Concise Guide to APA Style

1. Student Paper Types, Elements, and Format General Guidelines for Student Papers 1.1 Application of APA Style to Student Papers 1.2 Student Essays 1.3 Annotated Bibliographies 1.4 Dissertations and Theses 1.5 Student Paper Required Elements Paper Elements 1.6 Title Page 1.7 Title 1.8 Author Name (Byline) 1.9 Author Affiliation 1.10 Abstract 1.11 Text (Body) 1.12 Reference List 1.13 Footnotes 1.14 Appendices Format 1.15 Importance of Format 1.16 Order of Pages 1.17 Page Header 1.18 Font 1.19 Special Characters 1.20 Line Spacing 1.21 Margins 1.22 Paragraph Alignment 1.23 Paragraph Indentation 1.24 Paper Length Organization 1.25 Principles of Organization 1.26 Heading Levels 1.27 Section Labels Sample Student Paper 2. Writing Style and Grammar Effective Scholarly Writing 2.1 Continuity and Flow 2.2 Transitions 2.3 Noun Strings 2.4 Conciseness and Clarity 2.5 Wordiness and Redundancy 2.6 Sentence and Paragraph Length 2.7 Tone 2.8 Contractions and Colloquialisms 2.9 Jargon 2.10 Logical Comparisons 2.11 Anthropomorphism Grammar and Usage 2.12 Verb Tense 2.13 Active and Passive Voice 2.14 Mood 2.15 Subject and Verb Agreement 2.16 First- Versus Third-Person Pronouns 2.17 Editorial 'We' 2.18 Singular 'They' 2.19 Pronouns for People and Animals ('Who' vs. 'That') 2.20 Pronouns as Subjects and Objects ('Who vs. Whom') 2.21 Pronouns in Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses ('That' vs. 'Which') 2.22 Subordinate Conjunctions 2.23 Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers 2.24 Parallel Construction Strategies to Improve Your Writing 2.25 Reading to Learn Through Example 2.26 Writing From an Outline 2.27 Rereading the Draft 2.28 Seeking Help From Fellow Students 2.29 Working With Writing Centers 2.30 Revising a Paper 3. Bias-Free Language Guidelines General Guidelines for Reducing Bias 3.1 Describe at the Appropriate Level of Specificity 3.2 Be Sensitive to Labels Reducing Bias by Topic 3.3 Age 3.4 Disability 3.5 Gender 3.6 Participation in Research 3.7 Racial and Ethnic Identity 3.8 Sexual Orientation 3.9 Socioeconomic Status 3.10 Intersectionality 4. Punctuation, Lists, and Italics Punctuation 4.1 Spacing After Punctuation Marks 4.2 Period 4.3 Comma 4.4 Semicolon 4.5 Colon 4.6 Dash 4.7 Quotation Marks 4.8 Parentheses 4.9 Square Brackets 4.10 Slash Lists 4.11 List Guidelines 4.12 Lettered Lists 4.13 Numbered Lists 4.14 Bulleted Lists Italics 4.15 Use of Italics 4.16 Reverse Italics 5. Spelling, Capitalization, and Abbreviations Spelling 5.1 Preferred Spelling 5.2 Hyphenation Capitalization 5.3 Words Beginning a Sentence 5.4 Proper Nouns and Trade Names 5.5 Job Titles and Positions 5.6 Diseases, Disorders, Therapies, Theories, and Related Terms 5.7 Titles of Works and Headings Within Works 5.8 Titles of Tests and Measures 5.9 Nouns Followed by Numerals or Letters 5.10 Names of Conditions or Groups in an Experiment 5.11 Names of Factors, Variables, and Effects Abbreviations 5.12 Use of Abbreviations 5.13 Definition of Abbreviations 5.14 Format of Abbreviations 5.15 Unit of Measurement Abbreviations 5.16 Time Abbreviations 5.17 Latin Abbreviations 5.18 Chemical Compound Abbreviations 6. Numbers and Statistics Numbers 6.1 Numbers Expressed in Numerals 6.2 Numbers Expressed in Words 6.3 Combining Numerals and Words to Express Numbers 6.4 Ordinal Numbers 6.5 Decimal Fractions 6.6 Roman Numerals 6.7 Commas in Numbers 6.8 Plurals of Numbers Statistics and Equations 6.9 Presentation of Statistics 6.10 Statistical Symbols and Abbreviations 6.11 Spacing, Alignment, and Punctuation for Statistics 6.12 Presentation of Equations 7. Tables and Figures General Guidelines for Tables and Figures 7.1 Purpose of Tables and Figures 7.2 Design and Preparation of Tables and Figures 7.3 Graphical Versus Textual Presentation 7.4 Formatting Tables and Figures 7.5 Referring to Tables and Figures in the Text 7.6 Placement of Tables and Figures 7.7 Reprinting or Adapting Tables and Figures Tables 7.8 Principles of Table Construction 7.9 Table Components 7.10 Table Numbers 7.11 Table Titles 7.12 Table Headings 7.13 Table Body 7.14 Table Notes 7.15 Standard Abbreviations in Tables and Figures 7.16 Confidence Intervals in Tables 7.17 Table Borders and Shading 7.18 Long or Wide Tables 7.19 Relation Between Tables 7.20 Table Checklist 7.21 Sample Tables Figures 7.22 Principles of Figure Construction 7.23 Figure Components 7.24 Figure Numbers 7.25 Figure Titles 7.26 Figure Images 7.27 Figure Legends 7.28 Figure Notes 7.29 Relation Between Figures 7.30 Photographs 7.31 Figure Checklist 7.32 Sample Figures 8. Works Credited in the Text General Guidelines for Citation 8.1 Appropriate Level of Citation 8.2 Plagiarism 8.3 Self-Plagiarism 8.4 Correspondence Between Reference List and Text 8.5 Use of the Published Version or Archival Version 8.6 Primary and Secondary Sources Works Requiring Special Approaches 8.7 Interviews 8.8 Classroom or Intranet Sources 8.9 Personal Communications In-Text Citations 8.10 Author Date Citation System 8.11 Parenthetical and Narrative Citations 8.12 Citing Multiple Works 8.13 Citing Specific Parts of a Source 8.14 Unknown or Anonymous Author 8.15 Translated, Reprinted, Republished, and Reissued Dates 8.16 Omitting the Year in Repeated Narrative Citations 8.17 Number of Authors to Include in In-Text Citations 8.18 Avoiding Ambiguity in In-Text Citations 8.19 Works With the Same Author and Same Date 8.20 Authors With the Same Surname 8.21 Abbreviating Group Authors 8.22 General Mentions of Websites, Periodicals, and Common Software and Apps Paraphrases and Quotations 8.23 Principles of Paraphrasing 8.24 Long Paraphrases 8.25 Principles of Direct Quotation 8.26 Short Quotations (Fewer Than 40 Words) 8.27 Block Quotations (40 Words or More) 8.28 Direct Quotation of Material Without Page Numbers 8.29 Accuracy of Quotations 8.30 Changes to a Quotation Requiring No Explanation 8.31 Changes to a Quotation Requiring Explanation 8.32 Quotations That Contain Citations to Other Works 8.33 Quotations That Contain Material Already in Quotation Marks 8.34 Epigraphs Copyright and Permission 8.35 General Guidelines for Reprinting or Adapting Materials 8.36 Materials That Require a Copyright Attribution 8.37 Copyright Status 8.38 Permission and Fair Use 8.39 Copyright Attribution Formats 9. Reference List Reference Categories 9.1 Determining the Reference Category 9.2 Using the Webpages and Websites Reference Category 9.3 Online and Print References Principles of Reference List Entries 9.4 Four Elements of a Reference 9.5 Punctuation Within Reference List Entries 9.6 Accuracy and Consistency in References Reference Elements (Author, Date, Title, Source) 9.7 Author Element 9.8 Format of the Author Element 9.9 Spelling and Capitalization of Author Names 9.10 Identification of Specialized Roles 9.11 Group Authors 9.12 No Author 9.13 Date Element 9.14 Format of the Date Element 9.15 Updated or Reviewed Online Works 9.16 Retrieval Dates 9.17 No Date 9.18 Title Element 9.19 Format of the Title Element 9.20 Series and Multivolume Works 9.21 Bracketed Descriptions 9.22 No Title 9.23 Source Element 9.24 Format of the Source Element 9.25 Periodical Sources 9.26 Online Periodicals With Missing Information 9.27 Article Numbers 9.28 Edited Book Chapter and Reference Work Entry Sources 9.29 Publisher Sources 9.30 Database and Archive Sources 9.31 Works With Specific Locations 9.32 Social Media Sources 9.33 Website Sources 9.34 When to Include DOIs and URLs 9.35 Format of DOIs and URLs 9.36 DOI or URL Shorteners 9.37 No Source Reference Variations 9.38 Works in Another Language 9.39 Translated Works 9.40 Reprinted, Republished, or Reissued Works 9.41 Religious and Classical Works Reference List Format and Order 9.42 Format of the Reference List 9.43 Order of Works in the Reference List 9.44 Order of Surname and Given Name 9.45 Order of Multiple Works by the Same First Author 9.46 Order of Works With the Same Author and Same Date 9.47 Order of Works by First Authors With the Same Surname 9.48 Order of Works With No Author or an Anonymous Author 9.49 Abbreviations in References 10. Reference Examples Author Variations Date Variations Title Variations Source Variations Textual Works 10.1 Periodicals 10.2 Books and Reference Works 10.3 Edited Book Chapters and Entries in Reference Works 10.4 Reports and Gray Literature 10.5 Dissertations and Theses 10.6 Reviews 10.7 Informally Published Works Software and Tests 10.13 Social Media 10.14 Webpages and Websites Legal References 10.15 Cases or Court Decisions 10.16 Statutes (Laws and Acts) 10.17 Constitutions and Charters 10.18 Treaties and International Conventions