6/6/2015 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

GeneralWritingResearchandCitationTeachingandTutoringSubjectSpecific
WritingJobSearchWritingESL
ThispageisbroughttoyoubytheOWLatPurdue(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/).When
printingthispage,youmustincludetheentirelegalnoticeatbottom.

GeneralFormat
Summary:

APA(AmericanPsychologicalAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtocitesourceswithinthesocialsciences.This

resource,revisedaccordingtothe6thedition,secondprintingoftheAPAmanual,offersexamplesforthegeneralformat
ofAPAresearchpapers,intextcitations,endnotes/footnotes,andthereferencepage.Formoreinformation,please

consultthePublicationManualoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,(6thed.,2ndprinting).

Contributors:JoshuaM.Paiz,ElizabethAngeli,JodiWagner,ElenaLawrick,KristenMoore,MichaelAnderson,Lars
Soderlund,AllenBrizee,RussellKeck
LastEdited:2013030108:28:59

PleaseusetheexampleatthebottomofthispagetocitethePurdueOWLinAPA.

Toseeasidebysidecomparisonofthethreemostwidelyusedcitationstyles,includingachartofallAPAcitation
guidelines,seetheCitationStyleChart.

YoucanalsowatchourAPAvidcastseriesonthePurdueOWLYouTubeChannel.

GeneralAPAGuidelines

Youressayshouldbetyped,doublespacedonstandardsizedpaper(8.5"x11")with1"marginsonallsides.You
shoulduseaclearfontthatishighlyreadable.APArecommendsusing12pt.TimesNewRomanfont.

Includeapageheader(alsoknownasthe"runninghead")atthetopofeverypage.Tocreateapageheader/running
head,insertpagenumbersflushright.Thentype"TITLEOFYOURPAPER"intheheaderflushleftusingallcapital
letters.Therunningheadisashortenedversionofyourpaper'stitleandcannotexceed50charactersincludingspacing
andpunctuation.

MajorPaperSections
Youressayshouldincludefourmajorsections:theTitlePage,Abstract,MainBody,andReferences.

TitlePage

Thetitlepageshouldcontainthetitleofthepaper,theauthor'sname,andtheinstitutionalaffiliation.Includethepage
header(describedabove)flushleftwiththepagenumberflushrightatthetopofthepage.Pleasenotethatonthetitle
page,yourpageheader/runningheadshouldlooklikethis:

Runninghead:TITLEOFYOURPAPER

Pagesafterthetitlepageshouldhavearunningheadthatlookslikethis:

TITLEOFYOURPAPER

AfterconsultingwithpublicationspecialistsattheAPA,OWLstafflearnedthattheAPA6thedition,firstprintingsample
papershaveincorrectexamplesofRunningheadsonpagesafterthetitlepage.ThislinkwilltakeyoutotheAPAsite
whereyoucanfindacompletelistofalltheerrorsintheAPA's6theditionstyleguide.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ 1/3
6/6/2015 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

Typeyourtitleinupperandlowercaseletterscenteredintheupperhalfofthepage.APArecommendsthatyourtitlebe
nomorethan12wordsinlengthandthatitshouldnotcontainabbreviationsorwordsthatservenopurpose.Yourtitle
maytakeuponeortwolines.Alltextonthetitlepage,andthroughoutyourpaper,shouldbedoublespaced.

Beneaththetitle,typetheauthor'sname:firstname,middleinitial(s),andlastname.Donotusetitles(Dr.)ordegrees
(PhD).

Beneaththeauthor'sname,typetheinstitutionalaffiliation,whichshouldindicatethelocationwheretheauthor(s)
conductedtheresearch.

ImageCaption:APATitlePage

Abstract

Beginanewpage.Yourabstractpageshouldalreadyincludethepageheader(describedabove).Onthefirstlineofthe
abstractpage,centerthewordAbstract(nobold,formatting,italics,underlining,orquotationmarks).

Beginningwiththenextline,writeaconcisesummaryofthekeypointsofyourresearch.(Donotindent.)Yourabstract
shouldcontainatleastyourresearchtopic,researchquestions,participants,methods,results,dataanalysis,and
conclusions.Youmayalsoincludepossibleimplicationsofyourresearchandfutureworkyouseeconnectedwithyour
findings.Yourabstractshouldbeasingleparagraphdoublespaced.Yourabstractshouldbebetween150and250words.

Youmayalsowanttolistkeywordsfromyourpaperinyourabstract.Todothis,indentasyouwouldifyouwere
startinganewparagraph,typeKeywords:(italicized),andthenlistyourkeywords.Listingyourkeywordswillhelp
researchersfindyourworkindatabases.

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6/6/2015 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

ImageCaption:APAAbstractPage

PleaseseeourSampleAPAPaperresourcetoseeanexampleofanAPApaper.YoumayalsovisitourAdditional
ResourcespageformoreexamplesofAPApapers.

HowtoCitethePurdueOWLinAPA

IndividualResources

Contributors'namesandthelastediteddatecanbefoundintheorangeboxesatthetopofeverypageontheOWL.

Contributors'names(Lastediteddate).Titleofresource.Retrievedfrom
http://WebaddressforOWLresource

Angeli,E.,Wagner,J.,Lawrick,E.,Moore,K.,Anderson,M.,Soderlund,
L.,&Brizee,A.(2010,May5).Generalformat.Retrievedfrom
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ 3/3