How to Format a Research Paper in APA: A Step by Step Guide

APA Research Paper Format: The Basics First

Before you touch a single section, a few formatting rules apply to the entire document.

• Margins: 1 inch on all sides, top, bottom, left, right.
• Font: Choose one readable, consistent font throughout. APA 7 allows several options: 12pt Times New Roman, 11pt Calibri, 11pt Arial, or 10pt Lucida Sans Unicode. Pick one and stick with it.
• Spacing: Double-space everything, body text, titles, references, quotations, everything. No extra space between paragraphs.
• Paragraph indent: The first line of every new paragraph gets a 0.5-inch indent. Use the tab key or set it in your word processor's paragraph settings.
• Page numbers: Insert a page number in the top right corner of every page, starting with page 1 (your title page). Go to the header and add it there.

One important update in APA 7:

Student papers no longer require a running head. That's the all caps title that used to appear in the header. Unless your instructor specifically asks for one, you can skip it.

APA 7 also draws a clear line between student papers and professional papers. Most students only need to follow the student paper guidelines, which are simpler. That's what this guide covers.

Section 1: The APA Title Page

Your title page is page 1 of your paper. The page number goes in the top-right header, and it starts here.

Here's what the student title page includes, in order from top to bottom:

Paper title: Bold, centered, title case (capitalize major words). Place it about 3–4 lines down from the top of the page.

Author name: Your first name, middle initial (optional), and last name. Centered, below the title. No titles (Dr., Ms., Mr.).

Institutional affiliation: Your university or college name. Centered, on the next line.

Course name and number: As listed in your course catalog (e.g., Psychology 101 or PSY 101).

Instructor name: Your professor's name with their preferred title (Prof., Dr., etc.).

Assignment due date: Written out in full (e.g., March 9, 2026).

Each of these elements gets its own line, and the whole block is double-spaced.

Section 2: The Abstract (And When You Need One)

Here's something many students don't realize: for most undergraduate and graduate-level research papers, you don't need an abstract at all.

An abstract is a 150–250 word summary of your paper. It appears on its own page, directly after the title page. The word "Abstract" is bolded and centered at the top, and the first paragraph isn't indented (that's the only paragraph in the paper that skips the 0.5-inch indent).

APA 7 notes that abstracts are standard for professional papers but are only required for student papers when your instructor says so, or when you're writing a longer work like a thesis or dissertation.

When you do write one, cover the big pieces: your research topic, your questions or hypothesis, the methods you used, your key findings, and your conclusions. If your instructor wants keywords, add them on a new line below the abstract with an italicized "Keywords:" label.

Section 3: The Introduction

This trips up a lot of students: in APA format, you don't label the introduction "Introduction." There's no heading at the top of the first body page that says Introduction.

Instead, your paper title appears at the top of the first body page, bold and centered, just like it appeared on the title page. That acts as the visual marker for where your paper begins. The text starts right beneath it.

What goes in the introduction itself? You're setting up the case for your research. Start broad, give the background context a reader needs. Narrow down to your specific research problem or question. State your thesis or hypothesis. Give a brief preview of where the paper is going.

In terms of citations, you'll reference key studies and findings here, but you don't need to cite every sentence. Summarize what the research shows rather than quoting extensively.

Section 4: The Body: Methods, Results, and Discussion

If you're writing an empirical research paper (a paper reporting original research), the body follows a standard three-part structure. Each part is a Level 1 heading: bold, centered.

Method: 

Describes how the study was conducted. What did participants do? What tools or materials were used? How were the procedures carried out? You can break this section into subsections using Level 2 headings (bold, left-aligned) for Participants, Materials, and Procedure.

Results: 

Report what you found. Use past tense throughout (e.g., "Participants reported..." not "Participants report..."). Tables and figures are labeled numerically: Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, and so on. Tables get a title above them; figures get a caption below.

Discussion:

Interprets what the results mean. Connect your findings to existing research. Acknowledge any limitations honestly. End with a conclusion about what the research contributes.

Not writing an empirical paper? If your paper is more of a literature review or an argument-based essay, you'll use thematic or argument-based headings instead of Method/Results/Discussion. The heading level rules still apply.

For heading levels overall: Level 1 is bold and centered. Level 2 is bold and left-aligned. Level 3 is bold, italic, and left-aligned. Most student research papers only need Levels 1 and 2.

APA uses five heading levels, most student research papers only need Levels 1 and 2.

APA Formatting Rules for the Body of Your Paper

Beyond the section structure, a few formatting rules apply to the body text itself.

Paragraphs:

Every paragraph starts with a 0.5-inch indent. Aim for 2–5 sentences per paragraph. Double spaced throughout.

Short quotes (under 40 words): 

Put them in quotation marks, keep them in the running text, and add a parenthetical citation with the author, year, and page number: (Smith, 2022, p. 45).

Block quotes (40+ words): 

Start on a new line, indented 0.5 inches from the left margin, not indented on both sides, not centered. No quotation marks. The citation goes after the final punctuation.

Tables and figures: 

Number them in the order they appear in the text. Table titles go above the table (bold, title case). Figure captions go below the figure.

First person:

APA 7 allows and actually encourages using "I" for solo work and "we" for group work, where appropriate. It's clearer than passive voice, don't avoid it out of habit.

Abbreviations: 

Spell the full term out the first time you use it, then abbreviate: American Psychological Association (APA). After that, just use the abbreviation.

Block quotes in APA are indented 0.5 inches from the left, not centered, not indented on both sides.

Section 5: The APA Reference Page

Your reference page is the last section of the paper (unless you have appendices, in which case it comes before those).

The heading: "References", bold, centered at the top. Nothing else on that line.

Alphabetical order: Entries are listed alphabetically by the first author's last name.

Hanging indent: The first line of each entry sits flush against the left margin. Every line after the first is indented 0.5 inches. This is the opposite of a paragraph indent.

Spacing: Double-spaced throughout, including between entries. Don't add extra line breaks between them.

What goes in each entry: 

The format depends on the source type;  journal article, book, website, and so on, but every entry includes the author(s), publication year, title, and source information.

One thing to know: a reference page is not the same as a bibliography. APA uses the term "References," and every entry on your reference page must have a matching in-text citation in your paper. Every source you cited in-text must appear on the reference page, and every reference page entry must have a matching in-text citation.

APA Research Paper Format Checklist

Run through this before you submit. Most APA formatting marks are lost to small, fixable errors.

Conclusion

Once you know the rules, APA format is pretty straightforward. Set up your document basics first, build your title page, work through each section in order, and close with a clean reference page. Run the checklist before you submit, and you'll catch most issues before your professor does.

The rules exist for a reason: consistency makes research easier to read, evaluate, and build on. Once you've formatted one paper correctly, the next one takes a fraction of the time.

If you'd rather spend your energy on the actual research and leave the formatting to someone who does this every day, that's exactly what our experts are here for.