APA format, done for you.

APA rules at a glance

These are the rules for a student paper in APA 7, the current edition of the Publication Manual. APA has a separate, stricter format for papers sent to journals. Unless your teacher says otherwise, you want the student one.

Margins

1 inch on all four sides.

Font

Times New Roman 12, Georgia 11, Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10 or Computer Modern 10. One font throughout.

Spacing

Double-spaced everywhere, including the title page and References. No extra space between paragraphs.

Page header

The page number, top right, on every page. Page 1 is the title page. No running head.

Title page

The title in bold, then your name, school, course, instructor and due date, all centered.

First page

The title again, bold and centered, then your first paragraph.

Paragraphs

Indent the first line half an inch. Line up text on the left and leave the right edge ragged.

Headings

Up to five levels, all bold and in title case.

Abstract

Not needed in a student paper unless your teacher asks.

References

On a new page, with a bold centered heading. Entries in alphabetical order, each with a half-inch hanging indent.

No running head on student papers

This is the rule students ask about most. In APA 7, a student paper's header holds only the page number, in the top right corner. It starts at 1 on the title page.

The running head, a short title in capital letters at the top left, belongs to professional papers sent to journals. The 6th edition asked students for one too, with the words "Running head:" on the title page. That is why old templates and some teachers still show it.

If your teacher does want a running head, write a short version of your title, 50 characters or fewer, in capital letters at the top left of every page. Leave out the label "Running head:". Keep the page number at the top right.

The student title page

Start the title three or four lines down from the top, in the upper half of the page. Make it bold, centered and in title case. Then add one blank double-spaced line, and these lines, each centered and on its own line:

• Your name: first name, middle initial if you use one, last name. No titles or degrees.
• Your school, often with the department: Department of English, State University
• The course number and name: ENGL 101: College Writing
• Your instructor's name, the way they prefer it
• The due date, written month, day, year: November 2, 2026

Student papers have no author note. On the next page, the title appears again at the top, bold and centered, and your paper begins. Do not add a heading that says Introduction. The opening paragraphs are understood to be the introduction.

Headings

APA has five heading levels. Most student papers use only Levels 1 and 2. Every level is bold and in title case. Levels 4 and 5 end with a period, and the paragraph continues on the same line.

Paragraphs and block quotes

Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch, and keep everything double-spaced.

A quote of 40 words or more becomes a block quote. Start it on a new line, indent the whole block half an inch, and leave out the quotation marks. Keep it double-spaced. The citation goes after the final punctuation.

Any direct quote needs a page number in its citation: (Hershner & Chervin, 2014, p. 75).

In-text citations

APA citations give the author's last name and the year. Add a page number when you quote, and when you point to one exact spot.

• One author(Walker, 2017)
• Name in your sentenceWalker (2017) argues that sleep helps people learn.
• Two authors(Walker & Stickgold, 2006)
• Two, in your sentenceWalker and Stickgold (2006)
• Three or more(Lopez et al., 2021)
• With a page(Walker & Stickgold, 2006, p. 140)
• Group author(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024)
• No date(Lopez, n.d.)

Use & inside parentheses and "and" in your own sentence. With three or more authors, use "et al." from the very first citation.

The References page

• Start it on a new page after your last paragraph.
• Center the word References at the top, in bold.
• Double-space it, and give every entry a half-inch hanging indent.
• List entries in alphabetical order by the first author's last name.
• Write authors as last name and initials. Put an & before the last author.
• Put the date in parentheses right after the authors.
• Write the titles of articles, books and web pages in sentence case: capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and names. Journal names keep title case.
• Italicize book titles, journal names and journal volume numbers.
• End with the DOI as a link, starting with https://doi.org/. No period after a DOI or URL, and no "Retrieved from."

Here are a web page, a journal article with a DOI, and a book, in the order they would appear:

The web page leaves out the website name because it is the same as the author. This journal has volumes but no issue numbers. When a journal has both, the issue goes in parentheses right after the volume, not in italics: 57(1).

An APA paper, start to finish

What you type

formatwriter.com/write The app

What you get

A real PDF exported from Format in APA 7. The writer typed the paper and added three sources. Format built the title page, the page numbers and the References page.

The mistakes teachers mark down

1. A running head nobody asked for. Or the old "Running head:" label. Student papers need only the page number.
2. A plain title. The title is bold, on the title page and again at the top of page 2.
3. No number on the title page. It is page 1, and the number shows.
4. An Introduction heading. Your paper starts right after the repeated title.
5. Title case in References. Article and book titles take sentence case.
6. The wrong "and". & goes inside parentheses, "and" goes in your sentence.
7. Quotes with no page number. Every direct quote needs one.

Questions