Basics of Formatting

This style guide covers what your essay should look like. There are a number of differences between formatting an essay in APA and MLA styles, but there are a few aspects that they both share.

One-inch margins all the way around the edges of your paper.
Your papers will be double-spaced throughout your essay. The only consistent exceptions for APA format are if you are including footnotes.
Align the text of your essay against the left margin. The exceptions for APA format are the cover page and section labels like "Author Note," "Abstract," and "References."
Indent your paragraphs a half inch from the margin with the "tab" key. For APA papers, the first line of your abstract will not be indented (if an abstract is required by your instructor).
A clear, readable font. Acceptable examples include 11-point Calibri, 11-point Ariel, or 12-point Times New Roman.

APA Cover Page

APA format typically requires a cover page for student papers. The APA states, "The student title page includes the paper title, author names (the byline), author affiliation, course number and name for which the paper is being submitted, instructor name, assignment due date, and page number, as shown in this example." An example is included below:

APA cover page with text-box descriptions

Bold and center your title about three or four double-spaced lines below the top margin of your paper. Include an extra double-space between the title and author's name. You will typically use "title case" for your own title and when citing works in the text of your paper. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition discusses when to not capitalize words in title case:

Lowercase only minor words that are three letters or fewer in a title or heading (except the first word in a title or subtitle or the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation in a heading):

- short subordinating and coordinating conjunctions (e.g. "and," "as," "but," "for," "if," "nor," "or," "so," "yet")
- articles ("a," "an," "the,")
- short prepositions (e.g. "as," "at," "by," "for," "in," "of," "off," "on," "per," "to," "up," "via")

Most words in a title are capitalized in title case, and even minor words are capitalized if they start a title or subtitle:

Bernard Daly's Promise: The Enduring Legacy of a Place-Based Scholarship by Sam Stern

APA style also uses "sentence case" for some titles on the reference at the end of the paper, as well as for notes and tables. More information on title case and sentence case can be found on our APA Reference Page style guide.

Abstract

An abstract is a summary of all the parts of your paper that sits between your cover page and your introduction. Your instructor may ask you for one, though they are more commonly seen in published essays instead of student papers. They should be clear and accurate, and they should reflect the content of your paper, summarizing it instead of evaluating or responding to it. You can discuss questions or theories under investigation, your methods and findings, and overall conclusions. Abstracts are typically no more than 250 words long, and they are usually given their own page between the title page and the start of your paper.

You'll center and bold the word "Abstract" before you start writing it. Begin the abstract on the next line. It'll be written as a paragraph, though the first line of an abstract isn't indented. Right below the abstract, you can include key words or terms that are important for your paper. Indent and italicize Keywords: with the colon on the next line after the abstract, and then begin your list. Here's an example formatted from "Seasonal Storm Characteristics Govern Urban Flash Floods:
Insights from the Arid Las Vegas Wash Watershed" from Yu et al. (2023):

Abstract

In the arid and semiarid southwestern United States, both cool- and warm-season storms result in flash flooding, although the former storms have been much less studied. Here, we investigate a catalog of 52 flash-flood-producing storms over the 1996–2021 period for the arid Las Vegas Wash watershed using rain gauge observations, reanalysis fields, radar reflectivities, cloud-to-ground lightning flashes, and streamflow records. Our analyses focus on the hydroclimatology, convective intensity, and evolution of these storms. At the synoptic scale, cool-season storms are associated with open wave and cutoff low weather patterns, whereas warm-season storms are linked to classic and troughing North American monsoon (NAM) patterns. At the storm scale, cool-season events are southwesterly and southeasterly under open wave and cutoff low conditions, respectively, with long duration and low to moderate rainfall intensity. Warm-season storms, however, are characterized by short-duration, high-intensity rainfall, with either no apparent direction or southwesterly under classic and troughing NAM patterns, respectively. Atmospheric rivers and deep convection are the principal agents for the extreme rainfall and upper-tail flash floods in cool and warm seasons, respectively. Additionally, intense rainfall over the developed low valley is imperative for urban flash flooding. The evolution properties of seasonal storms and the resulting streamflows show that peak flows of comparable magnitude are “intensity driven” in the warm season but “volume driven” in the cool season. Furthermore, the distinctive impacts of complex terrain and climate change on rainfall properties are discussed with respect to storm seasonality.

Keywords: Severe storms, storm tracks, hydrology, hydrometeorology

Keep in mind that unlike the example above, abstracts in APA papers should be double-spaced like everything else in your paper.

Section and Subsection Headings

Headings identify the subject and focus of each section, and they are written in title case. If you are exploring a specific angle or area within that section, you use the next level, and if you want to narrow your focus even further in that subsection, you use the level after that. There are five levels total, but using all five would be more for a long scientific article in a scholarly journal. The average for published papers is around three levels of section headings according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition, but they also state that short student papers may not use headings at all. The intent is to keep things clear, precise, and organized, and you use the headings to keep the point of each section easily understandable for your readers.

The Different Levels along with Organization and Formatting
Levels	Format
1	Center and Bold Begin your text on the next line as a new paragraph.
2	Align Left and Bold Begin your text on the next line as a new paragraph.
3	Align Left, Bold, and Italicize Begin your text on the next line as a new paragraph.
4	Align Left, Indent, Bold, and End with a Period. The heading starts the paragraph, so begin your text on the same line.
5	Align Left, Indent, Bold, Italicize, and End with a Period. The heading starts the paragraph, so begin your text on the same line.

Here's an example of how section headings could be divided in a paper:

Exploring U.S. Birth Rates Based on Economic and and Sociocultural Factors

The paper introduction would go here. Depending on the length of your paper, you could add section headings to go into more detail if your introduction is going to stretch longer than a page. It depends on how much background is necessary. Here are some examples:

Economic Implications

You'd discuss general considerations related to finances for having children here.

Cultural Expectations

You'd do the same here, giving background on different cultures and subcultures in the U.S. and how it relates to birthrates and childcare.

Methods and Results

Sample Size and Group Data

You'd give information on the different groups being explored, the number of people involved in the studies, and where the information came from.

Findings

Results for Economic Groups

Below the Poverty Line. You'd describe your findings for this group in this section, and it'd be the same for those that follow.

Middle Class

Lower-Middle Class

Upper-Middle Class

Wealthy

Results for Different Ethnocultural Backgrounds

You'd explore a variety of cultures and ethnic identities and the associated sociocultural expectations surrounding childbirth in this section. You'd group them similarly to the levels described above for economic groups. For example, a section on Asian Americans could be subdivided further into East Asian and Pacific Islander groups if you had the data for them.

Asian Americans

East Asian

Pacific Islander

Discussion and Considerations

Limitations of the Study

Recommendations for Future Studies

Conclusion

Keep in mind that the example above is just a general template for organizing sections in APA style, and many published papers rarely go beyond three levels of section headings. Use as many as you think you need to group your data and findings.