Running head: FORMATTING GUIDE
APA Formatting Guide
Raymond J. Biziorek
Abstract
This is the abstract page and is labeled as the Abstract (a Level I heading, see pp. 113-115). It is never indented and is always the second page of an APA document. The abstract is the writer’s general overview of the purpose and content of the paper. The abstract is to be no more than 120 words long and is only intended to help the reader ascertain if the paper is relevant to his or her area of inquiry. The abstract is usually only one paragraph.
APA Formatting Guide
Please note that page three is the actual beginning of the text of the paper, the first line of which is the full, formal title of the paper exactly as it appears on the title page. The formal title is centered on the page in uppercase and lowercase letters (a Level I heading) and is one inch from the top edge of the page. Beginning with page three, all initial lines of paragraphs are to be indented 5-7 spaces uniformly throughout the paper.
Margins and Spacing
All APA margins are one inch, with the exception of page headers, which are one half inch down from the top of the page and one inch in from the right edge of the paper. Left margins are justified. Right margins are left ragged. All spaces between lines are one double space. There is no double-double spacing or any other type of spacing acceptable.
Page Headers
Page headers appear on all pages of the document (see the sample paper on pp.306-320). The number for the page is at the one-inch right margin and from the last letter of the header to the page number is five (5) spaces.
Title Page
The title page deserves some special
mention. It is strictly formatted in
three areas. Area one states the full,
formal title of the paper (centered in uppercase and lowercase letters, a Level
I heading), the author’s full name, and the author’s educational affiliation
(either Baker College Corporate Services or
The second area is the Running head: MMMMMMMM. The running head appears only once, and that is on the title page. Notice that the Running head looks strange. It is. The word Running is capitalized, but the word head is not; then, there is a colon, one space, and an abbreviated form of the full formal title in all capital letters.
The last area is the page header. Each page contains the page header and each page is numbered one up consecutively from the title page through the last page of the document. When properly set up in the Headers and Footers function, your computer will handle the consecutive numbering automatically.
The Book
Students must have the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. The wire-bound version is physically easier to manipulate than the hardbound version because it remains open while in use; however, it costs an additional five dollars. The ISBNs are 1-55798-791-2 for the hardbound version, and 1-55798-810-2 for the wire-bound version.
Tabbing Your Book
The following are side-tabbed pages, and the information to write on the individual tabs is as follows:
1. p. 10 Title page/also see p.306
2. p. 12 Abstract page/also see p.306
3. p. 15 Introduction
4. p. 17 Method
5. p. 20 Results
Note: Items 4 and 5 are for use in original, scientific research and are not intended for use in secondary or tertiary research or in non-scientific/non-statistical reports.
6. p. 28 References/also see pp. 215-281
7. p. 28 Appendix/also see p.205
8. pp. 31-40 Expressing Ideas
9. pp. 41-60 Grammar
10. pp. 61-76 Linguistic Devices
11. pp. 77-88 Editorial Style
12. pp. 89-94 Spelling and hyphenation
13. pp. 95-100 Major Words in Titles and Headings pp. 100-102 Italics/also see pp82-83
14. pp. 100-102 Italics
15. pp. 103-111 Abbreviations
16. pp. 111-115 Levels of headings/also see p. 290
17. pp. 115-116 Seriation
18. pp. 117-122 Quotations of Sources/also see p. 292 para. 5.13
19. pp. 122-127 Numbers
20. pp. 127-129 Combining Figures and Words
21. pp. 129-130 Commas in Numbers
22. pp. 130-146 Metric and Statistical/Mathematical Presentation
23. pp. 147-175 Tables
24. pp. 177-201 Types of Figures
25. pp. 202-205 Footnotes and Notes in Text
26. pp. 205-206 Appendixes
27. pp. 207-212 Reference Citations in Text (multiple authors)
The following are top-tabbed pages:
1. pp. 232-239 Table of Contents for Reference Formats
References
American Psychological Association. (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of
conduct. American Psychologist, 47, 1597-1611.
Brown, H., &
Milstead, J. (1968). Patterns in poetry: An introductory anthology.
Scott, Foresman.
Note the “hanging” indentation format. The first line of the reference is at the one inch left margin and the subsequent lines are at the five-seven space standard indent (see p.313).
Important Sites
http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.cfm?doc_id=796
http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html