Set the features that follow before beginning your paper. Set page margins to one inch on the top, bottom, left and right. Set the font to Times New Roman, size 12pt. Set the line spacing to double-space for all pages and set the page alignment to flush left.
Set the page number right aligned, one line down and one inch from the right margin. Enter a running head to appear on each page left aligned, one line down from the top of the page. A running header in APA style is a title fewer than 50 characters long, including punctuation and spacing.
Write your paper following APA style guidelines. Indent each paragraph between five and seven spaces, double-space at the end of sentences and single-space after other punctuation marks like commas, colons and semicolons.
Write your paper in active voice. Active voice means the subject of the sentence is performing the action described in the sentence.
Create your title page. Type "Running head:" flush left followed by the running head in all uppercase. Enter the paper title in the center of the page. On the next line, enter the author's name, aligned-center. On the next line, enter the institutional affiliation, aligned-center. On the next line, enter author's notes. In author's notes, include departmental affiliations, assistance acknowledgments, financial support and an address (one line). Start a new line between each piece of information.
Create your abstract page (page 2). Enter the heading, "Abstract" centered on the first line below the running head. On the next line, in block format, type your abstract. Standard word limits for abstracts are 150 and 250 words. This may vary depending on who is receiving your paper. Ask them for their preference. Type any numbers in the abstract as digits and not words.
Create the body of the document (page 3). If the body is longer than one page, do not add more page numbers. Page 4 will be the reference page. Center the title of the paper using proper capitalization on the first line below the running head. Begin the introduction (do not label it "Introduction") flush left on the next line under the title.
Use the five styles of heading.
Level one is centered, bold, uppercase and lowercase heading.
Level two is flush left, boldface, uppercase and lowercase heading.
Level three is indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
Level four is indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
Level five is indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
The remaining pages are optional, if needed. They include references, footnotes, tables, figures and appendixes. These pages should all include pagination numbers and adhere to APA style standards.