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Citing Information: Paper Format in APA Style

Required Elements (Professional Paper vs. Student Paper)

Paper elements appear in various combinations depending on the nature of the work. 

  • Professional Paper Required Elements
Title Page + Page Headers + An Abstract + Text + Reference List

Papers may include keywords, footnotes, tables, figures, appendices, and supplement materials.

  • Student Paper Required Elements
Title Page + Page Numbers + Text + Reference List

They may also have tables, figures, and appendices. A running head, an author note and an abstract are not typically needed unless requested by the instructor or institution.

Title Page

A title page is required for all APA-style papers. You need to place the title in the upper half of the title page, centred, and written in the title case (capitalize the first letters of all words, except for minor words such as “and,” “or,” and “off”).  We list the samples of professional and student paper.

Sample Professional Title Page:

 

 

Sample Professional Title Page:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Title: Avoid words that serve no purpose as they increase the title length and can mislead indexers. For example: the words "methods" and "results" do not normally appear in a title, nor should such phrases as "a study of" or "an experimental investigation of". If the title is longer than one line, the main title  and the subtitle can be separated on double-spaces lines if desired.
  • Author Name: The preferred form of an author name is first name, middle initial, and last name. Remember to use the same form of your name for publication throughout your career when possible. Omit all professional title , such as Dr., Professor and academic degree or licenses, such as phD, or EdD. For two authors, separate the names with the word "and"; for three or more authors, separate the names with commas and include “and” before the final author's name. 
  • Author Affiliation: Include no more than two affiliations per author. The format of the affiliation depends on the number of authors and whether different authors have different affiliations. For example,