APA Format Guide: Everything You Need to Know

What Is APA Format?

APA stands for American Psychological Association. The organisation developed this style guide to give researchers and students in the social sciences a consistent way to write and cite sources. The goal is simple: make it easy for readers to identify your sources, evaluate your evidence, and reproduce your work.

You'll use APA format most often in psychology, social sciences, education, and nursing. If you're studying any of those fields, it's the format you'll encounter most. And the version your professor almost certainly means when they say "use APA" is APA 7th edition, which was updated in 2020.

APA 7th edition is the most widely used citation style in the social sciences, and it introduced an important distinction between two paper types: student papers and professional papers. Most of what you need to worry about is the student paper format, which has slightly simpler requirements than the professional version.

APA Format: The Key Elements at a Glance

APA format covers more than just citations. Before you write a single word, it's worth knowing everything that falls under the APA umbrella: your title page, abstract, headings, in-text citations, reference page, fonts, margins, and line spacing.

This guide covers each element below, with a brief summary and a link to a full guide for anything you need to go deeper on. Check your assignment instructions to confirm which elements your professor actually requires, not every paper needs every component.

If you want a broader overview of referencing systems, check out our citation styles guide for a comparison of APA, MLA, Chicago, and more.

APA Cover Page

Your title page is the first thing your professor sees, and APA 7th edition has a specific format for it.

For a student paper, your title page needs to include: the paper title, your name, your institutional affiliation (your university or college), the course number and name, the instructor's name, the assignment due date, and a page number in the top right corner. The title itself should be bold, centered, and positioned in the upper half of the page.

One change in APA 7 worth knowing: student papers no longer require a running head (the abbreviated title that used to appear in the header). That's a professional paper requirement only. If you've seen older APA guides that mention running heads for every paper, that rule no longer applies to you.

For the full setup guide with examples, see our APA title page format guide.

Writing an Abstract in APA Format

An abstract is a short summary of your paper, typically 150 to 250 words, that appears on its own page right after the title page.

Not every student paper requires one. Professional papers almost always do. For student papers, it depends on your professor's instructions. If they haven't mentioned an abstract, ask before writing one.

When you do need an abstract, it should briefly cover your paper's purpose, methods, results, and conclusion. APA 7 also added a keywords section below the abstract, where you list 3 to 5 terms that capture your paper's main topics. These are formatted as: Keywords: followed by lowercase, comma-separated terms.

If you need to write one, our how to write an APA abstract guide walks you through it step by step.

APA Headings and Paper Structure

APA uses a five-level heading system to organise your paper. You probably won't use all five levels, most student papers only need two or three. Here's how each one looks:

Use Level 1 for your main sections (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion). Use Level 2 for subsections within those. Go deeper only if your paper's structure genuinely requires it.

One APA 7 update that catches students out: the introduction section doesn't get a heading. You just start writing after your title. That's the official APA rule, even though it feels odd.

The running head, the shortened title in the header, is no longer required for student papers in APA 7. Only professional papers submitted for publication use it.

Fonts, Margins, and Spacing

APA 7 expanded the approved font options. Any of these work:

• Times New Roman, 12pt
  
• Calibri, 11pt
  
• Arial, 11pt
  
• Georgia, 11pt
  
• Lucida Sans Unicode, 10pt
  

Times New Roman 12pt is the most widely recognised, and if your professor hasn't specified a preference, it's the safest choice.

For everything else, here's the quick-reference version:

• Margins: 1 inch on all sides
  
• Line spacing: Double-spaced throughout, including the reference list
  
• Paragraph indentation: 0.5 inch for the first line of every paragraph
  
• Page numbers: Top right corner, starting from page 1 (the title page)
  
• Alignment: Left-aligned body text (not justified)
  

The double-spacing rule applies everywhere: your body text, your abstract, your references, your headings. Students often forget to double-space the reference list; don't make that mistake.

Basics of APA Citations (In-text)

APA uses an author-date citation system. Every time you use someone else's idea, quote, or data, you add a brief citation in parentheses pointing to the full source in your reference list.

There are two formats:

Parenthetical: The citation appears in brackets at the end. (Smith, 2021)

Narrative: The author's name appears in the sentence itself. Smith (2021) found that...

Both are correct; it's a stylistic choice. Narrative citations work well when you want to emphasise who said something. Parenthetical citations are cleaner when the focus is on the information rather than the author.

For the full rules, including how to handle multiple authors, no author, et al. usage, and direct quotes, see our APA in-text citation rules guide.

How the APA Reference List Works 

Your reference page is the list of every source you cited, placed on a new page at the end of your paper. The heading "References" is centered and bold at the top, not in quotes, not underlined, just those two words.

A few setup rules you need to get right:

• Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name
  
• Each entry uses a hanging indent (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inch)
  
• The entire page is double-spaced — no extra space between entries
  
• Every in-text citation must have a matching reference entry, and vice versa
  

The format of each entry depends on the source type; books, journal articles, websites, and other sources all have slightly different formats.

For full formatting rules by source type, see our APA reference page setup guide.

When you're formatting a full research paper in APA, not just the citations, but the entire document, there's a standard structure to follow. It runs from the title page through abstract, introduction, body sections, discussion, and references. Some papers also include appendices or supplemental materials after the reference page.

For a complete walkthrough of how to structure each section, see our full guide to formatting a research paper in APA.

Want to see what a completed APA paper looks like? We've got an APA research paper example with annotations that shows you exactly how everything fits together.

Common APA Format Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

You've probably made at least one of these. Here's how to catch them before your professor does.

• Adding a running head to a student paper.

APA 7 removed the running head requirement for student papers. If you're still including it at the top of every page, delete it. Only professional papers submitted for publication use running heads.

• Forgetting the hanging indent on references.

Every reference entry needs a hanging indent, first line flush left, all other lines indented 0.5 inch. It's easy to miss, and it's one of the first things professors check.

• Using the wrong date format in citations.

For most sources, use the year only: (Smith, 2021). Websites and news articles need the full date in the reference list. Don't add day/month to your in-text citation; that's a common mix-up.

• Not double-spacing the entire paper 

Double-spacing applies everywhere: body text, abstract, headings, reference list, block quotes. Students often switch to single-spacing for the reference list. 

• Leaving out the abstract when it's required.

If your professor specified an abstract and you skipped it, that's an automatic deduction. When in doubt, check the assignment brief, or ask.

Conclusion

The APA formatting style is one of the most common paper writing styles in today’s academic practices. Although this style requires the author to keep note of a lot of little details, by following this guide, you can perfect the APA formatting style. 

Still, if you need assistance with your APA-style paper, we provide the best service, deploying expert, credible writers experienced enough to craft winning papers.