Document Format:
Margins - 1 inch all sides, including top, bottom, left and right (p. 229)
Font preference and size - The preferred font is 12-pt Times New Roman. (p. 228)
Line Spacing - Double spacing should occur throughout the document, including quotations of 40 or more words. (pp. 171 & 229)
Page Numbers - Page numbers should be located in upper right corner, unless specified differently from your instructor. Be sure to include a page number on the title page, too! (p. 230)
Paragraph Indentation - Paragraphs should be indented 5-7spaces or 1/2 inch. (p. 229)
Setting up your Paper in Proper APA Style - this is a video tutorial created by the CSS Library. It will demonstrate how to set up a paper in proper APA Style in Word for a PC.
YouTube video that shows how to set up MS-Word for APA format
Atomic Learning - Many short tutorials on all aspects of APA from how to create a title page to compiling your references. You will have to log in with your network username and password (same as for Blackboard and CSS email). To find the tutorials, click on Workshops.
To separate the parts within the body of your paper, APA has five different levels of headings. Think of these levels similar to what an outline has and how the main topics have Roman numerals, subtopics have capital letters, the next level has Arabic numbers and so on.
Ask your professor if they wish to have you use headings in your paper. Long, formal papers should have headings especially if they include an abstract at the beginning.
Here are the five levels and how they should be formatted:
1. Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
2. Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3. Indented five spaces, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. Begin the text of your first sentence after the period.
4. Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin the text of your first sentence after the period.
5. Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin the text of your first sentence after the period.
Always start your reference list on a new page.
Page title - The word References should appear centered at the top of the page. If you have only 1 citation the title should be Reference.
Line Spacing - Double space between each line. (p. 180)
Alignment - The first line of each entry should align with the left margin. All subsequent lines should be indented 5 spaces or set a hanging indent at 1/2 inch. (p. 180)
Order of entries - Alphabetical order by author. If there is no author, use the title of the document. If you have more than one entry by the same author, then arrange by year beginning with the earliest publication. (p. 181)