APA Formatting Notes

 

To learn about APA formatting, I suggest the use of the UMUC library. Go to http://www.umuc.edu/library/library.html. Once there, look under link Writing Resources for Citing Electronic Resources: APA Style or MLA Style.

 

Some other resources:

 

Writers' Handbook, Documentation Styles, APA Documentation Style: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html

 

The Purdue University Writing Lab, Using American Psychological Association (APA) Format: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

 

APA Reference Style by David S. Baker and Lynn Henrichsen: http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/apa01.html

 

APA Style Resources: http://www.psychwww.com/resource/apacrib.htm

 

1. APA formatting is not the same as MLA formatting. MLA is probably the formatting style that you used in high school. MLA formatting uses footnotes. With APA, references need to be cited within your paper. The form is usually something like so (Brown, 1992) or (Brown, 1992, pg 12).
2. The References page should be a separate page (the last page of the document). It is titled References and the references used are shown in alphabetical order using the hanging indent format. (To do a hanging indent, choose Format, Paragraph, Special, Hanging Indent.). The MLA style uses single spaced references on the reference sheet. The APA style uses double spacing for all pages, including the References sheet.
3. The APA style also uses a right aligned header that shows the title (or if the title is a long, the first words of the title) and the page number. APA page numbers all pages including the title and the references pages.

 

To see samples of APA styled papers, go to http://www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/Hacker-Shaw-APA.pdf and http://www.thewritesource.com/APA/APARESEARCH.HTM

 

General Guidelines for APA formatted papers

• The paper will use 1" margins
• The entire paper, including the References page, will be double spaced
• The paper will use left alignment
• The title of the paper is centered on the first line of the body
• Subheadings are italicized and use left alignment
• The first lines of all paragraphs are indented 5 spaces via the tab key.
• After each paragraph, press enter only once, press the tab key, and type the next paragraph.

 

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