APA (American Psychological Association)- psychology, education, and

other social sciences; also recommended by the American Chemical

Society (author-date/Harvard)

MLA (Modern Language Association) - literature, arts, and humanities

(author-title or author-page)

AMA (American Medical Association) and CSE (Council of Science

Editors) - medicine, health, and biological sciences

Turabian (from Kate Turabian and the Univ. of Chicago Press) designed for college students to use with all subjects, usually history and
related subjects

Chicago Manual of Style - used with all subjects in the "real world" by
books, magazines, newspapers, and other non-scholarly publications

Harvard Systems (Australian Government Publishing Service/AGPS

or British Standards Institute/BSI) author-date style adapted by the
APA; attributed to Edward Lawrence Mark of the Harvard Museum of
Comparative Zoology

What is APA?
APA
(American Psychological Association)

is the most commonly used

format for manuscripts in
the Social Sciences.

What does APA regulate?

APA regulates:
Stylistics
In-text citations
References
(a list of all sources
used in the paper)

Why use APA?

Allows others to
access your
sources
Helps you stay
organized

Establishes
credibility
Prevents
plagiarism

APA Style originated in 1929, when a group of psychologists,

anthropologists, and business managers convened and sought to
establish a simple set of procedures, or style rules, that would codify
the many components of scientific writing to increase the ease of
reading comprehension.

As with other editorial styles, APA Style consists of rules or guidelines

that a publisher observes to ensure clear and consistent presentation
of written material. It concerns uniform use of such elements as
selection of headings, tone, and length;
punctuation and abbreviations;
presentation of numbers and statistics;
construction of tables and figures,
citation of references; and
many other elements that are a part of a manuscript.

APA Style rules and guidelines are found in the (sixth edition of the)
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Uniform style helps us scan articles quickly for key

points and findings. Rules of style in scientific writing
encourage full disclosure of essential information and
allow us to dispense with minor distractions.

Style helps us

express the key elements of quantitative results,

choose the graphic form that will best suit our
analyses,
report critical details of our research protocol,
and
describe individuals with accuracy and respect.

Term papers
Research reports
Empirical studies
Literature reviews
Theoretical articles
Methodological articles
Case studies

What to Document
Be sure to document all the sources youve used in writing your
paper. Youll need to cite sources for
1. direct quotations
2. paraphrases and summaries of ideas and information from
sources,
3. information and ideas that are not common knowledge or are
not available in a standard reference work, and
4. any other borrowed material that might appear to be your own
if there were no citation.
For more information on what needs to be documented, ask your
course instructor, and consult the Writing Centers
handout on quoting, paraphrasing, and acknowledging sources.

General Format
1 margins on all sides set for printing on standard
8.5x11 paper.
Include header (title) in the upper left-hand of every page
and a page number in the upper right-hand side of every
page.
* Cover page only includes Running head:
Use 12 pt. Times New Roman.
Lines are double-spaced with no extra spacing after
paragraphs.
Two spaces between sentences.

APA: Main Body (Text)

APA FORMATTING GUIDE

1
APA Formatting Guide

Formatting a paper according to the American Psychological Association (APA)

guidelines takes practice and repetition. With that in mind, here are some things to watch for

Header: Title (without

Running Head:) + page
number.

when setting up papers in APA style, followed by some general recommendations that will help
you write excellent college papers.
When beginning a paper, be sure to set the margins to one inch on the left, right, top, and
bottom of your page. Then set the font to Times New Roman, 12 pt. The next thing is to ensure
that the line spacing of the paper is set to double-spaced, with 0 line spacing before and after
each line (go to Page Layout and change the Before and After settings to 0). Adjusting the
default page setting in Microsoft Word (MS Word) will set the margins, font, and line spacing
automatically with each new paper. You can also open the Page Layout menu and make these

Title: Centered at the top of

the first page in the body of
your paper.

settings there.
Next, on the first page, which will become your title page, double click near the top of the
page to open the header box. Next, under the Header and Footer Tools tab, Design, select
Different First Page. Then, open the Page Number menu, select Top of Page and Page Number
3. Next to the page number, type in Running head: followed by an abbreviated title for your
paper, all in CAPS. Finally, hit the Tab key until it moves your Running head and title left to the
left margin. Note: You may need to change the font and size of the Running head and page
number to Times New Roman, size 12. The Running head for your first page is now completed.

Never use creative effects (i.e.

graphic art, extra lines, or
WordArt.

When you begin your second page, you will need to repeat this procedure for the Running head
since you selected Different First Page, but all subsequent headers should format automatically.
Please note that the words, Running head, only appear on the first page.

Main Body (Text)

APA FORMATTING GUIDE

1
APA Formatting Guide

Formatting a paper according to the American Psychological Association (APA)

guidelines takes practice and repetition. With that in mind, here are some things to watch for

Paragraphs indented a full onehalf inch.

when setting up papers in APA style, followed by some general recommendations that will help
you write excellent college papers.
When beginning a paper, be sure to set the margins to one inch on the left, right, top, and
bottom of your page. Then set the font to Times New Roman, 12 pt. The next thing is to ensure
that the line spacing of the paper is set to double-spaced, with 0 line spacing before and after
each line (go to Page Layout and change the Before and After settings to 0). Adjusting the

Left justified only

default page setting in Microsoft Word (MS Word) will set the margins, font, and line spacing
automatically with each new paper. You can also open the Page Layout menu and make these
settings there.
Next, on the first page, which will become your title page, double click near the top of the

Two spaces after every

sentence.

page to open the header box. Next, under the Header and Footer Tools tab, Design, select
Different First Page. Then, open the Page Number menu, select Top of Page and Page Number
3. Next to the page number, type in Running head: followed by an abbreviated title for your
paper, all in CAPS. Finally, hit the Tab key until it moves your Running head and title left to the
left margin. Note: You may need to change the font and size of the Running head and page
number to Times New Roman, size 12. The Running head for your first page is now completed.

Numbers one through ten must

be spelled out in your text.

When you begin your second page, you will need to repeat this procedure for the Running head
since you selected Different First Page, but all subsequent headers should format automatically.
Please note that the words, Running head, only appear on the first page.

APA Style: Language

Perspective and Voice in an APA paper is:

Active voice (minimal if any passive voice).

Very limited personal pronoun use.
(never use you should/must/will . . .)

APA stylistics: Basics

Point of view and voice in an APA paper

Use:
the third person point of view rather than
using the first person point of view or the passive
voice
The study showed that, NOT
I found out that.
the

active voice rather than passive voice

The participants responded, NOT
The participants have been asked.

APA Style
Language in an APA paper is:
Clear: be specific in descriptions and explanations.
Concise: condense information when you can.
Plain: use simple, descriptive adjectives and minimize
figurative language (i.e. Idioms).
Avoid speaking Christianese, legalese, or any other
jargonese.

Types of APA Papers

The literature review:
the summary of what the scientific literature says about the
topic of your research
includes title page, introduction, list of references
The experimental report:
the description of your experimental research-includes title page, abstract, introduction, method, results,
discussion, references, appendices, tables & figures

Types of APA Papers

If your paper fits neither of the categories
above,
follow the general format
consult the instructor
consult Publication Manual

The APA documentation system is commonly used in the social

sciences and education, as well as in fields such as nursing. It is
a parenthetical documentation system. That means you will
place citations to sources in parentheses within your own
sentences (usually the authors last name and the year of
publication) to indicate you have used ideas, information, and
quotations from sources at that particular spot in your paper.
The parenthetical information points to specific sources in an
alphabetized list of references (titled References, not
Bibliography) at the end of your paper.

General Format (contd)

References
References

Your essay should include

four major sections:

Main
Main Body
Body
Abstract
Abstract

Title page

Title page
The title page contains 4 components
1. A running head with page number
1. Left side justified with page number on the right
2. The title page will be different from the remainder
of the pages
2. Title of the paper
1. Centered
2. No abbreviated or unnecessary words
3. Authors name
1. Centered
2. First name middle initial and last name
4. Institutional affiliation
1. School name

Page header:
(use Insert Page Header)
title flush left + page
number flush right.
Title:
(in the upper half of the
page, centered)
name (no title or
degree) + affiliation
(university, etc.)

Example APA Title page

Running Head: UNITED STATES RESEARCH PAPER

1 margins all sides

United States History Research Paper

All text is
double spaced

John P. William
Andress High School

Title information
is centered

 Abstract: acts as the second major

section of the document
Presents a single-paragraph summary of the
papers contents
Contains approximately 150 to 250 words
Includes select keywords for easy access by
researchers

Formatting APA Abstract page:

Location :Place this page after your title
page, on a new page. The abstract always
falls on page 2.
Heading: Use the same heading like on
your title page:
1 inch from the top
shortened title in uppercase, align left
page number 2, align right
Title: Enter the title Abstract (without the
quotes) below the heading, centered

Sample Abstract
Note how
the header is
different on
page 2

United States Research Paper

Note: the
abstract is
NOT
indented

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce students to the history of a nation. This
would include the discovery, inhabitation, development of culture, the foundation of
independence, development of a constitution, and the development of a
government.
keywords: history, government, culture

The abstract is
double spaced

Sample Of Abstract
SMOKING AND BLOOD OXYGENATION

Research
topic

Res
e
ques arch
tions

Results

Method

Abstract
Smoking kills 5.4 million people per year (Mackay, 2007).
One possible reason people smoke is because of their
lack of understanding of the harm it actually does to the
body. For example, smokers may not be aware of the
effect of smoking on their blood oxygenation levels, as
the smoke inhaled damages the biological mechanisms
needed to carry oxygen through the bloodstream
(Witting, 2008; Polito, 2005). This research project
examines the relationship between smoking and blood
oxygenation levels be comparing two groups, smokers
and non-smokers, and by using a pulse oximeter to
measure blood oxygenation levels. Based on previous
research, the results from this project should show that
smokers blood oxygenation levels are lower than nonsmokers, because smokers bodies transport oxygen less
efficiently. Means, standard deviations, and t-tests were
used to calculate the differences between each groups
blood oxygenation levels. While it was hoped there would
be a drastic difference between groups, no significant
difference was found.
Keywords: blood oxygenation, smoking

 Main Body: acts as the third major section

of the document
Presents a report of the writer(s) research
and findings
Includes four sections (typically): the
introduction, method, results, and discussion
Provides the reader with pertinent information
about the papers topic

Main Body (Text) formatting

Number the first text page as page number 3

Type and center the title of the paper at the top
of the page
Type the text double-spaced with all sections
following each other without a break
Identify the sources you use in the paper in
parenthetical, in-text citations

 References page: acts as the fourth

major section of the document
Presents a compilation of the sources cited in
the paper
Provides a comprehensive list of works that
appear as in-text citations in the paper
Details the full source information for each
entry

In-text Citations: Basics

Whenever you use a source, provide in parenthesis:
the authors name and the date of publication

for quotations and close paraphrases, provide a

page number as well

In-text citations help readers locate the cited source

in the References section of the paper.

In-text Citations:
Format for a quotation
When quoting, introduce the quotation with a signal phrase.
Make sure to include the authors name, the year of publication,
the page number, but keep the citation briefdo not repeat the
information.

Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response

frequently entails a delayed, uncontrolled repetitive
appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive
phenomena (p.11).
A traumatic response frequently entails a delayed,
uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations
and other intrusive phenomena (Caruth, 1996, p.11).

In-text Citations:
Format for a summary or paraphrase

Formats for a summary or paraphrase (contd):

include the authors name in a signal phrase

followed by the year of publication in

parenthesis:
Recently, the history of warfare has been
significantly revised by Higonnet et al. (1987),
Marcus (1989), and Raitt and Tate (1997) to include
womens personal and cultural responses to
battle and its resultant traumatic effects.

In-text Citations:
Format for a summary or paraphrase

Formats for a summary or paraphrase (contd):

when including the quotation in a

summary/paraphrase, also provide a page
number in parenthesis after the quotation:
According to feminist researchers Raitt and Tate
(1997), It is no longer true to claim that women's
responses to the war have been ignored (p. 2).

In-text Citations:
A work with two authors
When citing a work with two authors, use and
in between authors name in the signal phrase
yet & between their names in parenthesis:
According to feminist researchers Raitt and Tate
(1997), It is no longer true to claim that women's
responses to the war have been ignored (p. 2).
Some feminists researchers question that women's
responses to the war have been ignored (Raitt &
Tate, 1997, p. 2).

In-text Citations:
A work with 3 to 5 authors
When citing a work with three to five authors,
identify all authors in the signal phrase
or in parenthesis:
(Harklau, Siegal, and Losey, 1999)

In subsequent citations, only use the first

author's last name followed by "et al." in the

signal phrase or in parentheses:
(Harklau et al., 1993)

In-text Citations:
a work with 6 and more authors
When citing a work with six and more authors,
identify the first authors name followed
by et al.:

Smith et al. (2006) maintained that.

(Smith et al., 2006)

In-text Citations:
A work of unknown author
When citing a work of unknown author, use the
the sources full title in the signal phrase and
cite the first word of the title followed by the
year of publication in parenthesis. Put titles of
articles and chapters in quotation marks;
italicize titles of books and reports:
According to Indiana Joins Federal
Accountability System (2008),
Or,
(Indiana, 2008)

In-text Citations:
Organization

When citing an organization, mention the

organization the first time when you cite the
source in the signal phrase or the parenthetical
citation:
The data collected by the Food and Drug
Administration (2008) confirmed that
If the organization has a well-known
abbreviation, include the abbreviation in
brackets the first time the source is cited and
then use only the abbreviation in
later citations:
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
confirmed FDAs experts tested

In-text Citations:
Personal communication
When citing interviews, letters, e-mails, etc.,
include the communicators name, the fact that it
was personal communication, and the date of the
communication. Do not include personal
communication in the reference list:
A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students
had difficulties with APA style (personal
communication, November 3, 2002).
Or,
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4,
2001).

In-text Citations:
Electronic sources
When citing an electronic document, whenever
possible, cite it in the author-date style.
If electronic source lacks page numbers, locate
and identify paragraph number/paragraph
heading:
According to Smith (1997), ... (Mind over Matter
section, para. 6).

Reference Page
The reference page lists the resources used
when writing a research paper. And contains the
following criteria:
Book1.Name of source
2.Date of publication
3.Title of resource
4.Where it was published
5.Name of Publisher

Reference page
The word Reference - is typed in the
center of your resource page.
1.References are listed alphabetically by
last name ALWAYS.
2.After the first line, indent all following
lines. This is called hanging indention.

V-A. The Reference List and the Web

or Electronic Databases
Make sure the version you are citing is the most recent
one.
Include journal volume number and page numbers if
this information is available.
Type or use the copy-paste function of your word
processor to capture the article DOI and place it at the
end of the reference.
A digital object identifier (DOI) is a permanent identifier given
to an object. Its most common application is identifying
electronic documents.
The International DOI Foundation (IDF) defines DOI name
as a digital identifier for any object of intellectual property.

If there is no DOI, cite the homepage URL.

 Writers can include many kinds of

material in their reference lists, such as
dissertations, podcasts, book reviews,
and archival material.
For scholarly articles, the kinds of
references most commonly included are:
Journal articles
Entire issue of a journal
Chapter in an edited book
Entire book
Conference proceedings

V-A.1. Citing Journal Articles

Type the article title in
sentence case and the
journal title in title case.
Italicize the journal title and
volume number.
Include the issue number in
parentheses if the journal is
paginated by issue.
Type the DOI in the format
shown in the first example.
Do not put a period at the
end of the DOI.

DOI
Herbet-Saze, K. L. & Kulik, J. K. (2005).
Volunteer support, marital status and
the survival times of terminally-ill
patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225229. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

No DOI
Light, M.A. & Light, I. H. (2008). The
geographic expansion of Mexican
immigration in the United States and
its implications for local law
enforcement. Law Enforcement
Executive Forum Journal, 8(1), 73-82.

URL
Wheeler, S. F. & Bragin, M. (2007).
Bringing it all back home: Social work
and the challenge of returning
veterans. Health and Social Work, 32,
297-300. Retrieved from
http://www.naswpressonline.org

V-A.2. Citing Entire Journals

To cite an entire issue of a
journal, give the editors of
the issue and the title of the
issue.
If the issue has no editors,
move the issue title to the
author position and
alphabetize the reference
entry by the first significant
word in the title.
These instructions are also
applicable to formatting a
reference to a special
section.

Example:
Greenfield, P. & Yan, Z.
(Eds.) (2006). Children,
adolescents and the
Internet [Special section].
Developmental Psychology,
42, 391-458.

V-A.3. Citing References to a Chapter in an

Edited Book
After the chapter
title, type In, the
editors name, the
abbreviation Ed. in
parenthesis, and
then the title of the
book.
Give the page
numbers in
parenthesis after
the book title.

Example:
Haybron, D. M. (2008).
Philosophy and the
science of subjective
wellbeing. In M. Eid & M.
J. Larson (Eds.), The
science of subjective
wellbeing (pp. 17-43).
New York, NY: Guilford
Press.

V-A.4. Citing Books

Type the title of the book in
sentence case. Capitalize
the first word following a
colon or end punctuation in
the title.
If you cited an electronic
book (e-book), give
information about the format
in square brackets after the
title.
For electronic books, give
the DOI or URL in place of
publisher location and name.

Print book
Shutton, M.A. (1989).
Computer addiction? A
study of computer
dependency. London,
England: Taylor & Francis.

Electronic book
(with DOI)
Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The
post-traumatic stress
disorder sourcebook: A
guide to healing, recovery
and growth [Adobe Digital
Editions version]. doi:
10.1036/100371393722

 The third example below shows how to

format the name of a corporate author that
is the same as the publisher name.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC:
Author.

V-A.6. Citing Conference Proceedings

To cite proceedings
that are published
regularly, use the
same format as in a
periodical.
To cite proceedings
that are published in
book form, use the
same format as for a
chapter in an edited
book.

Published regularly
Herculano-Rozel, C., Collins, C. E., Wong, F.,
Kaas, J. H. & Lent, R. (2008). The basic
nonuniformity of the cerebral cortex.
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 105. 12593-12598. doi:
10.1073/pres.0805417105

Published in book
form
Katz, I., Gabayen, H. & Aghajan, E. (2007). A
multi-touch surface using mutltiple
cameras. In J. Blanc-Talon, W. Philips,
S. Popescu & P. Schroeders (Eds.)
Lecture notes in Computer Science: Vol.
467B. Advanced Concepts for Intelligent
Vision Systems (pp. 97-108). Berlin,
Germany: Springer-Verlag. doi:
10.1667/978-3-340-74607-2_9

Example reference page

Cunningham, M.A. (2012). Mans history and social development. New

York, NY:

Reference

Russell Sage Foundation.

Book Source

Fenimore, J.C. (2012). 10 important battles in american history. A list of

little known but vital battles for america, 257. Retrieved from
http://www.Untoldhistory.edu/articles/roundhouseforum

Source from
an online
webpage

Holmes, T.A. (2011). Mens and Womens roles in history: A journey to a new
land. In B.R. Wainrib (ed.), Gender roles in a new frontier (pp. 187-210). New
York, NY: Springer

Chapter in an edited
book

Richards, N. X. (2013, June 19). Making the grade in todays schools. Time,
135, 28-31.

Magazine article

references
OWL website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Purdue Writing Lab @ HEAV 226
Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, 6th ed.
http://www.apastyle.org
Mastering APA Style -- Students Workbook and Resource Guide, 5th ed. (1
in library)
APA Citation Machine: http://citationmachine.net
open-text/writing-processes/format/apa-format : http://writingcommons.org/

Thanks
you!!!