Running head: APA FORMATTING FOR THE LINUX USER

Formatting a Thesis in APA Style (6th Edition) Using Apache's OpenOffice Suite (version
4.1.1)
Ragnarok Vorkel

Author Note
This author has expert knowledge in all thing's Linux/Unix. This was intended for authors
and researchers who cannot afford Microsoft Word's hefty pricing and want the alternate,
free, and open-source version in word-processing software. You have permission to pass this
around and edit this as you see fit for open-source is best (try and give credit though).
Email: vorkel.96@gmail.com
Manuscript correct as of the 20th of November, 2014

APA FORMATTING FOR THE LINUX USER

Formatting your title page in APA with Apache's OpenOffice suite.

With APA styling, there are six crucial elements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Setting up your page

Manuscript title page, header, and numbers
Title
Author(s), institution, and affiliation
Author note
Format of abstract and references

Setting up your page

APA thesis papers and general academia papers use one (1) inch margins on each side of the
page. For the metric measurement, this comes to 2.54 centimeters. Now, Apache's suite is
quite different from word, and not without headache, so the instructions have been written in
a step-by-step method. To format your page:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Right click on the page (anywhere where it's white)

Click on 'Page...'
Now the 'format' of the page is usually set to 'letter' instead of 'A4'. Change this to 'A4'
The margins can be seen on the bottom left. Clicking the up and down forces the
numbers to increase by threes (3). This lands the margins at 1.01. You don't want that.
Manually enter 1.00 into the field, ensuring the inch symbol () is included
5. Do this for the left and right. Do not do this for the top or bottom
6. Ensure the orientation is set to 'portrait' as it always is when you open your
documents. Never use landscape for an academic paper/thesis
7. Click OK to save the settings
Now, APA theses use double spacing. This is to make the viewing of the paper easy. The
more spread out it is, the easier it is to rapidly read the paper. Double spacing is used through
the entire paper including the abstract, references, page, method, and other segments.
To double space everything, do this:
1. Right click on the page again
2. Click on 'Paragraph...'
3. You should see the following
(see image)
4. Look down at 'line spacing'
5. Click the drop-down arrow
6. Change 'single' to 'double'
7. Click OK
8. Do not change anything else

APA FORMATTING FOR THE LINUX USER

Usually Apache sets the font to 'Times new Roman' in 12pt (point) style. Keep this. This is
preferred. However, sometimes issues arise with OpenOffice and if this is the case, and the
font no longer is accessible, use the 'Abyssinica SIL' font in 12pt. This is basically the Linux
equivalent of 'Times New Roman'.
Manuscript title page, header, and numbers
This process should ideally be done last because when the process is complete, the first page
and the rest of your document become two different things. The header on the title page will
be different than the other pages. This is what you want. Follow this process carefully!
1. Look at the tabs at the top of the document where it says 'file',
'edit', etc
2. Left click 'format'
3. Click on 'styles and formatting'
4. The box like the image on the right should appear (it
doesn't matter what is in this list so the image has
been shrunk down)
5. See the top of the box and how it has a icon that is
boxed? Click the fourth icon so the second image
shows up
6. Now left click on your title page
('default' should be highlighted)
7. Click on 'first page'
8. Press (on the keyboard) and hold control (CTRL)
while also pressing the enter button. Let go after a
new page has arrived
9. Left click on this new page
10. Ensure that 'default' is selected
11. Go back to the title page and ensure that the
margins are reset and 'A4' layout, not lettering,
is selected (see section 'setting up your page')

You should now have two pages; one is your title and the other is your academic page where
your entire paper goes. For now, we will be discussing headers. To set the header, you should
ensure you have separated the pages then do the following:
1. Go to your title page and left click on it (anywhere)
2. Click on the 'insert' tab at the top
3. Click on 'header' and select 'first page'

APA FORMATTING FOR THE LINUX USER

4.
5.
6.
7.

Go to the next page and left click anywhere

Click insert > header > default
Go back to the title page
A small bar should appear at the top of the page to insert the header. Click on it and
type 'Running head:' (exactly like that with apropriate capitalization of the 'R' and
nothing else) followed by a brief summary of what your paper is about; all this is in
capitals.
8. Click the 'tab' button on your keyboard once or twice until the blinking line on the
screen is all the way to the right
9. Click the 'insert' tab at the top of the program
10. Click 'fields' and then click 'page number'. This inserts the page number for the title
(1)
11. Go to the next page and type the capitalized summary of your paper without the
'Running head:'
12. Click tab once or twice again until line is at the right of the page
13. Insert > fields > page number
14. The page number will appear now (2). The header will keep the 'default' header name
for the rest of the paper, updating the page number where appropriate
Title
The title on the cover are centred. This means the space between the left and right margins of
the page are equal. To do this, look at the top and select the highlighted icon.

Unless otherwise directed, you may also space the title to the centre of the page. This isn't
always done, but it helps make it easier on the eye. You should always make sure it's centred
like this, then remove one or two spaces above it so that you have plenty of room for the
'author note'. Every starting letter in the title, except for common words (in, as, the, of, for,
etc), should be capitalized. See the title of this manuscript for reference:

Note how the 'a' and in' isn't capitalized for their respective starting letters, but it is so for the
rest of the words.
To name your title, name it cleverly and try not to over-complicate it. Think smarter, not
harder!

APA FORMATTING FOR THE LINUX USER

Author(s), institution, and affiliation

After typing the title, hit enter. Ensure that the author's name is centre justified (centred) like
the title. Type the full name of the author, but abbreviate the middle name.
E.g:
John William Smith
should appear as:
John W. Smith
After this, hit the enter button and then type where the author is from (type the university or
their affiliations) Example:
John W. Smith
Melbourne University
In the event there is more than one author, fill out their name and affiliation, then space again
and fill out the next author until all authors are noted. Their order doesn't really matter, but it
should be done alphabetically to avoid disagreements.
Author note
This should be at the bottom of the page. Ideally this should include something about the
author(s) and extra, necessary information, followed by an email listed on a new line and a
phone number on another line.
As this is being circulated on the internet, I don't feel comfortable putting my own number on
this manuscript, so below is an example:
Author note
This is where the information goes. Try to include important details here that are needed. If
it's under two-three lines of text, there's no real need to double space this, but, it's preferred.
Email: someone@example.edu
Phone: (+[area number]) XXX-XXX-XXX
Format of abstract and references
Separate this page from the title and body using a hard page break (holding control and
pressing enter). This area should be done at the end of the experiment as it's a summary (150250 words depends on the requirements set) of everything in your paper. Sometimes you'll be
asked not to submit an abstract depending on your professor. If you aren't, don't make one. If
you need to make one as instructed, here's how to do it (see next page):

APA FORMATTING FOR THE LINUX USER

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Insert a page break (CTRL and pressing enter once)

Type the label as 'Abstract', exactly like that, and centre it
Hit enter
Click on the left align (where text falls on the left of the page as normal)
Type in your abstract
Insert another page break to separate your abstract and the body of your paper

Now, to format the references page:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

After the body page, insert a page break (CTRL and enter)
Type 'References' exactly like that at the top of the page and centre it
Hit enter
Left align your text now
Type all references in alphabetical order using their last name of the first author for
each piece of reference
Multiple articles by the same person are ordered by year with the most recent one first
If there's no author, use the first letter in the first word of the author or title to
alphabetize it
Articles from the internet are done like such:
Author name beginning with last initial, year of publication, title, publishing info,
URL of the reference or name the Digital Object Identifier (prefered)
The titles of the references are italicized

Example of a reference:

If there's a specific page, type (p.X) where X equals the page of reference. If more than one
page is referenced at a time or the information spills to the next page, type in (pp.X-Y). This
goes after the title of the reference.
That's it!
Note however that OpenOffice's preferred format is ODT format (OpenDocument Text)
rather than DOCX as Word saves it. You may have the option to save it as a DOC file but
don't. This may alter all the settings you have changed for your paper. Save it as ODT and, if
needed to be sent online, export it as a PDF file and send that. If manually handing it in, keep
the document as ODT and print it.
Always keep the file type as ODT.