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APA Style 6th edition

A guide to help users create APA-style reference citations, text citations, title pages, and more! Find help videos and visual examples.
Format & Headings
 
Rules for Format

Typeface (Font)

  • Times New Roman
  • 12-point
  • Font for tables can be sans-serif (such as Arial) but still in 12-point

Line-Spacing

  • Double-spaced - including title, headings, footnotes, quotations, references, figure captions, and all text lines of the manuscript

Margins

  • 1-inch margins at the top, bottom, right and left of every page

Alignment

  • Do not justify the right margin (do not make the right margin even); for text use flush left
  • Do not divide words at the end of a line (do not use hyphenation)
Rules for Headings

Headings provide an outline of your writing to the reader.  Not all papers should include headings.  Check with your professor before including headings in your papers to make sure that headings are appropriate for the specific paper you are writing.

The main thing to remember about headings is that if you have one heading at a specific level, you must have at least one more.  For instance, you would not label a part of your experiment Part I if there is no Part II.  Make sense?

Format
Level 1

Centered, Boldface, Upper & Lowercase

     Paragraph begins here.
Level 2

Flush Left, Boldface, Upper & Lowercase

     Paragraph begins here.
Level 3      Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading that ends with a period. Paragraph begins here.
Level 4      Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading that ends with a period. Paragraph begins here.
Level 5      Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading that ends with a periods. Paragraph beings here.
Example APA Outline Using Headings
Level 1 Heading ♦ Level 2 Heading ♦ Level 3 Heading ♦ Level 4 Heading ♦ Level 5 Heading
Notes:
  • The title is not considered a heading; do not bold.
  • The introduction is not given a header in APA Style.
Immigration and Crime
Literature Review
     Paragraph begins here for Level 1 headings.
U.S. Immigration: A Historical Overview
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
Crime 
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
     Immigration and crime in urban areas.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
     Anecdotal evidence.  Paragraph begins here for Level 4 headings.
     Empirical evidence.  Paragraph begins here for Level 4 headings.
     Felonies.  Paragraph begins here for Level 5 headings.
     Misdemeanors.  Paragraph begins here for Level 5 headings.
     Immigration and Crime in Rural Areas.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
     Anecdotal evidence.  Paragraph begins here for Level 4 headings.
     Empirical evidence.  Paragraph begins here for Level 4 headings.
     Felonies.  Paragraph begins here for Level 5 headings.
     Misdemeanors.  Paragraph begins here for Level 5 headings.
Methodology
     Paragraph begins here for Level 1 headings.
Variables and Measures
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
     Dependent variables.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
     Independent variable.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
Data Analysis Method
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
Results 
     Paragraph begins here for Level 1 headings.
Correlational Analysis
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
Regression Analyses
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
     Serious crimes.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
     Minor crimes.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
Discussion
     Paragraph begins here for Level 1 headings.
Conclusion
     Paragraph begins here for Level 1 headings.
Implications
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.
     Implications for policy makers.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
     Implications for law enforcement.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
     Implications for immigrants.  Paragraph begins here for Level 3 headings.
Directions for Future Research
     Paragraph begins here for Level 2 headings.

Heading Examples

Title Page

General Rules

Page 1

Page 1

Level 1, 2, & 3 Headings

Level 1, 2, & 3 Headings