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APA (7th ed.) for Student Papers

This is a basic introduction to formatting & citation for APA (7th ed.) student papers. There are lots of other rules (and exceptions to the rules) for different instances, so don't expect to be able to rely solely on this guide.

Paper Formatting

- Formatting refers to the "top-level" structure of your paper. 

 

- There are three major sections in an APA (7th) student paper:

Title Page

Main Body

Reference List

Double Space Everything!

- All text throughout your paper should be double-spaced.

- Set this before you write the first word. 

- Be sure you aren't adding any additional space before or after the paragraphs.

 

If you're writing the paper with MS Word, you can set all of this in the "Spacing" section of the "Paragraph Dialog" box. 
When you're finished, it should look like this:

Set Page Numbering

- Your entire paper should be numbered, beginning with the Title Page. 

- Use the "Headers" function of your word processor to insert the page number. 

The number should be at the top of the page and flushed to the right, like this: