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APA 7 Citation and University Writing

Click through the tabs to learn the basics, find examples, and watch video tutorials.

Format Your Paper

APA Style is more than citations. Learn to format your paper.

The formatting rules and guidelines for APA Style are designed for comprehensive research papers.
Read your assignment instructions and adapt the APA Style rules as needed.
This page gives an overview of what your paper will look like when using APA Style and how to set up a Word document.

Sample Paper in APA 7 Style

SAMPLE PAPER

Learn more about this Sample Paper. Watch the video by Purdue University.

VIDEO. Formatting Your Paper by David Taylor

Produced by Samuel Forlenza, PhD

Just the basics

Basic Elements of APA 7 Style

  • Title page (also known as a cover page).
  • Font options:
    • sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode
    • serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or normal (10-point) Computer Modern (the default font for LaTeX)
  • Double-spaced. The entire document including the title page and reference list.
  • References page always starts on a new page.
  • Page numbers. The title page is your first page. The number one (1) should be located in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
  • Margins. APA guidelines specify: one-inch margins at the top, bottom, right and left of every page. Default margins in Word are one inch.
  • Citations and reference list. Include both in-text citations and a reference list.

For more information check out the APA 7 webpage: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

PowerPoint? Presentations?

Instructors frequently require students to use APA Style within presentations. APA Style does not provide specific guidelines for PowerPoint presentations and visuals. You will be adapting APA Style guidelines. Check with your instructor about the format. You will likely need to have in-text citations on the slides throughout your presentation for images, data, quotes and paraphrased statements, AND a slide at the end for a reference list.