APA Style General Format
| Margins: after the title page, the standard margin is 1" at the top, bottom, left, and right. Most word-processing programs, 1 inch is the default setting. Headings: APA articles use from one to five levels of headings. If you need all five levels of headings in your paper, it will look something like this: Centered Upper and Lowercase Heading Centered, Italicized, Upper and Lowercase Heading Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. If you require four or fewer levels of headings, omit the all caps centered heading and begin with the centered, upper and lowercase heading. Headings indicate the organization of your manuscript, and establish the importance of each topic or section. All topics of equal importance should be introduced by the same level of heading in your paper. For example, in Ivy Green's paper on reluctant readers, the headings for the Methods and Results sections for her first experiment should be identical in format to her headings for her second experiment. One hint: avoid having only one subsection within a section, just as, when you compose an outline, you always have a "B" when you have an "A". It doesn't matter how many levels of subheadings you have, as long as you follow the above top-down progression. Indenting: Always indent five spaces when you begin a new paragraph, but do not include an extra space between paragraphs. In the case of long quotations (those exceeding 40 words), start the quote on a new line, indented five spaces, in a free-standing, double-spaced block with all lines flush with the indent. Example: Children ages seven to nine are likely to spontaneously discover the pleasures of reading for enjoyment when given the opportunity to do so in class. Choice in reading materials, according to their interests and curiosity, aids in this discovery It is often at this age that readers will divide into two groups: fiction readers and non-fiction readers, an affiliation most likely to remain throughout their lives. |