APA Style Guide

This is a quick summary of the American Psychiatric Association’s style guide as at October 12, 2015, which is used in the social sciences at many universities.

Document

• 1″ margins
• new page for each section
• sections start on a new page
• page 1 – title page
• page 2 – abstract
• page 3 – body
• references, tables, figures, and each appendix are each in their own section (in that order)
• section titles – title case, same font as body, non-bold, non-italic, centered, no period at end
• first section is not named Introduction; it is the title of the document instead
• Section Titles are not the same as Headings

Body

• 12 point Times New Roman font
• double-spaced
• indent each paragraph ½”
• left-justified (i.e., ragged right edge)

Title Page

• centered in top half of the page
• title first, in title case (on the first line)
• author second (on the second line)
• name of university third (on the third line)

Abstract

• one paragraph, no indentation
• 150-250 words
• research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions

Running Header

• document title flush left, page number flush right, all caps
• document title not to exceed 50 characters, abbreviations allowed
• included on all pages, even the title page
• on title page, prepend the title in the running header with “Running head: “.

Headings

• 12 point Arial font
• Level 1: centered, bold, title case, line break at end
• Level 2: flush left, bold, title case, line break at end
• Level 3: indented, bold, sentence case, period at end, no line break at end
• Level 4: indented, bold, italics, sentence case, period at end, no line break at end
• Level 5: indented, italics, sentence case, period at end, no line break at end
• Level 6+: not permitted

Reference Section

• in a separate section immediately following the body
• double-spaced, same font as body, no extra line between references
• sort by first author’s surname
• do not list personal communication or classical works

Each Reference

• exdented ½”
• three parts: author/year, title, publication data
• the three parts are terminated by periods

Author(s)

• authors listed in the order shown in the publication
• all authors listed as surname + comma + given names
• if listing editors, append “Ed.” or “Eds.” after the name(s)

Year

• year is in parentheses after the authors’ names, one space separator between author(s) and year
• If there are multiple works by the same author(s) in the same year, append “a”, “b”, “c”, etc. to distinguish them

Title

• sentence case
• if part of a larger work (e.g., chapter in book, article in journal), do not italicize
• if a standalone work, italicize the title

Publication Data – Books

• pubdata is city + colon + publisher’s name

Publication Data – Chapters in Books

• pubdata is the title of the book
• italics
• prepend the word “In”
• “In” + editor’s names + “(Eds.),” + book title + page numbers in parentheses

Publication Data – Articles in Journals

• the pubdata is the title of the journal
• journal title and volume number in italics
• issue number in parentheses after volume number, no space separator, no italics
• page range after issue number, separated by comma, no italics
• “pp.”, “vol.”, and “num” not used
• title case for the journal’s title

Publication Data – Web Pages

• same as above
• followed by “Retrieved from” + URL (no period at end)

Publication Data -DOI

• same as above
• followed by “doi:” + DOI (no period at end)

Citations (in general)

• surname and year are both required
• must refer to an entry in the reference list
• if author/year combination is ambiguous, append a, b, c, etc.
• separate names with commas
• if two authors:  name1 + space + ampersand + name2
• If more than two authors, comma + space + ampersand between 2nd last and last surname
• if more than 5 authors, specify first author’s surname + “et al.”  There is no comma after the author.
• subsequent citations use “et al.” if there are more than 2 authors.  There is no comma after the author.
• multiple citations: separate with semi-colons if different authors. If it’s the same author, do not repeat the author’s name, but separate the years with commas

Citations (in parentheses)

• (author + comma + space + year)
• year is not in parentheses

Citations (not in parentheses)

• author (year)
• separate author from opening parenthesis with a space

Citations (for paraphrases, comments, and summaries)

• page number is not required, but is acceptable

Quotes

• all quotations require a citation
• citations for quote include page numbers prepended by “p.” or “pp.”
• author, year and page number are separated by commas if in parens
• if quote is 40+ words: no quotation marks; +½” margins; do not indent the first paragraph, but indent all subsequent paragraphs; citation is the last thing in the last paragraph
• summary or paraphrase: no quotation marks; followed by citation; paragraph numbers recommended, but not required