5/1/2017 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

GeneralWritingResearchandCitationTeachingandTutoringSubjectSpecificWriting
JobSearchWritingESL
ThispageisbroughttoyoubytheOWLatPurdue(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/).Whenprintingthis
page,youmustincludetheentirelegalnoticeatbottom.

GeneralFormat
Summary:

APA(AmericanPsychologicalAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtocitesourceswithinthesocialsciences.Thisresource,

revisedaccordingtothe6thedition,secondprintingoftheAPAmanual,offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofAPAresearch
papers,intextcitations,endnotes/footnotes,andthereferencepage.Formoreinformation,pleaseconsultthePublicationManualof

theAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,(6thed.,2ndprinting).

Contributors:JoshuaM.Paiz,ElizabethAngeli,JodiWagner,ElenaLawrick,KristenMoore,MichaelAnderson,LarsSoderlund,
AllenBrizee,RussellKeck
LastEdited:2016051312:06:24

PleaseusetheexampleatthebottomofthispagetocitethePurdueOWLinAPA.

Toseeasidebysidecomparisonofthethreemostwidelyusedcitationstyles,includingachartofallAPAcitationguidelines,see
theCitationStyleChart.

YoucanalsowatchourAPAvidcastseriesonthePurdueOWLYouTubeChannel.

GeneralAPAGuidelines

Youressayshouldbetyped,doublespacedonstandardsizedpaper(8.5"x11")with1"marginsonallsides.Youshouldusea
clearfontthatishighlyreadable.APArecommendsusing12pt.TimesNewRomanfont.

Includeapageheader(alsoknownasthe"runninghead")atthetopofeverypage.Tocreateapageheader/runninghead,
insertpagenumbersflushright.Thentype"TITLEOFYOURPAPER"intheheaderflushleftusingallcapitalletters.The
runningheadisashortenedversionofyourpaper'stitleandcannotexceed50charactersincludingspacingandpunctuation.

MajorPaperSections
Youressayshouldincludefourmajorsections:theTitlePage,Abstract,MainBody,andReferences.

TitlePage

Thetitlepageshouldcontainthetitleofthepaper,theauthor'sname,andtheinstitutionalaffiliation.Includethepageheader
(describedabove)flushleftwiththepagenumberflushrightatthetopofthepage.Pleasenotethatonthetitlepage,yourpage
header/runningheadshouldlooklikethis:

Runninghead:TITLEOFYOURPAPER

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5/1/2017 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

Pagesafterthetitlepageshouldhavearunningheadthatlookslikethis:

TITLEOFYOURPAPER

AfterconsultingwithpublicationspecialistsattheAPA,OWLstafflearnedthattheAPA6thedition,firstprintingsamplepapers
haveincorrectexamplesofRunningheadsonpagesafterthetitlepage.ThislinkwilltakeyoutotheAPAsitewhereyoucanfind
acompletelistofalltheerrorsintheAPA's6theditionstyleguide.

Typeyourtitleinupperandlowercaseletterscenteredintheupperhalfofthepage.APArecommendsthatyourtitlebenomore
than12wordsinlengthandthatitshouldnotcontainabbreviationsorwordsthatservenopurpose.Yourtitlemaytakeuponeor
twolines.Alltextonthetitlepage,andthroughoutyourpaper,shouldbedoublespaced.

Beneaththetitle,typetheauthor'sname:firstname,middleinitial(s),andlastname.Donotusetitles(Dr.)ordegrees(PhD).

Beneaththeauthor'sname,typetheinstitutionalaffiliation,whichshouldindicatethelocationwheretheauthor(s)conductedthe
research.

ImageCaption:APATitlePage

Abstract
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5/1/2017 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

Beginanewpage.Yourabstractpageshouldalreadyincludethepageheader(describedabove).Onthefirstlineoftheabstract
page,centerthewordAbstract(nobold,formatting,italics,underlining,orquotationmarks).

Beginningwiththenextline,writeaconcisesummaryofthekeypointsofyourresearch.(Donotindent.)Yourabstractshould
containatleastyourresearchtopic,researchquestions,participants,methods,results,dataanalysis,andconclusions.Youmayalso
includepossibleimplicationsofyourresearchandfutureworkyouseeconnectedwithyourfindings.Yourabstractshouldbea
singleparagraphdoublespaced.Yourabstractshouldbebetween150and250words.

Youmayalsowanttolistkeywordsfromyourpaperinyourabstract.Todothis,indentasyouwouldifyouwerestartinganew
paragraph,typeKeywords:(italicized),andthenlistyourkeywords.Listingyourkeywordswillhelpresearchersfindyourworkin
databases.

ImageCaption:APAAbstractPage

PleaseseeourSampleAPAPaperresourcetoseeanexampleofanAPApaper.YoumayalsovisitourAdditionalResources
pageformoreexamplesofAPApapers.

HowtoCitethePurdueOWLinAPA

IndividualResources

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5/1/2017 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

Contributors'namesandthelastediteddatecanbefoundintheorangeboxesatthetopofeverypageontheOWL.

Contributors'names(Lastediteddate).Titleofresource.Retrievedfromhttp://Web
addressforOWLresource

Angeli,E.,Wagner,J.,Lawrick,E.,Moore,K.,Anderson,M.,Soderlund,L.,&
Brizee,A.(2010,May5).Generalformat.Retrievedfrom
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

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