APA: APA Format

Your APA paper should be set up with the following format.

Be sure to carefully read through your assignment instructions. Some instructors may want your papers set up differently.

• Double spaced throughout 
• 12 point font
• Times New Roman or Arial font (or as directed by your instructor)
• One inch margins - this is usually the default setting when you open a new document
• The beginning of each paragraph is indented - use the Tab key to indent
• Page numbers in the upper right corner
• Cover Page
• Title listed again on page 2
• References page on a separate page at the end
• If you have a non-American version of Word, you will need to set the paper size to Letter. And be sure your font is set to left aligned, except for places where we specify that something should be centered.

For more directions on the cover page, title and page numbers, see the section on the Cover Page & Title. 

If you are required to use Headings or an Abstract for your paper, don't worry! We have help pages for those too! Click on the drop down menu under the APA Format tab above.

MLA provides several sample papers on their website. To see how an MLA paper should look, check out one of the samples below.

APA follows specific rules on how to format numbers in your paper. Usually, you type out the word for numbers less than 10 and use the numbers for 10 and up. However, there are some occasions when you should use the numbers instead of the words.

• Numbers right before a unit of measurement
  • a 5-mg dose
  • with 10.5 cm of
• Numbers describing statistics, percentages, ratios, and percentiles
  • 3 times as many
  • more than 5%
  • 5th percentile
  • a ratio of 16:1
• Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, scores, points and exact sums of money
  • 5 days
  • 2-year-old
  • ages 65-70 years
  • about 8 months
  • about 3 years ago
  • paid $5
  • 1 hr 34 min

BUT... if it's the beginning of the sentence, you should use the word.

• Forty-eight percent of students....

There are other exceptions to the rule. You can find these on page 178 of the APA manual.

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