ORCID ID. If the author is deceased at publication, such information goes to the second paragraph. The third professional title paragraph must include various paper acknowledgments and disclosures as per APA paper requirements.

Running Heads

Running heads are no longer necessary when you are a student. Professional papers still require it by omitting the “Running head” element. The rules in APA 7th edition state the following:

• A running head is flushed to the left paper’s left.
• Your running head should be no longer than 50 characters with spacing and punctuation.
• The standard APA format running head must be all uppercase.
• The header includes the page number aligned to the right in both research paper types.

Table of Contents

While it’s not obligatory for an APA research paper, it may still be required to provide a roadmap for the readers. Still, if your paper is lengthy, APA paper formatting recommends including it. The rules for the table of contents state the following:

• The same font size and font must be double-spaced as in the rest of your paper.
• The table of contents begins with a centered “Table of Contents” heading.
• Place your table of contents in boldface at the top of the page after your APA research paper cover page.
• All the main headings must be aligned to the left.
• Subheadings are indented by five spaces.
• Lower-level headings may be included if necessary, yet they require additional indents.
• All headings for your table of contents must be in the title case and have dotted lines between the headings.
• Writing an APA style paper, use corresponding page numbers to increase the readability.
• Supplementary and preliminary elements must be numbered.

Formatting Main Parts of Research Paper

While there may be additional paragraphs and elements, a typical APA research paper will include an introduction with a thesis statement, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You must also include an abstract for certain cases and a reference page, an obligatory part of APA style requirements.

Regardless of whether you have been asked to provide an outline, the APA outline for research paper still requires the presence of an abstract. As a rule, it comes after the title page, becoming a brief outline or a paper summary. While an outline for APA research paper will include a list of bullet points, an abstract speaks of research objectives and methods. The purpose is to help readers understand what a research paper will be about. Do not include citations or any information irrelevant to the main assignment’s idea. When writing a research paper in APA format, one should provide a summary and represent content similar to the brief book’s description.

An abstract starts on a separate page with the word “Abstract”, which must be centered. The volume of an abstract should be between 150 and 250 words. The content of the abstract should reflect the paper’s structure and main idea or an argument presented in a thesis. APA format rules state that the list of keywords may also be required, especially for planning purposes. Separating them by commas and using up to 7-10 relevant terms is recommended.

A typical research paper will include an APA introduction paragraph, at least five body parts, and a conclusion. All the paragraphs come with an indent. An introduction comes after the paper’s title and an abstract. The main purpose of an introduction is to provide readers with background information and a critical analysis of empirical knowledge. One should explain as to why certain research has been conducted. The beginning of an introduction or an APA style intro page should contain a hook sentence and remain thought-provoking, which is why the APA 7th edition manual recommends using your thoughts and avoiding citations. If necessary, limit yourself to 1-2 citations in an introduction.

The body paragraphs may contain three to five paragraphs with the centered heading’s alignment. When dealing with a scientific research paper, one should format APA paper correctly and start with the following parts:

• Methods. This part must be precise and comprehensive to help researchers replicate the method that you have used. It should be done in an explanatory tone. The method paragraph can be divided into Participants, Materials, and Procedure or Proc?es sections. These sections must be present in bold font and aligned to the left.
• Results. The results in APA format for writing a paper must speak of the analysis data and explain the results obtained. It is where you usually implement graphs, tables, and any visual information to boost one’s comprehension.
• Discussion. It is where you must interpret and compare your data with existing literature on the topic. The discussion section must be organized oppositely to your introduction. Exploring APA for science paper, you shall see that you start with specific information by making things broader. Any limitations must be included here.

The final paragraph of your research paper must talk about the importance of your study and explain what has been added to research on the topic.

Reference Page

The APA format reference is the heart of your research paper. It provides a detailed list of sources that you have used throughout the APA formatted research paper that must be submitted.

• You must start on a new page by naming it “References” and keeping it centered and on top.
• The first line of the reference page must be aligned to the left and have all the following lines with an indent.
• The references in APA must be arranged alphabetically and double-spaced.
• Books and journal titles must be placed in italics when citing.
• The punctuation and capitalization present in the source are retained even if they go against the writing standards. It is especially relevant when you write a Psychology research paper or deal with social sciences.

The reference page must be done clearly and contain all the necessary information for a source. If the source has insufficient data, it is recommended to avoid it as such an APA research paper loses credibility and is prone to plagiarism risks.

If you are struggling with citing sources and do not know if your findings are reliable, consult your academic advisor. Seeing a sample of APA research paper under an expert’s guidance may be helpful.

In-text Citations

Once you include a citation in your research paper paragraphs, you must add the author’s name with a year of publication in parenthesis. It is one of the possible ways to do that for your APA format introduction paper or elsewhere. The thing is that the APA style provides two ways to implement in-text citations.

• Parenthetical citations: they are more common in academic writing. These require both reference elements (author and the year of publication) at the end of the sentence in parentheses. See this APA research paper format example:

Most rock musicians during the 1970s went after social and political activism (Bradley, 2023).

• Narrative citations: these make it possible to present your obligatory citation elements inside the sentence. It means you do not have to keep things repetitive or overly complex.

According to Bradley (2023), most rock musicians during the 1970s went after social and political activism.

• If you have two authors in your paper in APA format that are mentioned in the source entry, a parenthetical reference must mention them both:

(Lake & Emerson, 2009)

• If your source has three or more authors listed, a parenthetical reference adds a Latin “et al.” addition, which means “and others”.

(Lake et al., 2008)

• The authors’ names must be structured differently as long as you have more than one author. Things will change if there is no author listed.

Sometimes, you have to cite a web page or an organization where you won’t have such information available. In such a case, APA format requirements ask to list the institution’s name or a web page. Alternatively, you list the page’s name or an article you plan to cite.

Rock concert helps to raise thousands for domestic abuse victims . (2006). The Herald Review. URL.

• A journal article published in APA 7 research paper format will look this way:

Mills, C. (2013). The benefits of green tea for college students. Primary Health Care, 29 (4), 34-39. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

Rules for Abbreviations

When an abbreviation is planned for use less than three times, it is recommended to provide a complete description in your research paper APA format style. The rest of the rules:

• If you use abbreviations, periods are not required between each alphabet.
• When abbreviations are unfamiliar to your target audience, spell them the first time they are used.
• If abbreviations are present in the dictionary, spelling them may not be required.
• Speaking of units of measurement, an abbreviation may be used when placed next to a number in your APA format science paper. When it’s alone, it must be spelled out.
• Abbreviations should be used judiciously for an APA-style research assignment to guarantee that every bit is understood clearly.
• Double-check abbreviations for journals by checking relevant databases.

How to Use Numbers in APA?

The latest edition of the APA writing style has certain rules for using numbers. The most important thing is to write out numbers less than 10 in text. Now, you have to leave numbers above this number “as is”, as done in the APA format for research paper example below:

12 kilograms of fruit

Seven scientists have pointed out that…

It is much better to write numbers out in your APA paper writing when you start with a sentence and include a number. The same is true when you have a fraction or add a commonly used phrase or a word.

When providing numerical data, you must maintain consistency and double-check the provided information. These APA guidelines for research paper apply to footnotes or additional auxiliary information you may decide to provide.

Rules for Punctuation

Although the APA manual has many pages dedicated to punctuation, the general writing style rules apply. Writers should consider basic grammar rules, except citations, where different conventions apply. The only change one must consider is using a single space after punctuation marks. APA formatting requirements ask for an Oxford comma that should be placed. No space is placed or applied on either side if you plan to use em dashes.

• Use a semicolon to separate items in a list when those items contain commas (e.g., The authors included studies from Carey, 2011; Jones, 2012; and Wales, 2018).
• Use a colon to introduce a list, explanation, or example (e.g., The research addressed the following topics: data collection, analysis, and interpretation).
• Use parentheses to enclose supplementary information or citations (e.g., The participants completed the survey (see Appendix A) before the experiment).
• If the entire sentence is in parentheses, place the period inside the closing parenthesis (e.g., This is an example of a complete sentence in parentheses.).
• Use double quotation marks for direct quotations (e.g., The author stated, “The findings suggest a strong argument.”).
• Use single quotation marks for quotations within quotations (e.g., He said, “She told me, ‘It’s essential to make an excellent APA research paper title page.'”).
• Use an apostrophe for possessive forms (e.g., The author’s research findings).
• Use an apostrophe to indicate omitted letters in contractions (e.g., it’s for “it is”).
• En Dashes and Em Dashes
• Use an en dash (–) to represent a range of values (e.g., pages 20–30).
• Use an em dash (—) to set off a parenthetical phrase or to indicate an abrupt change in thought (e.g., The experiment—conducted over two months—yielded interesting results).
• Use brackets [ ] to enclose editorial comments within a quotation, especially when clarifying pronoun antecedents (e.g., “He [the participant] completed the task.”).

The rest of the research paper in APA format rules that must be mentioned include the following:

• When dealing with an in-text citation or writing an introduction in APA format, it must be placed before the final punctuation mark. See this example: The scientists have invested over 10,000 samples to help enhance the study group (Jones, 2016).
• When unsure about punctuation or the rules for a particular citation, the essay writing service can help you avoid plagiarism risks. You will learn how to achieve better clarity and readability.

Usage of Graphics (Photos, Tables, and Figures) in APA Format

Graphics and multimedia elements have become more common in APA-style research papers. Graphics and tables in APA should be numbered exactly as they appear in your paper. Remember that your graphic should add new information instead of stating something already mentioned. Compose APA format research paper outline first to avoid repetition and confusion.

When you add tables to your research, it should include the following:

• A table must be in 12-pt font and represent single or double-spaced content.
• The spacing should be the same across all tables with the same font.
• All headings in a table must be centered with information aligned to the left.
• When using photographs, they should be presented in black and white format.
• If any information is used that has been adapted or reproduced, you must add a citation.
• When writing an APA paper, avoid citations in tables and provide hyperlinks to multimedia or museum elements.

APA Style Helps to Make Your Research Unique and Accurate!

The most important aspect of correctly using the APA style format is avoiding plagiarism. When you provide citations and keep up with due credit, you separate what you write as an author. Likewise, it helps college professors and your audience to see what new information has been added and what has been borrowed.

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Brightspace Butler Library Research Assistance Modules

• Using Brightspace Badging Modules
• Earning & Showing Badges
• APA Formatting & Citations Module
• Scholarly Articles, Peer-Review, & Popular Sources Module
• Introduction to Library Databases & ALL-Search Module
• Overview of Using Microsoft Word to Format Your APA Paper

Link to Module

• Associated Video

Using Microsoft Word to Format Your APA Paper Module

Overview of   introduction to library databases & all-search module.

Badge: ALL-Search ALL-Star

Brightspace award credits: 5, estimated time to complete: 25 to 40 minutes , total quiz questions: 5, passing threshold: at or above 60% on each quiz, unlock quiz requirements: visit all content areas & sections before quiz appears, contents: .

• Section 1: Introduction to APA Formatting & MS Word 
• Section 2: Aspects of Formatting for a Student APA Paper & MS Word Concepts/Skills

Below is the link to the Using Microsoft Word to Format Your APA Paper Module. This module has an interactive component to it, please feel free to download the template and follow along with the tutorial video.  You will need to login to your Brightspace after clicking. You can also locate the Butler Library Research Assistance Modules organization in the home menu of your Brightspace. 

Associated Video Featured in Module

Using microsoft word to format your apa paper.

• MS Word APA Activity Template This MS Word document is to be used to follow along with the above step-by-step tutorial video.
• MS Word APA Directions This PDF is a printable list of the techniques and steps carried out in the tutorial video.
• << Previous: Introduction to Library Databases & ALL-Search Module

• Last Updated: Jul 23, 2024 9:47 AM
• URL: https://library.buffalostate.edu/librarymodules

• Free Tools for Students
• APA Citation Generator

Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.

A number of factors contribute to how well people adapt to adversities, including the ways in which individuals view and engage with the world, the availability and quality of social resources, and specific coping strategies.

Psychological research demonstrates that the resources and skills associated with resilience can be cultivated and practiced.

Adapted from the APA Dictionary of Psychology

Resources from APA

Building your resilience

Resilience for teens: 10 tips to build skills on bouncing back from rough times

Resilience guide for parents and teachers

Nature Meets Nurture

Building Psychological Resilience in Military Personnel

Motivation Myth Busters

The Pain Survival Guide, Rev. Ed.

Magination Press children’s books

Abracadabra!

The Hugging Tree

Doug’s Dung

Lucy's Light

Journal special issues

Psychiatric Rehabilitation for Veterans

Resilience and Trauma

Risk and Resilience in Sexual and Gender Minority Relationships

Collaborative and Participatory Research to Promote Engagement, Empowerment, and Resilience for Immigrant and Refugee Youth, Families, and Communities

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

APA Sample Paper

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Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here .

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Click this link to download the PDF handout of the APA Sample Paper.

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• Knowledge Base
• APA Style 6th edition
• APA format for academic papers (6th edition)

APA Format (6th ed.) for Academic Papers and Essays [Template]

Published on November 6, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on September 4, 2023.

In addition to guidelines for APA citations , there are format guidelines for academic papers and essays. They’re widely used by professionals, researchers and students.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

The most important APA format guidelines in the 6th edition are:

• Use 12 pt Times New Roman
• Set 1 inch page margins
• Apply double line spacing
• Insert a running head on every page
• Indent every new paragraph ½ inch

Table of contents

Apa format template, running head, reference page, in-text citations and references, setting up the apa format.

Instead of applying the APA guidelines to your document you can simply download the APA format template for Word.

Download APA Format Template (.docx)

Are your APA in-text citations flawless?

The AI-powered APA Citation Checker points out every error, tells you exactly what’s wrong, and explains how to fix it. Say goodbye to losing marks on your assignment!

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In the header of each page you include the paper title and page number. If your paper title is longer than 50 characters you should use a shortened version as running head. The page number should be positioned in the top right-hand corner. On the title page the APA running head is preceded by the words “Running head:”.

Throughout your paper you use different heading levels. The levels ranging from one to five help structure the document. Major headings, or heading 1, are used for the titles of chapters such as “Methods” or “Results”. Heading levels two to five are used for subheadings. Each heading level is formatted differently. These are the APA heading guidelines :

Title case capitalization : Capitalize the first, last, and principal words. Sentence case capitalization : Capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns.

Note that you are not required to include a table of contents in APA style , but if you do choose to include one, all headings should be formatted as plain text, with an additional indent for each level.

The APA title page , also called cover page, is the first page of your paper. The regular formatting guidelines regarding font and margins apply. In addition, an APA formatted title page contains:

• Running head including page number
• Full paper title (in title case)
• Author name(s), without titles and degrees
• Institutional affiliation

Note: APA style has specific guidelines for including more than one author or institutional affiliation on the title page .

Scribbr Citation Checker New

The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

An APA abstract is a one paragraph (± 250 words) summary of your paper. It introduces the objective or problem statement of the paper and includes information on the method, research results, and conclusions of your research. In a separate article we explain in-depth how to write an abstract .

Although most regular APA formatting guidelines apply, the abstract page also has specific requirements. The abstract starts with a centered heading “Abstract”. In contrast to regular APA headings, no styling is applied. The first line of the paragraph is, unlike regular paragraphs, not indented.

At the end of the abstract, keywords relevant to the research are included. These keywords improve the findability of your paper in databases. Indent the line with keywords and start with the italicized word “Keyword:”, followed by the keywords.

The APA reference page , also called reference list, is where all sources that are cited in the text are listed. The citations differs for each source type. Aside from the references itself the reference page as a whole also has specific APA formatting guidelines.

The APA reference page example below highlights those guidelines regarding page margins, hanging indent and the reference page title “References”. Furthermore, the reference list is sorted alphabetically . You can easily create APA references with Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator .

APA reference page example

APA format citations consist of parenthetical citation in the text ( APA 6 in-text citations ) and the full reference in the reference list. For each webpage, journal article, book or any other source specific citation guidelines apply.

To make things easier Scribbr created the free APA Citation Generator that cites every source perfectly. Just enter the URL, journal DOI or book ISBN and both the in-text citation and full reference are generated.

In addition, Scribbr has in-depth APA citation examples for every source type ranging from journal articles and books to YouTube videos and tweets .

This video will demonstrate how to set up the APA format in Google Docs.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2023, September 04). APA Format (6th ed.) for Academic Papers and Essays [Template]. Scribbr. Retrieved July 23, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/6th-edition/archived-format/

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Title Page Setup

A title page is required for all APA Style papers. There are both student and professional versions of the title page. Students should use the student version of the title page unless their instructor or institution has requested they use the professional version. APA provides a student title page guide (PDF, 199KB) to assist students in creating their title pages.

Student title page

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 this example.

Title page setup is covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 2.3 and the Concise Guide Section 1.6

Related handouts

• Student Title Page Guide (PDF, 263KB)
• Student Paper Setup Guide (PDF, 3MB)

Student papers do not include a running head unless requested by the instructor or institution.

Follow the guidelines described next to format each element of the student title page.

Professional title page

The professional title page includes the paper title, author names (the byline), author affiliation(s), author note, running head, and page number, as shown in the following example.

Follow the guidelines described next to format each element of the professional title page.