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Abstract
An abstract is a single paragraph without indentation that summarizes the key points of the paper
in 150 to 250 words. The purpose of the abstract is to provide the reader with a brief overview of
the paper.
Title of Paper Gets Repeated Here Exactly as It Appears on Title Page Not Bolded
You can use this template to you compose your papers; just reformat the title page and
running head, and replace the formatting rules with your content. The first page is where the
body of your paper begins and is similar to an introduction. Note that the title of your paper
appears at the top of your introduction. The title is centered and not bolded. Notice that there is
The major components of your paper (abstract, body, references, etc.) each begin on a
new page. These components begin with centered headings at the top of the first page (Heading
Level 1) and they are bolded. These are the main topics and subtopics of your paper.
Sections can have subsections with headings. For example, a Method section might have
Participants, Materials, and Procedure subsections. The sixth edition of the APA manual, unlike
earlier editions, tells you to bold headings (but not the title above or anything on the title page).
When using APA format, follow the author–date method of in-text citation. This means
that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text—
for example, (Smith, 2015)—and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the
end of the paper. Be sure to paraphrase the ideas of the authors in your own words, and use direct
quotes when the meaning cannot be paraphrased, such as statistical data. Remember that direct
quotes do not show your mastery of the content; they show you can copy/paste what someone
Sample heading level 3. (Note the indent and period, and note how the capitalization
works. You will probably never go deeper than the third heading level.)
Check your assigned reading materials for rules about citations (occurring within the text
of the paper) and references (listed in their own separate section at the end of the paper). When
you are looking at APA information online, you may want to consider where the information is
coming from, if the information refers to an older edition of the APA manual, and whether other
online sources agree with the information you have found. When in doubt, follow the latest
edition of the APA manual (the 6th edition). When you search in the library, you can generate an
APA citation for the articles you choose. There are also many citation generation websites, such
An example of a References section is on the next page. You will format your references
with a "hanging indent" style and double-spacing (with no extra spacing between references). To
create hanging indents, type your references without the indentation. When you are finished,
select all the references at once and apply the hanging indents using the ruler at the top. Notice
Please note that this is a basic template; many formatting rules are not mentioned. Please
utilize your APA handbook and the web resources that are available to you for further formatting
details.
Running head: ALL CAPS ABBREVIATED TITLE 6
References
Ajournalarticle, R., & Psychologist, M. (2007). Title of journal article goes here. Journal Names
Onlinesource, R. (2010). Search for answers at apastyle.org and include issue numbers after
volume numbers when there is no DOI. Journal of Articles Without Digital Object
Amagazinearticle, B. E. (1999, July). Each source type has to be formatted in a different way.
A book reference, S. Smith (2014). Book titles are italicized. New York: Dawkins-Harris
Publishing.
Pyle, D. (2009, September 10). This is how you cite an online news article that has an author.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/dir/subdir/2014/05/11/a-d9-11e3_story.html
(Notice that the hyperlink is inactive; never include active links in your paper.)
Smith, A. A., & Jones, B. B. (2013). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.),