AMERICAN

PSYCHOLOGI
CAL
ASSOCIATION
(APA)
BY:
TECHNOAERONEE
RS (GROUP 6)
 The American Psychological Association or APA developed its own
uniform style of formatting written works. Originally, the resulting style
book was provided to their associates as a guide for composing scientific
publications, articles, handbooks, journals, and
the like for the organization. It was in 1929 when
the original APA style guidelines were featured in
a magazine write-up. It was only in 1959
when an official APA style manual became
publicly available. Because of the practicability
it brings, many education institutions use
the APA style as the standard for writing
research papers.
“Formatting a Paper Using the
American Psychological
Association (APA) Style”
“
By: Peter Gallagher and Brian Scott
 Abbreviations
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as Jan.
for January.
Avoid using abbreviations in your paper. However, if you need to use an
abbreviation or acronym that is recognized in your language and you can
find it in the dictionary, then you can use it.
 Hyphenations
Do not separate and hyphenate words at the end of a line. Rather,
leave one line slightly short and put the complete word on the next
line; otherwise, proceed a couple of characters past the right margin
to adjust the complete word on the line.
 Indentions
Indent paragraphs within the primary text of the paper one-half
inch if using a word processing program or indent five to seven spaces
in if typing on a typewriter. However, do not indent in these unique
circumstances: the abstract, block quotations, figure captions, notes,
references list entries, table titles, and titles or headings.
 Margins
Use 1-inch margins on all four sides of the paper: top, bottom,
right, and left. Old rules required 1.5-inch margins, but these
rules are now obsolete.
 Page Numbering
Number nearly every page in the paper, including the title page. Put the
number in the upper-right corner of the page, and use only Arabic
Numbers. Put the number “1” on the title page and the number “2” on the
abstract page. Begin the main body of the text on page number “3”. Do not
number pages that consist of only statistics or illustrations.
 Paper Type
Use regular white, 20-pound bond paper that has measurements of
8.5 by 11 inches. If printing from a computer, use an inkjet or laser
printer to print the paper; if you must use a tractor feed printer, make
sure to tear off the pinhole borders from the sides of the paper
 Parenthesis
Aim to restrict parenthesis to separate or divide items that are
structurally independent, such as listing a number or illustration
that is associated with a sentence. If you are enclosing a full
sentence parenthesis, position the punctuation inside the
parenthesis. If you are only enclosing only a piece of a sentence
inside the parenthesis, then place the punctuation outside the
parenthesis.
 Punctuation
In most cases, use single space after all common punctuation marks,
such as periods, commas, colon, and semicolons. There are three
exceptions to this norm: (1) do not use space after periods inside an
abbreviation, such as when writing U.S. for United States; (2) do not use
space after a colon in ration, such as 6:9; and (3) some professors like the
outdated rule of using two spaces after periods that end sentences. If you
are using Courier or another mono-space font, APA style does permit two
spaces between sentences, although one space is recommended.
 Short Title
A short title is a two- or three-word introduction of the main
title. Put in on every page in the top right corner, except for pages
that consists of only numbers or illustrations. The short title
should appear slightly to the left of the page number.
 Slash mark
Do not use slash marks in your paper. For instance, rather
than writing “blue and/or purple,” it is better to write “blue,
purple, or both.”
 Spacing
Use double spacing throughout the whole paper, unless your
professor expressly asks for single spacing in specific situations,
such as with block quotations.
 Text Alignment
Always format the text flush left. Do not use the “full
justify” feature on your word processor’s toolbar because
this will spread the text fully across the page and align
sentences both left and right.
 Title
Center the title on the title page, creating a combination of
uppercase and lowercase letters. If the title is long enough to
warrant a second line, double space between the lines. After the
title, include your name, followed by the college that you attend.
If you do not belong to a college, you can substitute the city and
state. Double space between each line on the title page. Put the
number “1” in the upper right corner of the title page.
 Typeface
If using a word processor like MS-Word, opt for a
Serif font, such as Times New Roman. Use text in a
10- or 12- point size.