APA Style Guide: Formatting Rules, Citations and Examples (7th Edition)

This APA style guide explains how to format a student paper in APA Style, 7th edition, the current version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. APA Style is the standard in psychology and is widely used in education, nursing, business, communication and the other social sciences. It covers how your paper looks on the page, how you cite sources in the text and how you build the reference list. One rule overrides everything below: when your instructor's guidelines differ from APA, follow your instructor.

APA Style Guide Basics for Student Papers

APA 7 has separate guidelines for student papers and for professional papers submitted for publication. Most college assignments use the student format:

• Margins: 1 inch on all sides.
• Font: any legible font, used consistently. APA's recommendations include 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode and 12-point Aptos, and your word processor's default font is acceptable.
• Line spacing: double-space everything, including the title page, block quotations and the reference list. Don't add blank lines before or after headings or extra space between paragraphs.
• Alignment and indentation: align text to the left margin with a ragged right edge (no full justification), and indent the first line of each paragraph 0.5 inch.
• Page numbers: in the top right corner of every page, starting with page 1 on the title page.
• Running head: not required for student papers unless your instructor asks for one.
• Page order: title page, then the text starting on page 2, then the reference list on a new page. An abstract is not required for student papers unless your instructor requests one.

How to Set Up an APA Title Page

A student title page includes these elements, centered and double-spaced:

1. Paper title in bold title case, three or four lines down from the top of the page
2. One blank double-spaced line
3. Author name (or names)
4. Affiliation: the department and university, separated by a comma, such as Department of Psychology, University of Florida
5. Course number and name as shown on your syllabus, such as PSY 2012: General Psychology
6. Instructor name in the form your instructor uses
7. Assignment due date in the format used in your country, such as October 15, 2026

Only the title is bold; every other element is in standard type. Page number 1 sits in the top right corner. Professional papers differ: they add an author note and a running head, which is a shortened title in all capital letters of no more than 50 characters. In APA 7, the label "Running head:" no longer appears before it.

On the first page of text, repeat the paper title in bold and centered. Don't add an "Introduction" heading; APA assumes the opening section of the text is the introduction.

APA Heading Levels

APA uses up to five heading levels. Most student papers only need Levels 1 and 2. Start each main section with a Level 1 heading, use the same level for sections of equal importance and avoid creating a subsection unless there are at least two.

How to Write APA In-Text Citations

APA uses an author–date system. Every in-text citation includes the author's surname and the year of publication, and each one must match an entry in your reference list. Citations come in two formats:

• Parenthetical: the author and year go in parentheses, separated by a comma: (Nguyen, 2022).
• Narrative: the author's name is part of your sentence, with the year in parentheses right after it: Nguyen (2022) found that...

For three or more authors, APA 7 uses the first author's name plus "et al." from the very first citation. That is one of the biggest changes from the 6th edition, which listed up to five names the first time a source appeared. When you cite several works in one set of parentheses, list them in alphabetical order, the same order they appear in your reference list, separated by semicolons.

Direct Quotations

Direct quotations need a page number or other locator in addition to the author and year. Use "p." for one page and "pp." for a range: (Rivera, 2021, p. 14) or (Rivera, 2021, pp. 14–15). For sources without page numbers, such as webpages, use a paragraph number (para. 4), a section name or, for videos, a timestamp.

Quotations of 40 words or more become block quotations. Start the quotation on a new line, indent the whole block 0.5 inch, keep it double-spaced and leave out the quotation marks. Put the citation after the final punctuation mark, with no period after the closing parenthesis.

Paraphrases

A paraphrase still needs a citation with the author and year. APA doesn't require a page or paragraph number for a paraphrase, but you can include one when it would help a reader find the passage in a long work. Paraphrase rather than quote whenever you can, and save direct quotations for wording that is especially precise or important. Changing a few words in the original sentence isn't enough; restate the idea in your own structure and connect it to your argument.

How to Format the APA Reference List

• Start the list on a new page with the label References, bold and centered.
• Double-space the whole list, with no extra space between entries.
• Use a 0.5-inch hanging indent, so the first line of each entry sits at the margin and later lines are indented. Set it with your word processor's paragraph settings rather than with tabs or spaces.
• Alphabetize entries by the first author's surname. Works by the same author go in date order, oldest first.
• List up to 20 authors by surname and initials, with an ampersand (&) before the last name. For 21 or more authors, list the first 19, then an ellipsis, then the final author.
• Use sentence case for the titles of articles, books and webpages, capitalizing only the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns. Journal names keep title case.
• Italicize the titles of books, reports and webpages, and italicize journal names and volume numbers. Article titles are not italicized.
• Write DOIs as links in the form https://doi.org/xxxxx, with no "DOI:" label and no period at the end. If a work has a DOI, use it instead of a URL.
• Leave out publisher locations, and only write "Retrieved" before a URL when you also need a retrieval date for content designed to change over time.

APA Reference Examples by Source Type

In the text, these become (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014), (Kahneman, 2011), (Taras, 2024), (Above The Noise, 2017) and (Picasso, 1937). For more source types and step-by-step citation help, see our guide on how to cite sources in APA format.

Tables and Figures in APA

• Number tables and figures in the order you mention them, with the label in bold (Table 1, Figure 1).
• Put the title one double-spaced line below the number, in italic title case.
• Add a note below the table or figure if you need to explain abbreviations or credit a source, starting with the word Note in italics followed by a period.
• Mention each table or figure in your text before it appears, for example "as shown in Figure 1."
• Embed each one after the paragraph that first mentions it, or place them on separate pages after the reference list if your instructor prefers.
• Give table columns clear headings with units of measurement, and label figure axes, adding a legend when colors or symbols need explaining.

APA Writing Style Basics

APA is a writing style as well as a formatting system. A few rules apply to almost every paper:

• Use one space after the period at the end of a sentence.
• Write clearly and concisely, and use the active voice where it reads naturally.
• Use bias-free language. Describe people with the terms they use for themselves, and mention characteristics such as age, disability or ethnicity only when they are relevant.
• Use the singular "they" for a person whose gender is unknown or who uses "they"; APA endorses it.
• Describe other researchers' work in the past tense or present perfect, such as "Rivera found" or "Rivera has found."

Common APA Mistakes to Avoid

Most APA errors come from old 6th edition habits or from citation generators that weren't updated. Check your paper for these:

• Typing "Running head:" or adding a running head to a student paper that doesn't need one
• Listing three or more authors in the first in-text citation instead of using "et al."
• Writing "doi:" or "Retrieved from" before links
• Including the publisher's city and state for books
• Capitalizing every major word in article and book titles in the reference list
• Forgetting page numbers for direct quotations
• Citing a source in the text that isn't in the reference list, or the reverse
• Creating a hanging indent with spaces or tabs, which breaks when the document is edited

Citation errors are also a common cause of accidental plagiarism. Our article on why students get citations wrong explains how to avoid them, and if your course uses a different format, see our MLA style guide.

Get Help With APA Formatting

The official APA Style website, apastyle.apa.org, publishes free sample papers and reference examples, and your campus writing center can check a draft before you submit it. For personalized feedback, Ace My Homework's academic writing help connects you with tutors who can review your citations and formatting, explain each correction and show model examples. Writing a psychology paper? Our psychology homework help tutors work in APA every day. Submit your instructions, draft and deadline, compare tutor bids and choose the tutor whose profile and reviews fit your subject. Get your APA paper reviewed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Changed in APA 7th Edition?

APA 7 introduced a separate student title page and dropped the running head for student papers. In-text citations for three or more authors use "et al." from the first citation, reference lists can include up to 20 authors, DOIs are written as https://doi.org/ links, publisher locations are omitted and font choices are more flexible. Heading Level 3 also changed to flush left, bold and italic.

Do Student Papers Need a Running Head in APA 7?

No. Under APA 7, student papers only need a page number in the top right corner of every page. A running head is required for professional papers, or when your instructor or institution specifically asks for one. If you need it, write a shortened title of no more than 50 characters in all capital letters, without the old "Running head:" label.

What Font Should I Use for an APA Paper?

APA 7 lets you use any legible font as long as you use it consistently. Recommended options include 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode and 12-point Aptos, and your word processor's default font is acceptable. If your instructor names a specific font, use that one instead.

How Do You Cite a Source With No Author in APA?

Move the title into the author position. In the reference list, the entry begins with the title, followed by the date. In the text, use the title or a shortened version with the year: put article, chapter and webpage titles in quotation marks, such as ("Sleep and Memory," 2020), and italicize book and report titles. If an organization wrote the work, use the organization as the author.

Do I Need an Abstract for an APA Student Paper?

Usually not. APA 7 does not require an abstract or keywords for student papers unless your instructor asks for them, although longer research papers, lab reports and theses often do. If you include one, place it on its own page after the title page under the bold, centered label "Abstract," and keep it to a concise summary, typically no more than 250 words.

How Do You Cite a Website in APA 7?

For a webpage, give the author, the date (with month and day if available), the page title in italics, the site name and the URL: Author, A. A. (2024, May 30). Title of page. Site Name. URL. Use "n.d." when there is no date, and leave out the site name if it matches the author. Add a retrieval date only for pages designed to change over time.

What Is a Hanging Indent in APA?

A hanging indent is the reverse of a normal paragraph indent: the first line of each reference starts at the left margin, and every following line is indented 0.5 inch. It makes author names easy to scan. In Microsoft Word or Google Docs, set it through the paragraph or indentation options rather than pressing Tab, so it stays correct when you edit.