how do i write an apa format paper

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APA Sample Paper

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Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Media Files: APA Sample Student Paper  ,  APA Sample Professional Paper

This resource is enhanced by Acrobat PDF files. Download the free Acrobat Reader

Note: The APA Publication Manual, 7 th Edition specifies different formatting conventions for student  and  professional  papers (i.e., papers written for credit in a course and papers intended for scholarly publication). These differences mostly extend to the title page and running head. Crucially, citation practices do not differ between the two styles of paper.

However, for your convenience, we have provided two versions of our APA 7 sample paper below: one in  student style and one in  professional  style.

Note: For accessibility purposes, we have used "Track Changes" to make comments along the margins of these samples. Those authored by [AF] denote explanations of formatting and [AWC] denote directions for writing and citing in APA 7. 

APA 7 Student Paper:

Apa 7 professional paper:.

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How to Write an APA Style Paper

Last Updated: February 14, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Noah Taxis . Noah Taxis is an English Teacher based in San Francisco, California. He has taught as a credentialed teacher for over four years: first at Mountain View High School as a 9th- and 11th-grade English Teacher, then at UISA (Ukiah Independent Study Academy) as a Middle School Independent Study Teacher. He is now a high school English teacher at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco. He received an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. He also received an MA in Comparative and World Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BA in International Literary & Visual Studies and English from Tufts University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 332,214 times.

The American Psychological Association's (APA) method of citation is one of the most widely used styles for writing scientific and research papers, particularly in fields like psychology, sociology, business, economics, and medicine. This style can seem intimidating, but it’s mostly a matter of dividing your paper into the right sections and following basic formatting guidelines. Give your paper a strong intro, then follow up with the methods, results, and discussion sections. Include references, an abstract, and any relevant tables or figures, and you’re good to go!

APA Style Paper Outline

Formatting the Title Page and Abstract

• For instance, a title like “Age, Health, and Cities” is too short and vague.
• ”Age-Based Influences on the Perception of Access to Healthcare in Cities” is more informative.
• Center the title on the page.

• Age as an Influence on Perceived Access to Healthcare in Cities
• Rohanda Jenkins
• University of Toledo

• For example, “AGE AND PERCEIVED ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE”

Creating the Main Body

• Your introduction should summarize your topic, it’s relevance to other research, and how you arrived at your hypothesis.
• Keep things interesting. Avoid boring your readers with lists like “Schmidt concluded in 2009 that…. As Donaldson conferred in 2011…. In 2013, Pavlov then argued…”
• Instead, write in terms of ideas: “Scholars such as Schmidt and Donaldson have proven that there is widespread variability in access to healthcare. The role of age in creating this variability has not been adequately considered. Knowledge of health care options among the elderly is an important starting point that Pavlov’s research explores, but a more comprehensive study of age-based influences is needed.”

• Title each subsection (“Participants,” “Materials,” “Procedures”) in bold print, and set the subsection titles all the way to the left. Begin each paragraph on the next line.
• If it is necessary to describe the equipment you used, you can also include an “Apparatus” section instead of or in addition to the “Materials” section.
• The goal of the methods section is to show other researches how to replicate the study, if they wanted to.

• Refer to the APA manual or your specific field for precise information on how to format statistics.
• Make references to any supplementary materials you have in your paper (charts, images, graphs, tables, etc.). For example, you might write something like “As Figure 1 indicates…”

• For example, your discussion might say something “Although this study indicated that teens perceive health care as being less accessible than adults over 35, additional research is needed to explore this topic among 18-35 year olds.”

Applying the Finishing Touches

• List the references alphabetically, according to the first author’s last name.
• Don’t put an extra space between each reference. Regular double spacing is all you need.
• Use hanging indentation for the reference entries.
• Make sure to also include APA style in-text citations if you cite a reference in the body of your essay.

• If you are a student, however, your instructor may ask you to incorporate tables or figures into the body of your paper. Always ask if you aren’t sure.

• Put the word “Abstract” centered in regular type on the line above the paragraph.
• You should write the abstract after you’re finished with the paper, put position it on its own page just after the title page.

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• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/title-page
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
• ↑ https://www.canadacollege.edu/htpcommittee/docs/GUIDELINES%20FOR%20RESEARCH%20PAPER%20S14.pdf
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/discussion-phrases-guide.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/figures
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/abstract-keywords-guide.pdf

About This Article

To write an APA-style paper, use a 12-point font size, double spacing, and 1-inch margins all around. You should also include a title page with the title of your paper and your name and institution. Also, include a page header at the top of every page that gives a brief synopsis of your paper's title in under 50 characters. At the end of your paper, make a "References" page that contains all of the sources you used in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. To learn how to write and format the body of an APA-style paper, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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