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Formatting an APA title page

The title page is a requirement for all APA papers. The primary role of the title page is to present just that: the title. But that’s only the beginning of what is actually required for a properly formatted APA title page. This is the first chance a writer has to truly engage with the reader.

For students, the title page also lets people know which class, professor, and institution the text was written for. For professional authors, the title page is an opportunity to share any affiliations or conflicts of interest that might be present.

APA Style recognizes two different ways to format a title page. One is for student papers and the other is for professional papers. This guide will examine the difference and provide real-life examples of both.

The information provided below comes from the 7 th edition of the APA’s Publication Manual . You can read more about title page elements in Sections 2.1 – 2.8.

Here’s a run-through of everything this page includes:

The difference between a professional title page and a student title page in APA

Elements of an apa style title page, apa formatting title page example, conclusion: formatting a title page in apa 7.

Both student and professional title pages require a title, author, and an affiliation. Both types of title page also require the same basic formatting, including 1-inch indentations on all sides and a page number in the top right corner.

The primary difference is that professional title pages also require an author note and a running head. However, some professors do ask that you provide some of these elements in student papers. It’s a good idea to know how to format them just in case.

Student title page APA

An APA title page for any paper being submitted for a class, degree, or thesis is all about the basics. Here are the elements that should be included in a student title page :

• Title of your paper
• Byline (author or authors)
• Affiliation (department and university)
• Course name and course number
• Instructor name

Page number

Your professor or institution might have their own formatting requirements. When writing a paper for a class, the first rule is to always pay attention to the instructions.

Professional title page APA

A professional title page skips the class info and due date, but it includes:

• Affiliation (division and/or organization)
• Author note
• Running head

The author note and running head are generally only required for professional papers. However, some professors might ask that you include one or both of them. Be sure to check the assignment instructions before submitting.

The title of your paper is really important. This is where the author needs to simultaneously inform and engage the reader without being overly wordy.

An effective title will:

• Engage the reader
• Concisely explain the main topic of research
• Concisely explain any relevant variables or theoretical issues

The paper title should be placed three or four lines down from the top margin of the page. It should be presented in bold, title case, and centered on the page.

Author/Byline

The correct way to display the author’s name is first name, middle initial, and last name. The most important thing is to prevent the possibility of mistaken identity. After all, there are a lot of papers published every year, and it’s possible that someone else has the same name as you do.

For all author bylines in APA, all licenses and degrees are omitted (e.g., Dr., Professor, PhD, RN, etc.).

If your paper has multiple authors, then they should all be listed in the same way, in order of their contributions. All authors should be on the same line, unless more lines are required.

Here’s an example of a properly formatted byline for a paper with two authors:

Cassandra M. Berkman and Wilhelm K. Jackson

Affiliation

The affiliation element is where you identify the place where the work was conducted or who it was conducted for. This is almost always a university or institution. In some cases, there are multiple affiliations for one author, or multiple authors with different affiliations.

Academic affiliations

Academic affiliations include schools, universities, and teaching hospitals. The affiliation line should include the specific department followed by the name of the institution. There is no need to include a location for academic affiliations.

Here is an example of what a basic academic affiliation line should look like:

Department of Psychology, Colorado State University

Non-academic affiliations

Non-academic affiliations are anything that isn’t a school or university, which could be a hospital, laboratory, or just about any type of organization. The affiliation line for a non-academic organization should include the department or division, followed by the name and location of the organization. All elements should be separated by commas.

Here’s how it looks when put to use:

Vidant Health, Greenville, NC, United States

Course number and name (Student only)

Use the course number and course name as they appear on official university materials. Examples:

• ENG 204: Modern English Literature
• PSYC 2301: Research Methodology

Instructor name (Student papers only)

It’s important that you display your instructor’s name in their preferred way. With academics who have multiple degrees and positions, this isn’t something that you should guess at.

It is generally safe to use the course syllabus to see how they prefer to be listed. For example, some use the word “Professor” as their prefix, and many will have PhD, RN, or other type of professional designation.

Due date (Student papers only)

The due date should be presented in the day, month, and year format that is standard to your country.

The page number goes at the top right-hand side of the paper. This is one of the only elements that appears on every single page.

You can add running page numbers to your paper by double-clicking the header portion of the document or clicking the “Insert” tab. It will automatically insert page numbers into the rest of the document.

Author note (Professional papers only)

The author note is usually only required for professional papers. This is where additional data, disclaimers, conflicts of interest, and statements about funding are placed. In some cases, the author statement can be several pages long.

The author note is generally split into four paragraphs, including:

• ORCID iD (a scientific/academic author ID)
• Changes of Affiliation
• Disclosures and Acknowledgments
• Contact Information

Section 2.7 of the Publication Manual has even more information on how to structure these elements for a professional paper.

Running Head (Professional papers only)

While some student papers might require a running head, this is something that is typically only for papers being submitted for publication. This is an abbreviated version of your title that appears at the top of every page to help readers identify it. The running title is particularly useful especially in print versions of journals and publications.

The running head does not have to use the same words as they appear in your title. Instead, try to re-work your paper’s main idea into a shortened form.

For example, if your paper’s title is:

“A Mystery of Style: Exploring the Formatting Mechanics of the Running Head According  to APA Style 7th Edition”

Then your abbreviated title can be something like:

“RUNNING HEAD IN APA 7”

“FORMATTING THE RUNNING HEAD”

The idea is to convey only the most important aspects of your title. The running head should be entered in the page header, flush left against the margin, and presented in all-capital letters.

The APA suggests a maximum length of 50 characters (including spaces and punctuation) for a running head. If your title is already 50 characters and under, then you can use the whole thing as the running head.

Next, let’s have a look at an example of what a real APA title page looks like when it’s all put together.

Student title page formatting example

Professional title page formatting example

All papers written according to APA Style should have a properly formatted title page. Making sure that the title page elements are accurate and informative will help people access your work. It is also the first opportunity that you have as the author to establish credibility and engage the reader.

For more information on the basic elements of an APA paper, check out Chapter 2 of the Publication Manual or our guide on APA format .

Published October 28, 2020.

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An APA title page provides the details of the paper, such as the title of the paper, author name, and author affiliation. APA title pages have two formats—one for professional papers and one for student papers.

The elements to be added on the title page of a professional paper (in order of appearance) are:

• Page number and running head: These elements appear in the header section. The page number appears at the top-right corner, whereas the running head appears at the top-left corner. If the title is too long, the running head is shortened to less than 50 characters.
• Title of the paper: It provides information about the paper. It is aligned center and set in bold.
• Names of the authors: It gives the names of the contributors to the paper and is aligned center.
• Affiliations of the authors: It gives the department and university details of the authors.
• Author note: It gives extra information about the authors.

In a student paper, the following details are included on the title page:

• Page number: This appears in the top-right corner of the header section.
• Title of the paper: It gives the reader an idea of the information in the paper. It appears in title case and bold. It is center-aligned.
• Names of the authors: The names of the contributors are added here. This field is also called the by-line.
• Affiliations of the authors: It includes the names of the authors’ departments and universities.
• Name of the course: The name of the course for which the paper is written is included in this field.
• Name of the instructor: Unlike the professional paper, the instructor’s name is included in a student paper.
• Due date of the assignment: The due date of the assignment is added here. The format is “Month Day, Year” (e.g., August 22, 2017).

The title page information for APA is different for a professional paper and a student paper. As a student, you need to include the following details in the same order on the title page of your student paper.

• Page number: This appears in the header section. Set the page number in the top-right corner of the header.
• Title of the paper: Set it in title case and bold. Align it to the center.
• Names of the authors: Provide the names of the contributors. This field is also called the by-line.
• Affiliations of the authors: Include your department and university name.
• Name of the course: Provide the name of the course and course number for which the paper is written.
• Name of the instructor: Add the instructor’s name. There is no rigid rule on how to set the instructor’s name. You can set it according to the instructor’s preference.
• Due date of the assignment: Add the due date of the assignment. The format should be “Month Day, Year” (e.g., August 23, 2021).

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APA Title Page (Cover Page) Format, Example, & Templates

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In APA Style (7th edition), the cover page, or title page, should include:

• A running head (professional papers only) and page number
• The title of the paper
• The name of the author(s)
• The institutional affiliation
• An author note; optional (professional papers only)
• A student paper should also include course information

Note : APA 7 provides slightly different directions for formatting the title pages of professional papers (e.g., those intended for scholarly publication) and student papers (e.g., those turned in for credit in a high school or college course).

Professional paper APA title page

Student paper APA title page

Formatting an APA title page

Note : All text on the title page should be double-spaced and typed in either 12-point, Times New Roman font. In the 7th edition, APA increaded the flexibility regarding font options: which now include Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, or Georgia 11. All words should be centered, and capitalize the first letter of important words.

Running Head

In the 7th edition of the APA style manual, running heads are only required for professional papers that are being submitted for publication (student papers do not require a running head, but still need a page number).

Your title page should contain a running head that is flush left at the top of the page and a page number that is flush right at the top of the page.

Place the running head in the page’s header:

• The running head is the abbreviated title of the paper (IN UPPERCASE LETTERS) aligned left on the page header of all pages, including the title page. APA (7th edition) guidelines require that running heads be a maximum of 50 characters (spaces count as characters).
• The “Running head:” label used in the APA sixth edition is no longer used.
• Place the page number in this same header, but align right, beginning with page number 1 on the title page.
• This header should be 1 inch from the top. Some instructors allow for 1/2 inch, too, but the default is 1 inch.

Paper Title

Position the title of the paper in the upper half of the page. The title should be centered and written in boldface, and important words should be capitalized.

The APA recommends that your title should be a maximum of 12 words and should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose.

Author Name(s)

Institutional affiliation.

Position the school or university’s name below the author(s) name, centered.

A student paper should also include the course number and name, instructor name, and assignment due date.

Further Information

• APA Student Title Page Guide
• APA Referencing
• How to Write a Lab Report
• Essay Writing Guide for Psychology Students
• APA Style Citations & References
• Example of an APA Formatted Paper

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APA Title Page / Cover Page

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Details to include

The title page (also known as the cover page) is the front page of your paper. It should contain:

• The running head , a header at the top of the page.
• The first page number .
• The title of the paper
• The institution for which you writing.

Running head

The running head should be in the top-left corner of the page in uppercase. It should include a shortened title of your paper. On the front page only, it should also be prepended with "Running head:".

First page number

The first page number -- generally page 1 -- should be in the top-right corner of the page. Both the page number and the running head should be a half inch from the top of the page.

The title of the paper can contain upper and lowercase letters, and ideally should be no more than 12 words in length. It should be direct, and should not contain abbreviations or other unnecessary words. It should not span longer than 2 lines. The first letter of each word should be uppercase, except for articles (a, an, the), and conjunctions (and, but, for, or, yet).

Underneath the title should be your name (or the author's name if you're not the author). It should be displayed as the first name , middle initial , and last name . Do not add titles (such as Dr.) to the beginning, or qualifications (such as PhD) to the end of an author's name.

Your institution

Finally, underneath the author's name, state the full name of the institution or school you're writing the paper for.

The font for all text on the title page should be Times New Roman, size 12pt, with double line-spacing.

A correct title page will look like the below image:

After completing your title page you will move on to writing an abstract of your paper.

APA Guide: 7th Edition

• Page Numbers
• Figures/Images
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• Legal Citations
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• Summary of Changes

Student Paper Example

• Student Paper Example This is a student paper example from the 7th Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Professional Paper Example

• Professional Paper Example This is a professional paper example from the 7th Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Student Title Page Elements

The title page includes the following elements: Page number, Paper title, Author, Author Affiliation, Course, Instructor, and Due Date .  Remember, your instructor can include other requirements for your assignment.  Refer to their instructions carefully.

Your title page and paper is double-spaced. Use 1-inch margins. 

Acceptable Fonts:

• 11-point Calibri 
• 11-point Arial
• 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode 
• 12-point Times New Roman
• 11-point Georgia
• 10-point Computer Modern 1 
• Should summarize the main idea in a succinct way .
• Include strong keywords so that readers can find your work in a database or by using a search engine.
• Avoid using abbreviations in a title.
• The title should be provided in title case .  This means that all major words are capitalized. 
• Be bolded, centered, and begin 3-4 lines down from the top margin of the paper.
• Put a double-spaced blank line between the title and the byline.
• The paper title also appears at the top of the first page of your paper.

Author Name(s) (Byline)

• Beneath the title, type the  author's or authors' full name(s) .
• Do not use titles or degrees.
• ​Order the names of authors based on their contributions.
• Write all of the names on the same line.
• Center the names in a standard font.
• Smith and Doe
• Smith, Doe, and Jones

Author Affiliation

• Identify where you worked or studied when the body of work was completed.
• Include no more than two affiliations for each author.
• Example:  College of Nursing and Health Innovation, University of Texas at Arlington
• Include the department or division.
• Include the name of the institution.
• Include the location of the institution.
• Example:  Hematology/Oncology, Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas, United States
• Include the location.

Locations should include the city, state, province, and country.

Course Name

• Put the course number and name below the Author Affiliation.
• Check with your instructor on the preferred name.
• Place the month, date, and year after the Instructor(s) name(s).

See the example title page below:

All content on this guide comes from the 7th edition of the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and from the APA Style Blog.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association ( 7th ed.).  https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000  

American Psychological Association. (2020, October). Blog .  https://apastyle.apa.org/blog

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What is an APA Title Page?

An APA Title Page refers to

• a Title Page for a longer document that is formatted according to the conventions prescribed by the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual .

The title page is comprised of four elements and two optional elements:

Related Concepts: Archive; Scholarly Conversation; Organization

The Title Page appears at the top of the first page of an APA-styled paper.

Like the rest of the paper, the title page should be double-spaced and typed in Times New Roman, 12 pt. The margins are set at 1” on all sides.

Summary of Required & Optional Elements

• Page number
• Full title of paper
• Author byline (aka bio)
• Affiliated Institution(s) or Organization(s)
• Running head: The running head became optional in the 7th Edition of the Publication Manual.
• Author note

Required Components

• The full title of the paper is centered in the upper half of the page, and the first letter of each major word is capitalized. The paper’s title should be a maximum of 12 words and fill one or two lines; avoid using abbreviations and unnecessary words. Do not format the title with bold, italics, underlining, or quotation marks. The title should be centered in the upper portion of the page, centered, and written in boldface. Make sure to capitalize the major words of the title, such as The Silence of the Lambs . Keep your title as concise as possible! You’ll have plenty of time to be detailed in the body text.
• The author byline is comprised of the author(s)’ first name(s), middle initial(s), and last name(s); this line follows after the full title of the research paper. Note that two authors are separated by the word and, but more than two authors’ names are separated by commas. Do not include titles, degrees, or honorifics (Mr., Mrs., Mx., etc.).
• List the institutional affiliation of the author(s) involved with the research paper. Include the name of the college or university you attend, or the name of the organization(s) that provided support for your research.

Optional Components

• Running head (or shortened title) and label – Optional In accordance with APA 7th Edition updates, student papers typically no longer include a running head. If you are unsure about the need for a running head, be sure to consult with your professor. The running head and label is flush with the upper left-hand corner of the title page, while the page number is flush with the upper right-hand corner of the page. The label “Running head” should only appear on the title page; on all other pages, simply include the shortened title of the paper. All letters of the running head should be capitalized and should not exceed 50 characters, including punctuation, letters, and spaces. Example: EFFECTS OF NUTRITION ON MEMORY
• If you are a student, check to see whether your professor asked you to add any additional information in the Author note slot. Some professors require further information, including the date of submission, course number or title, or name of the professor. If your instructor requires you to include an author’s note, position it in the lower half of the title page. Follow your instructor’s directives regarding additional lines on the title page.

Example: APA Title Page of a Student Work

When creating the Title Page , professional and student papers have slightly different rules for APA. We’ll cover the rules that apply to both types first.

You’ll need to include the course number and name, the name of the professor, and the date your assignment is due. All of this should be done line by line beneath the name of your school.

Image courtesy of the APA style guide

Example: APA Title Page of a Professional Work

You’ll need to include an author’s note underneath your institution on the bottom half of the page. There will be a couple of brief paragraphs to write for this note.

• The first paragraph should have the author’s name and symbol and URL for the ORCID iD. The ORCID iD can be excluded if you don’t have one.
• The second paragraph should include any changes in the institution or deaths of the authors.
• The third paragraph should include any disclosures, acknowledgments, or relevant information related to either.
• The fourth/final paragraph is where you’ll include the contact information for the author.

If any of these paragraphs are irrelevant, there is no need to include them. Simply skip to the next relevant one.

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16.1: Formatting a Research Paper

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Learning Objectives

• Identify the major components of a research paper written using American Psychological Association (APA) style.
• Apply general APA style and formatting conventions in a research paper.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use APA style, the documentation and formatting style followed by the American Psychological Association, as well as MLA style, from the Modern Language Association. There are a few major formatting styles used in academic texts, including AMA, Chicago, and Turabian:

• AMA (American Medical Association) for medicine, health, and biological sciences
• APA (American Psychological Association) for education, psychology, and the social sciences
• Chicago—a common style used in everyday publications like magazines, newspapers, and books
• MLA (Modern Language Association) for English, literature, arts, and humanities
• Turabian—another common style designed for its universal application across all subjects and disciplines

While all the formatting and citation styles have their own use and applications, in this chapter we focus our attention on the two styles you are most likely to use in your academic studies: APA and MLA.

If you find that the rules of proper source documentation are difficult to keep straight, you are not alone. Writing a good research paper is, in and of itself, a major intellectual challenge. Having to follow detailed citation and formatting guidelines as well may seem like just one more task to add to an already-too-long list of requirements.

Following these guidelines, however, serves several important purposes. First, it signals to your readers that your paper should be taken seriously as a student’s contribution to a given academic or professional field; it is the literary equivalent of wearing a tailored suit to a job interview. Second, it shows that you respect other people’s work enough to give them proper credit for it. Finally, it helps your reader find additional materials if he or she wishes to learn more about your topic.

Furthermore, producing a letter-perfect APA-style paper need not be burdensome. Yes, it requires careful attention to detail. However, you can simplify the process if you keep these broad guidelines in mind:

• Work ahead whenever you can. Chapter 11 includes tips for keeping track of your sources early in the research process, which will save time later on.
• Get it right the first time. Apply APA guidelines as you write, so you will not have much to correct during the editing stage. Again, putting in a little extra time early on can save time later.
• Use the resources available to you. In addition to the guidelines provided in this chapter, you may wish to consult the APA website at http://www.apa.org or the Purdue University Online Writing lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu , which regularly updates its online style guidelines.

General Formatting Guidelines

This chapter provides detailed guidelines for using the citation and formatting conventions developed by the American Psychological Association, or APA. Writers in disciplines as diverse as astrophysics, biology, psychology, and education follow APA style. The major components of a paper written in APA style are listed in the following box.

These are the major components of an APA-style paper:

• Headings and, if necessary, subheadings to organize the content
• In-text citations of research sources
• References page

All these components must be saved in one document, not as separate documents.

The title page of your paper includes the following information:

• Title of the paper
• Author’s name
• Name of the institution with which the author is affiliated
• Header at the top of the page with the paper title (in capital letters) and the page number (If the title is lengthy, you may use a shortened form of it in the header.)

List the first three elements in the order given in the previous list, centered about one third of the way down from the top of the page. Use the headers and footers tool of your word-processing program to add the header, with the title text at the left and the page number in the upper-right corner. Your title page should look like the following example.

The next page of your paper provides an abstract, or brief summary of your findings. An abstract does not need to be provided in every paper, but an abstract should be used in papers that include a hypothesis. A good abstract is concise—about one hundred to one hundred fifty words—and is written in an objective, impersonal style. Your writing voice will not be as apparent here as in the body of your paper. When writing the abstract, take a just-the-facts approach, and summarize your research question and your findings in a few sentences.

In Chapter 12, you read a paper written by a student named Jorge, who researched the effectiveness of low-carbohydrate diets. Read Jorge’s abstract. Note how it sums up the major ideas in his paper without going into excessive detail.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Write an abstract summarizing your paper. Briefly introduce the topic, state your findings, and sum up what conclusions you can draw from your research. Use the word count feature of your word-processing program to make sure your abstract does not exceed one hundred fifty words.

Depending on your field of study, you may sometimes write research papers that present extensive primary research, such as your own experiment or survey. In your abstract, summarize your research question and your findings, and briefly indicate how your study relates to prior research in the field.

Margins, Pagination, and Headings

APA style requirements also address specific formatting concerns, such as margins, pagination, and heading styles, within the body of the paper. Review the following APA guidelines.

Use these general guidelines to format the paper:

• Set the top, bottom, and side margins of your paper at 1 inch.
• Use double-spaced text throughout your paper.
• Use a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, in a legible size (10- to 12-point).
• Use continuous pagination throughout the paper, including the title page and the references section. Page numbers appear flush right within your header.
• Section headings and subsection headings within the body of your paper use different types of formatting depending on the level of information you are presenting. Additional details from Jorge’s paper are provided.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)

Begin formatting the final draft of your paper according to APA guidelines. You may work with an existing document or set up a new document if you choose. Include the following:

• Your title page
• The abstract you created in Exercise 1
• Correct headers and page numbers for your title page and abstract

APA style uses section headings to organize information, making it easy for the reader to follow the writer’s train of thought and to know immediately what major topics are covered. Depending on the length and complexity of the paper, its major sections may also be divided into subsections, sub-subsections, and so on. These smaller sections, in turn, use different heading styles to indicate different levels of information. In essence, you are using headings to create a hierarchy of information.

The following heading styles used in APA formatting are listed in order of greatest to least importance:

• Section headings use centered, boldface type. Headings use title case, with important words in the heading capitalized.
• Subsection headings use left-aligned, boldface type. Headings use title case.
• The third level uses left-aligned, indented, boldface type. Headings use a capital letter only for the first word, and they end in a period.
• The fourth level follows the same style used for the previous level, but the headings are boldfaced and italicized.
• The fifth level follows the same style used for the previous level, but the headings are italicized and not boldfaced.

Visually, the hierarchy of information is organized as indicated in Table 13.1 “Section Headings”.

A college research paper may not use all the heading levels shown in Table 13.1 “Section Headings”, but you are likely to encounter them in academic journal articles that use APA style. For a brief paper, you may find that level 1 headings suffice. Longer or more complex papers may need level 2 headings or other lower-level headings to organize information clearly. Use your outline to craft your major section headings and determine whether any subtopics are substantial enough to require additional levels of headings.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{3}\)

Working with the document you developed in Note 13.11 “Exercise 2”, begin setting up the heading structure of the final draft of your research paper according to APA guidelines. Include your title and at least two to three major section headings, and follow the formatting guidelines provided above. If your major sections should be broken into subsections, add those headings as well. Use your outline to help you.

Because Jorge used only level 1 headings, his Exercise 3 would look like the following:

Citation Guidelines

In-text citations.

Throughout the body of your paper, include a citation whenever you quote or paraphrase material from your research sources. As you learned in Chapter 11, the purpose of citations is twofold: to give credit to others for their ideas and to allow your reader to follow up and learn more about the topic if desired. Your in-text citations provide basic information about your source; each source you cite will have a longer entry in the references section that provides more detailed information.

In-text citations must provide the name of the author or authors and the year the source was published. (When a given source does not list an individual author, you may provide the source title or the name of the organization that published the material instead.) When directly quoting a source, it is also required that you include the page number where the quote appears in your citation.

This information may be included within the sentence or in a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, as in these examples.

Epstein (2010) points out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Here, the writer names the source author when introducing the quote and provides the publication date in parentheses after the author’s name. The page number appears in parentheses after the closing quotation marks and before the period that ends the sentence.

Addiction researchers caution that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (Epstein, 2010, p. 137).

Here, the writer provides a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence that includes the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number separated by commas. Again, the parenthetical citation is placed after the closing quotation marks and before the period at the end of the sentence.

As noted in the book Junk Food, Junk Science (Epstein, 2010, p. 137), “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive.”

Here, the writer chose to mention the source title in the sentence (an optional piece of information to include) and followed the title with a parenthetical citation. Note that the parenthetical citation is placed before the comma that signals the end of the introductory phrase.

David Epstein’s book Junk Food, Junk Science (2010) pointed out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Another variation is to introduce the author and the source title in your sentence and include the publication date and page number in parentheses within the sentence or at the end of the sentence. As long as you have included the essential information, you can choose the option that works best for that particular sentence and source.

Citing a book with a single author is usually a straightforward task. Of course, your research may require that you cite many other types of sources, such as books or articles with more than one author or sources with no individual author listed. You may also need to cite sources available in both print and online and nonprint sources, such as websites and personal interviews. Section 13.2 and Section 13.3 provide extensive guidelines for citing a variety of source types.

writing at work

APA is just one of several different styles with its own guidelines for documentation, formatting, and language usage. Depending on your field of interest, you may be exposed to additional styles, such as the following:

• MLA style. Determined by the Modern Languages Association and used for papers in literature, languages, and other disciplines in the humanities.
• Chicago style. Outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style and sometimes used for papers in the humanities and the sciences; many professional organizations use this style for publications as well.
• Associated Press (AP) style. Used by professional journalists.

References List

The brief citations included in the body of your paper correspond to the more detailed citations provided at the end of the paper in the references section. In-text citations provide basic information—the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number if necessary—while the references section provides more extensive bibliographical information. Again, this information allows your reader to follow up on the sources you cited and do additional reading about the topic if desired.

The specific format of entries in the list of references varies slightly for different source types, but the entries generally include the following information:

• The name(s) of the author(s) or institution that wrote the source
• The year of publication and, where applicable, the exact date of publication
• The full title of the source
• For books, the city of publication
• For articles or essays, the name of the periodical or book in which the article or essay appears
• For magazine and journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and pages where the article appears
• For sources on the web, the URL where the source is located

The references page is double spaced and lists entries in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. If an entry continues for more than one line, the second line and each subsequent line are indented five spaces. Review the following example. (Section 13.3 provides extensive guidelines for formatting reference entries for different types of sources.)

In APA style, book and article titles are formatted in sentence case, not title case. Sentence case means that only the first word is capitalized, along with any proper nouns.

Key Takeaways

• Following proper citation and formatting guidelines helps writers ensure that their work will be taken seriously, give proper credit to other authors for their work, and provide valuable information to readers.
• Working ahead and taking care to cite sources correctly the first time are ways writers can save time during the editing stage of writing a research paper.
• APA papers usually include an abstract that concisely summarizes the paper.
• APA papers use a specific headings structure to provide a clear hierarchy of information.
• In APA papers, in-text citations usually include the name(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication.
• In-text citations correspond to entries in the references section, which provide detailed bibliographical information about a source.

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