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APA Style Guide, 7th edition: Paper Format

Format Your Paper

The Font

APA 7 does not specify a specific font or size, just that it must be legible. Consistency is the only guideline provided, the same font should be used throughout the paper. Some suggestions are 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, 12-point Times New Roman, and 11-point Georgia.

If your instructor has specified a font or font size, follow those guidelines.

(Source: Publication Manual, 2.19)

Page Header Contents

  1. Page Numbers - located at the top right of each page. 

Running Head

APA 7 does not require a running head for student papers. (Source: Publication Manual, 2.8; 2.18)

Page Numbers

To insert page numbers in Microsoft Word:

  1. Click the "Insert" tab on the top menu. 
  2. Under "Header", select "Edit Header" (at the bottom)
  3. Place your cursor to the right of the page by pressing press the Tab button on your keyboard twice. 
  4. Click "Page Number", then "Current Position," and choose "Plain Number" from the options. 
  5. Remember to change the font size and style of headers to 12 pt. Times New Roman font.

Margins

To set margins to one inch in Microsoft Word:

  1. Go to the "Page Layout" or "Layout" tab
  2. Click "Margins"
  3. Select the "Normal" option

Title Page

Your title should provide an idea or summary of the main idea of your paper. There is no word limit for titles but the more concise the better. Try not to be too wordy or off-topic. Use title case for your paper title example: My Awesome Paper

On your title paper (the first page of your paper) you should include:

  • The Title of Your Paper 
  • Your Name
  • Your Institution (Valencia College)
  • The Course Number: Course Name
  • Instructor's Name
  • Due Date

All of the above information should be centered and a few lines down from the top of the page

To create a title page in Microsoft Word:

  1. Place your cursor at the top of the page
  2. Press (Enter) 3-4 times
  3. Type the title of your paper in bold 
  4. Press "Enter" twice
  5. On the next line type Your Name and press "Enter"
  6. Type Your Institution (Valencia College) and press "Enter"
  7. Type the Course Number, a colon, and your Course Name and press "Enter"
  8. Type your Instructor's Name
  9. Type the Due Date of your paper

After you have entered all of the information on the title page, select everything by holding some the "CTRL" key while pressing "A" (This would select everything on your page)

  1. In the"Paragraph" box, click the icon for "Center"

Example:

Double Space

With everything selected, follow the steps below.

To double space in Microsoft Word:

  1. Click the "Home" tab on the top menu. 
  2. In the "Paragraph" box, click the icon that looks like and up/down arrow with text to the right
  3. Select 2.0 
  4. Click the "Home" tab on the top menu again. 
  5. Again, In the "Paragraph" box, click the icon that looks like and up/down arrow with text to the right
  6. This time, click on "Remove Space After Paragraph"

Reference List

The Reference List should be on a new page

The heading at the top of the reference list should say References at the top (not Bibliography or Works Cited, unless your instructor tells you otherwise) and bolded, and centered.

All reference lists should be in alphabetical order by the author's last name. Go letter by letter and ignore spaces, hyphens, and punctuation. If the work has no author, use the title. Use the first significant word in the title to replace the author. Ignore words like the, a, and an.

All reference lists should also have a hanging indent and double spaced as shown below:

Freeman, R.E. & Auster, E.R. (2011). Values, authenticity, and responsible leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 98,

                15-23. doi:   10.1007/s10551-011-1022-7

To create a hanging indent in Word:

  1. Click on the "Home" tab
  2. Select all of your references by holding down the left button the mouse and drawing the mouse over all of the text
  3. In the "Paragraph" box select the more icon
  4. The following toolbar will appear. In the "Indentation" section, click the down arrow under "Special" and select "Hanging"

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