7.4: Formatting by Section

Learning Objectives

1. Identify how formatting differs between the major sections of an APA Style paper.
2. Differentiate between a heading and a header.
3. Identify when to use each heading level.

APA Style Formatting by Paper Section

APA papers generally include the following sections:

1. Cover page (sometimes called a title page)
2. Abstract
3. Main body
4. References
5. Appendices

If you forgot what each of these sections cover, go back to the section How to Read a Research Article. This section will focus on the specific formatting of each section. The formatting discussed in the last section that should be throughout the paper will not be repeated here, so make sure to format your whole paper that way first, then move on to making sure each section is correctly formatted. For a sample paper, check out sample papers from the APA or OWL Purdue.

First Section: Title Page

In the upper half of the page, centered:

• The title of your paper, in bold.
• Your name
• Affiliation (your college/university)
• Author note (optional)

Remember, this text will focus on the Professional Style described in the 7th edition of the APA Style manual. The Student Style will have slightly different information on the title page, and the header on the first page will differ.

Insert a Page Break after the affiliation so that the first page of the main body starts on the next page. [Don’t just hit Enter a bunch of times. Doing that messes up other formatting.]

Second Section: Abstract

An abstract is a 150- to 250- word summary of your paper. The abstract page should include:

• Page header and page number (2, because this will always be on the second page)
• The abstract title (which should be the word Abstract), centered and bold, at the top of the page.
• The abstract paragraph is not indented.

Third Section: Main Body

This is the section of the paper where most of your writing will be; this is where you describe what was measured, on whom, and what was found.

The first page of the main body includes the title in the header and at the top of the page (as a heading). This title is in the style of a Level 1 heading (see below). Every page of your main body should include:

• Page header and Page number
• Indented paragraphs (with no extra space between the paragraphs).

There should not be a page break within the main body; Just let the paragraphs break where they naturally do.

Headings

A heading is a title for different sections of your paper. It is not a header, which is the title in the top margin of each page (that's all capitalized). APA uses a system of five heading levels, as shown in the Note below. Start with the Level 1 style for your titles and headings, then move down for lower level sections.

Note

Level 1: Centered, Bold, Title Case (first letter of important words is capitalized)

Level 2: Flush Left, Bold, Title Case

Level 3: Flush Left, Bold & Italicized, Title Case

It is exceedingly unlikely that you will need a Level 4 or Level 5 heading, but here they are:

Level 4: Indented, Bold, Title Case, Ending with a Period.

Level 5: Indented, Bold and Italicized, Title Case, Ending with a Period.

Fourth Section: Reference Page

Your reference page is where each of you cited sources is listed. You need a reference page when you cite someone else’s work. Like every other page, the reference page should include:

• Running head (only the paper’s title, all capitalized)
• The page number
• Double-spaced, with no extra space between paragraphs

It should also include a title (References) at the top of the page in bold (Level 1 heading). APA uses References, not works cited or bibliography.

Many of the pages in this textbook provide examples of references of articles, books, or webpages. Some of the pages in this text show examples of footnotes, but APA Style uses references. The references (not footnotes) are correctly formatted, except that the they do not have hanging indents. Hanging indents of each reference is the opposite of the indentation paragraphs in the main body. Each reference should start all of the way to the left, and each subsequent line should be indented. This is called a hanging indent, and Word will do this automatically for you through the paragraph settings. OWL Purdue has several pages dedicated to formatting references of different types of sources. You will most likely be using the research articles, so you would look at the Reference List: Articles and Periodicals page.

While your authors for each reference should be kept in the order that they appear on the source, the order of the references themselves (each reference "paragraph") should be in alphabetical order by the first author's last name. If you are referencing the same author or set of authors (in the same order) but from different sources, you would order the reference "paragraph" by the year.

Fifth Section: Appendix

Depending on the journal publisher, an appendix could be used to present tables, figures, lists of stimulus words, questionnaire items, detailed descriptions of special equipment or unusual statistical analyses, or picture or video screenshots. Basically, nn appendix is where material that would interrupt the flow of the research report if it were presented within any of the major sections, but is still important for understanding the study. Like the abstract page and the references, each appendix should include

• Page header and page number (like all pages)
• The title, centered and bold, at the top of the page.

If you only have one appendixe, then the title should be the word Appendix. For example, researchers who use visual prompts (like pictures of faces) would put the pictures in one appendix. If you have multiple appendices, then each appendix is identified by a letter; Appendix A would inclue the information discussed first in the paper, Appendix B would include information mentioned next in the body of the paper, etc. For example, a research might mention the outcome variable (DV) of a survey in the Measures sub-section of the Method section, so that could be Appendix A. Then, the visual prompts could be mentioned in the Procedure sub-section of the Method section, so those could be in Appendix B.

In the 7th edition of the APA Style manual, tables and figures can be in appendixes or in the paper around where each is mentioned. The formatting for these will be discussed next.