Include a title, byline, date and name or names of the author or authors on the title page. The title, which should not exceed 12 words, must summarize the study's topic and primary variables that affected it. If the paper is done at a university, that institution's name also should be listed. All should be centered except for a running header, which must appear in the upper right corner of the page.
To frame the study, APA requires a research paper to possess a defined number of sections that include the title page, an abstract, an introduction, methods, results, discussion, tables, figures and appendices and references. Each section must begin on a new page. If you have multiple figures and tables within the figures and appendices section, list only one figure per page.
Type and double-space the paper in 12-point, Times New Roman font. Margins should be 1 inch. Space once after commas, colons and semicolons. Space twice after periods. The paper should be left justified. Indent a paragraph five spaces. The narrative tone should be active, original and written in third person.
The abstract, which can range from 150 words to 250 words, summarizes the study, its purpose, the most important variables, how the study was conducted and what was discovered. It immediately follows the title page and should not be indented.
In-text citations must include, in order, the author's last name and the work's date of publication. If the in-text citation is meant to support a quote, a page number must be included after the date of publication. A reader must be able to locate your reference based on your in-text citation. To set off a quote, you can introduce it with the author's name and then immediately follow the quote with a parenthetical citation. If the reference is internet-based, it must be deemed credible and include the website's name without the "www" prefix.
Tables and figures should illustrate results that substantiate your study. If you have tables or figures in the appendix, you must reference them within the body of the paper. Each table must have a heading and each column must be identified. Figures within tables must be legible and the pitch no smaller than 8 point.
References, the crux of your study, must be listed on a separate page at the end of your paper. According to Purdue's OWL, when you provide references, you allow the reader to retrieve the information you used as the basis of your paper. The format of each reference should follow a basic format.
For example: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages.
Indent the first line of each reference one-half inch from the left margin. If you have multiple authors, list authors alphabetically and include no more than seven authors. If you have a reference with more than seven authors, list six of them. After the sixth author, type ellipses and end with the last author's name. If you use multiple articles from one author, list the author's name and then list the publications chronologically from date of publication.
The APA style guide dictates that a running header must be included on all pages of a research paper. Composed of two parts, the header should be a short title with fewer than three words that identifies the paper and a page number. While the short title should be left justified in the top left corner of the page, the page number should be right justified in the top right corner of the page.