Left-aligned running head at the top of every page in caps; include "Running head" before the title On subsequent pages, include the title without the words "Running head."
Style
Use active voice.
Be specific and concise; avoid poetic and figurative language.
Use past or present perfect tense for a literature review and description. Use past tense when referring to results and experiments previously conducted. (see pp. 65-66)
Title Page
Running head and page number in title
Center the Title, Your Name, and the Institution Name in the upper-middle of the page.
Abstract
Should be on the second page of the document and contain running head and page number.
The word "Abstract" should be centered on the first line.
Brief, comprehensive summary of paper about 150-250 words.
Do not indent the first line.
The abstract is not an introduction and will not contain any citations; see pp. 25-27 for what types of information to include.
Main Body
Headings
APA uses heading to separate paper sections. Always use headings in order, beginning with level 1.
For each section, include at least two subsection headings or non at all (see p. 62)
First level: centered, boldface, uppercase and lowercase heading
Second level: left-aligned, boldface, uppercase and lowercase heading
Third level: indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period
Fourth level: indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period
Fifth level: indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period
References
In-Text Citations
Used whenever another author's work is directly quoted or paraphrased
Citations use an author, date format: (Author, Publication Year)
Citation for direct quotes should include the page number
Any quotation longer than 40 words should be made into a freestanding block of text with quotation marks removed (see p. 171)
If no author is given, use a shortened version of the title
If publication date is unknown, use "n.d." in its place
For electronic sources that don't include page numbers, use paragraph numbers (see pp. 171-172)
For works with three or more authors, list all in the first citation. For subsequent citations, list the first author and "et. al."
Two types of sources are cited only in-text: classical works and personal communications. The Bible is considered a classical book in APA. When citing in-text, include the reference and version used. (see pp. 171-174)
Reference List
The second line and all subsequent lines of each item on the reference list should be indented.
The reference list should be double spaced.
Book
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
Article in a periodical
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
Article from an online periodical
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Web site
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from
http://Web address
