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APA Research Paper Format

STI follows the American Psychological Association or APA writing format, which is one of the
most widely used formats in writing academic research papers.

The following guidelines should be followed in writing your research paper:

 Paper Size. Use white 8 ½ x 11” paper.
 Margin. It is required that margins on all sides (top, bottom, left, right) should each just
measure one (1) inch.
 Font Size and Type. Font for text all throughout the paper should be 12-pt., Times New
Roman.
 Spacing. Double-space for the whole document, including appendices, footnotes, tables, and
figures. For spacing after punctuation, space once after commas, colons, and semicolons within
sentences and space twice after punctuation marks that end sentences.
 Text Alignment and Indentation. Alignment should be flush left or aligned to the left
creating uneven right margin.
 Running Head. Running heads are short titles located at the top of each of the pages of your
research, specifically on the header. It is typed flush left justified at the top of all pages. It
should not exceed 50 characters including punctuation and spacing.
 Page Number. This also needs to be made using the header function and should appear on
every page throughout the document except for the Title Page. It must be right aligned across
the running head.
 Order of Pages and Pagination. The order of pages should follow the format stated on 01
Handout 1. The page number should appear one inch from the right corner of the paper on the
first line of each page. The title page will serve as the Page 1 of your paper.
 Title Page. The STI logo should be center-aligned at the top. While, the title should be center
aligned, about halfway down the page. At the bottom of the page, center-aligned, should be
the name of the members of your group in alphabetical listing following the order of their last
name. But, first name followed by middle initial and the last name format should be entered
per member’s name. Followed by STI’s school branch and date you submitted your research
proposal/research paper. See example on Page 2 of this handout.
 Passive Voice. Follow the traditional APA writing format, which requires writing in an
impersonal form. That is, refraining from using pronouns such as ‘I' or ‘We' in your statements.
 References. 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. It should begin on a new page and 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 paper. Here Are
some basic rules:
o All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half
inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
o Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors
of a particular work for up to and including seven authors. If the work has more than seven
authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's name. After
the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.

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o Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each
work.
o For multiple articles by the same author, or authors listed in the same order, list the entries
in chronological order, from earliest to most recent.
o Present the journal title in full.
o Maintain the punctuation and capitalization that is used by the journal in its title. For
example: ReCALL not RECALL or Knowledge Management Research &
Practice not Knowledge Management Research and Practice.
o Capitalize all major words in journal titles.
o When referring to books, chapters, articles, or Web pages, capitalize only the first letter of
the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and
proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated
compound word.
o Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.
o Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal
articles or essays in edited collections.
o Please note: While the APA manual provides many examples of how to cite common types
of sources, it does not provide rules on how to cite all types of sources. Therefore, if you
have a source that APA does not include, APA suggests that you find the example that is
most similar to your source and use that format.
 Appendix/Appendices. Your paper may have more than one appendix. Usually, each distinct
item has its own appendix. If your paper only has one appendix, label it "Appendix" (without
quotes.) If there is more than one appendix, label them "Appendix A," "Appendix B," etc.
(without quotes) in the order that each item appears in the paper. In the main text, you should
refer to the Appendices by their labels. In general, the content of an appendix should conform
to the appropriate APA style rules for formatting text.

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Reference:
The Writing Center. (2017). Academic and professional writing. Retrieved from
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html

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