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APA Formatting and Style

This guide provide helpful resources to that will assist you with APA citations and formatting.

Let's put it all together

In an APA style paper, a number of different components must be included in your report or assignment. Take a look at the tabs below to learn about the different components. The content below will provide you with additional information and examples.

Title Page          Abstract (optional)        Main Body        Reference List

Putting your Paper Together

The title page for a student paper should include the following information:

  • Page Number (Should be flush right, at the top right corner of the page)
  • Title of Paper (Center your title, use bold text, and use lower and uppercase letters)
  • Your Name (First Name, Middle Initial, and Last Name)
  • Institution (type out "Southeast New Mexico College")
  • Course Name and Number (example: ENG 155: English for Beginners)
  • Instructor's Name (example: Dr. Paul Newman)
  • Assignment Due Date (type out month, date, and year)
 

Tips:

  • The title of your paper should be in the upper half of the paper. Usually about 3 to 4 lines down. 
  • The elements of the title page are double-spaced.  An additional double-spaced blank line should be placed between the title and your name.  

 

What is the purpose of an abstract?

An abstract is a summary of your paper. Readers should be able to quickly know what your paper is about.

Components of an Abstract

  • The word "Abstract" should be centered at the top of the page and be in bold text.
  • An abstract should be on its own page.
  • The main paragraph of the abstract should not be indented.
  • Abstracts typically do not include citations. You are not required to include in-text citations because the abstract is a summary, and the content is cited in the body of the paper. You may check with your professor to see if they would like the citation included in the abstract. Usually, if you mention an author in the text of the abstract that will suffice.
  • Abstracts should not contain more than 250 words.  However, the 7th edition of APA does not indicate a specific word count.

 

The body of your paper 

  • The body is the main content of your paper.
  • The title of your paper must be at the top of the first page of the body. It needs to be centered and in bold text.
  • Begin the first sentence with an indent. You will indent each new paragraph.
  • The body of your paper should include in-text citations. Refer to the in-text citation section of this guide for examples.

If you plan on including multiple levels of headings, please refer to the APA 7th edition style manual for details related to headers. You may also refer to the "Useful Resources" tab of this guide. It is located on the blue menu bar.

References List Setup

  • References should be listed in alphabetical order.
  • 1-inch margins should be set.
  • Text should be double-spaced.
  • The word "References" should be listed at the top of the page and in bold text.
  • The first line of your source should not have any indentations. If your citation continues to more than one (1) line, you will need to indent the additional lines of the source.

Example: Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own                    hanging indent 0.5 in - - > incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,                                                77(6), 1121-1134. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121 

                                   

Refer to APA Citation Examples (Reference List) for examples of references/sources.

Putting You Paper Together (Examples)

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Note: Example is from the Purdue Online Writing Lab

This is the Title of My Paper

   The water in the river has a lot of bacteria along the banks (Kim, 2000). According to Anderson (1981), the bacteria began to grow after the big hail storm in 1976. The big storm was created by the three little pigs because they were unable to go to the movies (Forest & Tyler, 1960).

Overview <----------------- This is the second header. It breaks up big parts in your content (use bold text)

The Beginning of the Storm <----------------- This is the third header. This is part of the main content, but is specific to the second header. (use bold text and italics)

    The beginning of the storm took place in Carlsbad, NM. Carlsbad, NM is a small town in Southeast New Mexico (Tanner et al., 2010; Jones, et.al. 1955). According to Forest:

    There was nothing in this small town that could have caused this rapid growth of bacteria. The only thing that may have caused it was an old

    folk tale of the three little pigs. It wasn't true, they didn't huff and puff, they were actually scientists who wanted to cause trouble among the

    town...and they succeeded (pp. 11-14).

Yesterday, pig number one said "let's get our lab coats!" They marched outside, and the trouble began.

 

   

Explanation of in-text examples in the main body of the paragraphs above.

(Kim, 2000) - use this format if the citation has only one (1) author and no page number (a webpage source, for example).

(Forest & Tyler, 1960) - use this format if the citation is linked to two (2) authors and has no page numbers. It may be a webpage source.

(Tanner et al., 2010; Jones, et.al. 1955) - use this in-text format if your source has three (3) or more authors.

 

 

References

Achterberg, J. (1985). Imagery in healing. Shambhala Publications.

American Psychological Association. (2017). Stress in America: The state of our nation. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2017/state-nation.pdf

Baider, L., Uziely, B., & Kaplan De-Nour, A. (1994). Progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery in cancer patients. General Hospital Psychiatry, 16(5), 340–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-8343(94)90021-3

Ball, T. M., Shapiro, D. E., Monheim, C. J., & Weydert, J. A. (2003). A pilot study of the use of guided imagery for the treatment of recurrent abdominal pain in children. Clinical Pediatrics, 42(6), 527–532. https://doi.org/10.1177/000992280304200607

Bernstein, D. A., & Borkovec, T. D. (1973). Progressive relaxation training: A manual for the helping professions. Research Press.

Bottomley, A. (1996). Group cognitive behavioural therapy interventions with cancer patients: A review of the literature. European Journal of Cancer Cure, 5(3), 143–146. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2354.1996.tb00225.x

Cohen, M., & Fried, G. (2007). Comparing relaxation training and cognitive-behavioral group therapy for women with breast cancer. Research on Social Work Practice, 17(3), 313–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731506293741

Cunningham, A. J., & Tocco, E. K. (1989). A randomized trial of group psychoeducational therapy for cancer patients. Patient Education and Counseling, 14(2), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/0738-3991(89)90046-3

Freebird Meditations. (2012, June 17). Progressive muscle relaxation guided meditation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDZI-4udE_o