This document provides an overview of APA formatting guidelines for student papers. It discusses the general structure including sections like the title page, abstract, body, and references. It also covers in-text citations, reference list formatting, and citing different source types like books, articles, videos, and datasets. The key aspects are double spaced text with 1-inch margins, a running head on each page, and consistent formatting of references and in-text citations.
2. General Guidlines
Typed in double-spaced
1" margins on all sides.
Include a page header at the top of
every page. For a student paper, this
only includes the page number
(Usually on the Right)
3. Font
•Legible and consistently throughout the paper.
•Recommended fonts ---- 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, and 10-
point Lucida Sans Unicode as well as serif fonts such as 12-point
Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern.
5. Title Page
Title of the paper
Author's name, and the institutional affiliation.
Course number and name
Instructor name
Assignment due date.
6. Title Page
Title in upper and lowercase letters
Centered in the upper half of the page.
The title should be centered and written in boldface.
Author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name.
Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation,
7. Abstract Begin a new page.
Include the page header
On the first line of the abstract page, center and bold the word “Abstract” (no
italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
A concise summary of the key points of your research---Research topic, research
questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions.
Abstract should be a single paragraph, double-spaced and usually not more than
250 words.
List keywords from your paper in your abstract.
Type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your keywords.
Abstracts are not typically required for student papers unless advised by an
instructor.
8. In Text Citations
Use past tense
Follow Author, Date
• As Singh(2016) mentions...
• (Patel, 2016)
Two Authors
Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses. Use
the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and
use the ampersand in parentheses.
• Research by Singh and Malhotra (1994) supports...
• (Singh & Malhotra, 1994)
9. A Work By Three Or More Authors
List only the first author’s name followed by “et al.”
Kernis et al., 1993)
Kernis et al. (1993) suggest...
In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period.
Unknown Author
Cite the source by its title in a signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses.
Titles of books and reports are italicized; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.
A similar study was done on adult monkeys trying to protect their young ones ("Recreating Habitats," 2001).
Organization As An Author
•If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation
According to the American Computer Association (2000),...
10. Two Or More Works In The Same Parentheses
When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz.,
alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon.
•(Kaur, 2002; Singh, 1983)
Authors With The Same Last Name
To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.
•(E. Malhotra, 2001; L. Malhotra, 1998)
11. References
New page----- Label this page "References" in bold, centered at
the top
Indented one-half inch from the left margin.
Authors name should be inverted.
Authors' first and middle names should be written as initials.
For example, the reference entry for a source written by Jaskirat
Nikhil Singh would begin with “Singh, J. N."
If a middle name isn't available, just initialize the author's first
name: "Singh, J."
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name
For multiple articles by the same author, list the entries in
chronological order, from earliest to most recent.
12. Single Author Periodical
Last name, Initials. (publication year ). The title of the article (Sentence Case) meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the
title are capitalized. Periodical title(Italics), volume number(Italics) (issue number), pages. DOI
If you are accessing the periodical online, use the URL of the website from which you are retrieving the periodical.
Eg 1: Author, A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
Eg 2: Singh, A. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5–13.
Basic Format For Books
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work(Italics). Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
Eg: Kaur.L (2008). Alexander the Great: A life in legend. Yale University Press.
Article Or Chapter In An Edited Book
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book(Italics) (pp. pages of
chapter). Publisher. DOI (if available)
Patel, D. (2019). Malory and character. In S. H. Singh & C. J. Kaur (Eds.), A new companion to India (pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.
13. Kaggle Data Sets
Dataset creator's name. (Year, Month of dataset creation). Name of
the dataset, Version of the dataset. Retrieved Date Retrieved from
URL of the dataset.
Pate, R. (2017, November). R vs. Python: The Test Version, Version
1. Retrieved December 20, 2017 Retrieved from
https://www.kaggle.com/rtatman/r-vs-python-the-kitchen-gadget-
test.
14. Citing YouTube Video
• Author, A.A. (year, month day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL http://xxxxx
• Use the name of the account that uploaded the video as the author.
• Include the specific date on which the video was uploaded. Italicize the video title. Include [Video] after the title. [Video] is not italicized.
• Provide the site name (YouTube) and URL of the video.
• Example:
• NASA. (2019, August 28). Soft robotic gripper for jellyfish [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guRoWTYfxMs
• Parenthetical citation: (Harvard University, 2019) Narrative citation: Harvard University (2019)
Cite a YouTube channel
• Author, A.A. (n.d.). Title of channel [YouTube channel]. Retrieved month day, year, from URL http://xxxx
• Italicize the title of the channel. Include the description “[YouTube channel]” in square brackets after the title.
• Provide a retrieval date, because the content is designed to change over time and is not archived.
• Examples:
• Oneida Digital Media. (n.d.). Home [YouTube channel]. Retrieved July 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/user/OneidaProductions
• Parenthetical citations: (Oneida Digital Media, n.d.) (NASA, n.d.)
• Narrative citation: Oneida Digital Media (n.d.) and NASA (n.d.)