APA Style Guide - 7th edition

These online sources from the APA Style website and two Online Writing Labs (OWLs) contain information and examples on how to write an APA-style student paper, references and in-text citations.  These are good sources for double checking references and in-text citations. 

• Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL) - APA Style 
• APA Style and Grammar Guidelines (Reference Examples section here)
• OWL at Purdue - APA Style References
• APA Common Reference Examples Guide
• APA Sample Student Paper 
• APA Basic Tutorial and Webinars 

• Here is a Sample Student Paper from the APA Style website (pages 61–67 of the APA Manual).  It is also listed in the Really Good Websites tab.  
• Here is a Sample Professional Paper from the APA Style website (pages 50–60 of the APA Manual).  
• Instructors may prefer one over the other.  If in doubt, ask your instructor.  

The APA Style website is a great place to guide you in formatting your paper.  

• Margins: 
  • Leave uniform margins of at least 1 inch (2.54 cm) at the top, bottom, left and right of every page.
• Spacing: 
  • In general, double-space all parts of an APA Style paper, including most elements of the title page, abstract, text, between paragraphs, block quotes, and reference list (including between and within entries).
  • Exception: insert a double-spaced blank line between the title and the author (your name) on the title page. 
  • Find other exceptions on spacing for tables, figures, footnotes and displayed equations here. 
• Fonts:
  • Times New Roman 12-point is always a safe choice, but here are other permitted fonts.
• Page Numbers:
  • Put page numbers in the top, right corner. 
  • Use the Headers function of your word processing tool.  
  • Start with the title page (1). 
• Title page: 
  • Page number in upper, right corner (1), return 3 to 4 times for title
  • Text centered
  • Title: bold font, capitalize major words (4 spaces between title and author)
  • Author (you)
  • Affiliation (Lorain County Community College)
  • Course
  • Instructor
  • Due date
• Running Head:  
  • Not required for student papers (different from APA 6 Manual).
• The order of pages is:
  • 1: title page
  • 2: abstract (usually not required for student papers unless requested by the instructor)
  • 3–?: text
  • References (start on a separate page)
  • Footnotes (start on a separate page)
  • Tables (start on a separate page)
  • Figures (start each on a separate page; include caption on page with figure)
  • Appendixes (start on a separate page)

For more details see pages 29–67 in the APA Manual.