APA Formatting Style Guide
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The document provides guidelines for formatting papers in APA style. It discusses the purpose of APA style, which is to ensure clear communication in the social sciences. The key sections that should be included in an APA formatted paper are then described in detail: the title page, abstract, body, and references page. Specific rules are outlined for formatting the title page, headings, in-text citations, and references list.
APA Formatting Style Guide
- 2. Formatting Style Guide Oxford Definition of style American Psychological Association (APA) Style is a set of rules developed to assist reading comprehension in the social and behavioral sciences. Designed to ensure clarity of communication, the rules are designed to "move the idea for- ward with a minimum of distraction and a maximum of precision." The Publica- tion Manual of the American Psychological Association contains the rules for every aspect of writing, especially in the social sciences from determining authorship to constructing a table to avoiding plagiarism and constructing accu- rate reference citations.
- 3. Formatting Style Guide Oxford Basic Rules Your paper should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. You should use 10-12 pt. Times New Roman or Courier New font. Include a page header at the top of every page. To create a page header, insert page numbers to the right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header on the left side. Paragraph starts with normal 0.5 indentations. Use word “References” when posting the reference list at the end of paper. • • • • • •
- 4. Formatting Style Guide Oxford Major Paper Sections General APA Guidelines 1) Title Page a) Running Head On the top left of the title page type "Running Head:" followed by a shorter version of your title in all caps. This shorter version of your title will appear on this page, as well as on all subsequent pages, on the top right of the page. There, the shorter version of your title should be in all caps, followed by 5 spaces and the page number. On the title page, both appear simply to inform the reader.
- 5. Formatting Style Guide Oxford b) Title This is the most important part, and should be center aligned, about halfway down the page. This is the full title of the research paper, dissertation or thesis.
- 6. Formatting Style Guide Oxford If your instructor requires an abstract, write a 75-100 word overview of your paper, which should include your main idea and your major points. You also may want to mention any implications of your research. Place the abstract on a separate page immediately after the title page. Center the word Abstract and then follow with the paragraph. On the second page, include an abstract, if applicable. Center the word "Abstract" on the page followed by a 75- to 100-word summary of your paper. 2) Abstract
- 7. Formatting Style Guide Oxford 3) Body a) Subheading • Subheading used will be left aligned in italic font style • Subheading will be written in title case.
- 8. Formatting Style Guide Oxford In-text Citations (only Quotations) Books/Magazines/Review Author’s last name and year used when paraphrasing someone else's ideas. You don't need to include page numbers. Ex: Students unsure of what constitutes plagiarism find it safer to include sources thorough citations (Johnson, 2004). For quotes within the body of the paper, include the author's last name, the year and page number(s) in parentheses directly after the quotation mark. This information should be separated by commas. The following sample sentence includes a proper citation: A recent study has found that "...in-text citations are becoming increasingly important to avoid charges of plagiarism." (Johnson, 2004, p.144) If you mention an author's name outside the parentheses, you don't need to include it again. Follow the format of the following sentence: Johnson (2004) also stated, "Schools are becoming increasingly strict in response to the cut-and-paste generation of students." (p.166)
- 9. Formatting Style Guide Oxford Website Website name appears in citation
- 10. Formatting Style Guide Oxford 4) Reference page These are: (a) author, (b) date, (c) title, (d) publication information, and (e) Internet access information. Each element is followed by a period. APA style follows these rules: 1. Author. The list of References is organized alphabetically by author. The lead author’s last name is mentioned first, same goes for all coauthors. Initials are used for their first and middle names. With two or more authors, the last author’s name is preceded by an ampersand (&), an APA trademark. But other names, such as editors and translators not serving as the author in a reference, go in their normal order, again with just first and middle initials. 2. Date. The date is placed in parentheses after the list of authors. APA style formats full dates in American fashion (Month Day, Year); the year first for the publication date in references: (2006, October 31); in normal order for Internet retrieval dates (e.g., Retrieved October 31, 2006). 3. Title. All titles are formatted lowercase (sentence caps): only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized. Titles of books and the names of journals (journal names are capitalized as proper nouns) are placed in italics. Titles of articles or chapters are not placed in quotes or italics. 4. Publication Information (Books). APA style, like other styles, introduces the publisher of a book by first giving the place of publication, then the name of the publisher: Baltimore, MD: Artless Press. Use standard two- character postal abbreviations for states.
- 11. Formatting Style Guide Oxford 5. Reverse indentation of 0.5 inch is used when creating reference list.
- 12. Formatting Style Guide Oxford The block formats illustrate how these rules are applied to format references to the most common sources. The APA Crib Sheet has specific examples. Study the use of parentheses and punctuation, note the use of the abbreviation pp. with some page numbers, but not all (this is one of the nuances that plague APA style).