How to Format an APA Paper
An APA-formatted paper follows a particular set of style guidelines. From margins and spacing to required sections and more, you will find everything you need to put together a proper, well-formatted APA paper. Note: These are general APA guidelines. Your instructor's guidelines may differ. Always check.
General formatting guidelines
Font: APA recommends 11-pt Calibri, 11-pt Arial, 10-pt Lucida Sans Unicode, 12-pt Times New Roman, or 11-pt Georgia. Use the same font throughout.
Margins: Set one-inch margins on all four sides.
Italics: Italicize titles of all major works, e.g., titles of books, periodicals, movies, music albums, video games, and TV series.
Spacing: Double-space all lines in the body of the paper and in the separate reference page.
Indentation: Indent paragraphs by half an inch.
Pagination: Set page numbers sequentially, starting with "1" on the title page.
Cover page
Page number
Title of paper
Your name
Your school name
Body of the paper
Write solid, organized paragraphs that are supported by research, where necessary.
Document research with proper in-text citations.
Use a concise, professional tone.
Meet the required word count.
Proofread, proofread, proofread.
Reference page
Set off on a separate page within the same document (following the end of the body, use the page break function or hit enter until you reach a clean page).
List a complete reference entry for each in-text citation (except Personal Communications).
Use a half inch hanging indent for any reference with more than two lines. For help, refer to Microsoft's page on how to create a hanging indent.
Organize reference entries alphabetically.