An APA style paper follows a specific set of formatting and citation rules published by the American Psychological Association, now in its 7th edition. Whether you’re writing a research paper for a psychology course or submitting a manuscript for publication, the core requirements cover page layout, a structured title page, heading levels, in-text citations, and a reference list. Here’s how to set up and write each part correctly.
Page Formatting Basics
Before you start writing, set up your document with these specifications. Use 1-inch margins on all four sides of the page. Double-space the entire paper, with no exceptions for block quotations, headings, the reference list, or any other element. Every line in the document gets double spacing.
APA 7th edition allows several font choices. You can use 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 11-point Georgia, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, among others. The key rule is consistency: pick one font and use it throughout. Place page numbers in the top-right corner of the header, starting with page 1 on the title page.
Setting Up the Title Page
APA distinguishes between student papers and professional papers, and the title page is where those differences are most visible. If you’re writing for a class, use the student version unless your instructor says otherwise.
A student title page includes the paper title, your name, your institutional affiliation, the course number and name, the instructor’s name, the assignment due date, and the page number. Center all of this information on the page. Student papers do not include a running head (a shortened title repeated in the header of every page) unless the instructor specifically requests one.
A professional title page, used for journal submissions, includes the paper title, author names, institutional affiliations, an author note, and a running head. The running head appears in the page header in all capital letters, flush left, on every page of the paper.
For both versions, the paper title should be bold, centered, and in title case (capitalize major words). Keep it concise and descriptive, ideally under 12 words.
Using APA Heading Levels
APA provides five levels of headings to organize your paper, though most student papers only need the first two or three. Think of them like an outline: Level 1 is your main section, Level 2 is a subsection within it, and so on.
- Level 1: Centered, bold, title case. The text begins as a new paragraph below.
- Level 2: Flush left, bold, title case. The text begins as a new paragraph below.
- Level 3: Flush left, bold italic, title case. The text begins as a new paragraph below.
- Level 4: Indented, bold, title case, ending with a period. The text continues on the same line.
- Level 5: Indented, bold italic, title case, ending with a period. The text continues on the same line.
Notice that Levels 1 through 3 stand alone on their own line, while Levels 4 and 5 run into the paragraph text. Use heading levels in order; don’t skip from Level 1 to Level 3. If your paper has only one layer of subsections, use Level 1 for main sections and Level 2 for subsections.
Writing In-Text Citations
APA uses the author-date method for citing sources within your paper. Every time you reference someone else’s idea, data, or language, you include the author’s last name and the year of publication. There are two ways to do this: parenthetical citations and narrative citations.
A parenthetical citation places the author and year in parentheses at the end of the sentence. For example: Research has shown that students struggle most with citation formatting during their first semester (Jones, 1998). If you’re quoting directly, add the page number: (Jones, 1998, p. 199).
A narrative citation weaves the author’s name into the sentence itself, with the year in parentheses right after the name. For example: Jones (1998) found that “students often had difficulty using APA style” (p. 199). This approach works well when you want to emphasize who conducted the research.
For works with two authors, include both names every time you cite the source, connected by an ampersand in parenthetical citations (Smith & Lee, 2020) or “and” in narrative citations (Smith and Lee, 2020). For works with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” on every citation, including the first one. So a paper by Garcia, Chen, and Patel becomes (Garcia et al., 2021).
Structuring the Body of Your Paper
Most APA papers follow a predictable structure, though the exact sections depend on the type of paper you’re writing. A research report typically includes an introduction, method, results, and discussion. A literature review or theoretical paper may have sections organized around themes or arguments instead.
The introduction comes right after the title page (and abstract, if required). You don’t label it “Introduction” because APA assumes readers know the opening section is the introduction. Instead, repeat your paper title as a Level 1 heading at the top of the first page of text, then begin writing.
For a research paper, the Method section describes your participants, materials, and procedures in enough detail that someone could replicate your study. The Results section presents your findings with relevant statistics. The Discussion section interprets those findings, addresses limitations, and suggests directions for future research. Each of these gets a Level 1 heading.
If your instructor requires an abstract, it goes on its own page immediately after the title page. Center the word “Abstract” in bold at the top of the page, then write a single paragraph (no indentation) of around 150 to 250 words summarizing the paper’s purpose, methods, key findings, and conclusions.
Building the Reference List
The reference list appears on a new page at the end of your paper. Center the word “References” in bold at the top. Every source you cited in the text must appear here, and every entry in the reference list must have a corresponding in-text citation.
List entries alphabetically by the first author’s last name. Use a hanging indent for each entry, meaning the first line is flush left and subsequent lines are indented half an inch. Double-space everything, with no extra space between entries.
The basic template for most references follows this pattern: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Source information. Here’s how that looks for the most common source types:
For a journal article, include the author(s), year, article title (in sentence case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized), journal name in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, page range, and DOI if available. Example: Smith, J. R. (2022). Effects of sleep deprivation on memory recall. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 45(3), 112-128. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx
For a book, include the author(s), year, book title in italics and sentence case, and publisher. Example: Garcia, L. M. (2019). Foundations of behavioral research. Oxford University Press.
For a webpage, include the author or organization, date (or “n.d.” if no date is available), page title in italics, site name, and URL. Example: World Health Organization. (2023). Mental health in the workplace. https://www.who.int/example
Formatting Tips That Save Time
Set up your margins, font, spacing, and header before you start writing. In most word processors, you can create a template with 1-inch margins, double spacing, and a right-aligned header with automatic page numbers, then reuse it for every assignment.
Use your word processor’s paragraph settings to create the hanging indent on reference entries rather than manually pressing Tab. In most programs, you can set a “special” indent to “hanging” at 0.5 inches, and it will apply automatically to each reference.
Paragraph indentation throughout the body of the paper should be 0.5 inches for the first line of each paragraph. You can set this in your paragraph formatting so you don’t have to hit Tab at the start of every paragraph.
When you proofread, check that every in-text citation matches an entry on your reference list and vice versa. Mismatches between citations and references are one of the most common point deductions on student papers. Also verify that author names and years are consistent between the text and the reference list, since small typos (a 2021 in the text but 2022 in the reference) are easy to miss.