APA Style TutorialSet-up basics

ReferencesIn-text citations

What’s APA Style?The American Psychological Association developed this

style to standardize scientific manuscripts intended for publication.

While it was developed for social and behavioral science fields, all disciplines engaged in research use this style of manuscript preparation.

USE THE PURDUE OWL FOR MORE HELP!http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/

Page Mechanics

Your document should be set for the following mechanical details:1 inch margins12 pt. Times New Roman fontDouble Spacing (with 0 pt. “Before” and “After” line

spacing

Elements of the Title Page

Running Header:This is the short title of your paper typed in all caps.

Page Numbers:All pages are numbered in the upper right-hand corner.

Title:Full title of paperAuthor’s full nameAuthor’s affiliation(some professors require additional info)

Title Page-How to:

Set up margins and spacing FIRST!

Choose “Insert”Choose “Page Number”Choose “Top of Page”Choose “Plain Number 3”-This justifies your numbers to the right margin.

Title Page-How to:After you insert the page number, your page will look like this with the number in a gray box and the cursor flashing in front of it.

Type “Running Head:”, then hit “Caps Lock” and type the short title of your paper. If needed, hit the space bar until the first word of your title is justified to the left margin.

Short Title:The words “Running Head:” plus a shortened (if necessary) version of your title that is no more than 50 characters long.

Title Page-How to:Close the header.

Be sure you have your line spacing set at double.Hit the “Enter” key 8 times.Full TitleYour Full NameAffiliationCourse TitleAdditional Course Info as Required by Professor

2nd Page IssueNow we have to do some back tracking!Hit the “Enter” key until you get to the second page.The Running Head with your short title should show on

the second page along with page # 2.Double click on the Header to open the “Header & Footer

Tools”

2nd Page IssueCheck the box that says “Different First Page”That is going to make the header and page number disappear from page 1.DON’T PANIC!!!!

2nd Page IssueYou need to remove the words “Running Head:” from the header on page 2. You’ll need to hit “TAB” to get the 2 to the right margin.

On page 1 you have to retype in the words “Running Head:” plus your short title plus 1 (the page number). If you put your cursor in front of the 1 and hit tab, it should take the 1 over to the right margin. Close the header and you should be ready to type page 2.

Abstract Page

Usually an Abstract Page will follow the title page.An Abstract is a concise summary of your thesis and main

points of your paper.The Abstract Page also contains key words for search

queries.

Abstract Page-How to:

Justify cursor center and type the word “Abstract” in bold.Justify left, hit “Enter” ONCE, and

type your abstract without indenting.

Justify cursor center and type the word “Keywords:” in italics.

BodyHit “Enter” until you are on page 3.Justify cursor center and type the full title of your paper in bold.

Justify cursor left, hit tab to indicate the beginning of a new paragraph, and type the body of the essay.

References PageWhat we call the “Works Cited” in MLA style is called “References”

using APA style.Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides

the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.

Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page "References" centered at the top of the page (do NOT bold, underline, or use quotation marks for the title). All text should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.

The list of references is arranged in alphabetical order according the to the first word of the bibliographic entry.

The rules for formatting the entries are precise and quite different from MLA.

You should have your references complete and in order prior to typing your essay to make sure your citations are accurate.

References PageThe following examples contain the basic

information required for a bibliographic entry for the References Page.

Formatting References Page Entries

Source retrieved from an internet source

Contributors' names (Last edited date). Title of

resource. Retrieved from http://Web address for

resource.

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee,

A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/

In-text CitationsIn APA style, in-text citations are placed within sentences

and paragraphs so that it is clear what information is being quoted or paraphrased and whose information is being cited.

In MLA style, the citations come at the end of the sentence.

APA requires that the parenthetical citation comes IMMEDIATELY following the cited material. This means that the citation might fall in the midst of a sentence.

In-text CitationsThe information in the parenthetical citation

will slightly vary on the available information for the source.

Use the Purdue OWL to help you with each source type.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/