The document provides a comprehensive guide on how to write an essay in APA format, which is essential for psychology, education, and social sciences. It outlines the four major sections required: title page, abstract, main body, and references, along with key formatting guidelines such as margins, double spacing, pagination, and correct citations. Additionally, it offers tips for effective writing in APA format and suggests resources for further assistance.

1. How to write an essay in APA
Format?

2. What is APA format?
APA stands for American Psychological Association. APA
format is the official writing format of this association.
This format is used to write papers in Psychology,
education and social sciences. In psychology and other
social sciences, it is important to write in APA format. It
is because writing in a particular format allows readers
to know what they look for. Also, the psychology writers
can easily communicate their ideas and experiments in
this format.

3. Four Major sections of the essay in APA
format.
 Title Page- Title page is the first page of your essay. It must contain
a running head, title, author name, and school affiliation. The main
aim of writing this page is to let readers know the topic and author
of the paper.
 Abstract- Abstract is a brief summary of your paper. This page is
placed just after the title page. According to APA, the abstract
should be no more than 150 to 200 words.
 Main Body- The main body includes the main content of your
writing. If you are writing an essay, the main body should include
the essay itself but in APA essay format. If you are writing any
paper then it can include further subsections.
 References- This section includes all the sources from where you
have gathered the information.

4. Things to remember about APA Essay
Format
 Margins- There must be a uniform margin on all the
four sides of the page. The margin should be of at least
one inch.
 Double Spacing: It means there must be two spaces after
each sentence.
 Running Head: According to the APA essay format, every
page of your essay must contain a running head on the
top left. Running head is the shortened form of the title.
It should be no more than 50 characters.

5. Things to remember about APA Essay
Format (cont.)
 Pagination: Page numbers should begin with the Title page.
Every page of your essay must contain page number on the
top right corner.
 Title: Your title should not exceed 12 words. The title must
clearly tell what paper is all about.
 Font: According to APA format, font style must be Times New
Roman and font size must be 12.
 Paragraph Indent: The first word of each paragraph must be
indented one-half inch. Avoid paragraphs of one sentence.
 Reference List: This list must contain each source from where
information is collected.

6. Things to remember about APA Essay
Format (cont.)
 Numbers: The numbers less than 10 must be written in words(one
to nine). Numbers more than 9 must be written in Arabic(10-
100000 and so on).
 Citation: Citation must be done in a proper format. For this, you
must use author name followed by the date of publication.
Format: (author,publication date).
 Hyphen use: APA essay format recommends writers to use fewer
hyphens. So, do not over-hyphenate your content.
 Italics: All the titles should be in italics. Especially the titles of
books, newspapers, magazines, brochures, periodicals, journals etc.
 Language: Do not use biased or pejorative language. For example:
do not use the word “disabled child”, in its place use “child with
disability”.

7. Things to remember about APA Essay
Format (cont.)
 Abbreviations: APA recognizes any seven acronyms that do not need
definition. These are HIV, AIDS, ESP, REM, ACTH, NADP, and IQ. If you want
to use other abbreviations also then define them once before using. For
example- “___Stock Keeping Unit (SSU)___”.
 Quotes: Try to avoid the use of quotes. If necessary, use the quotes of less then
40 words and explain that in your words too. Quotes of 40 words or more
are considered as blocked quotes.

8. Tips to make your writing in APA format
easy
 Choose a good topic to write.
 List all the sources that you cite.
 Editing and proofreading
 Make your final draft.

9. Resources which provide APA format help
 Homework Help Websites like CallTutors
 Online tools
 Purchase official APA manual