Skip to Main Content

Writing & Citing: APA Paper Format

Ask Your Professor for Preferred Formatting

Your professor is the person grading your paper, and therefore the final say for all formatting questions. For clarification on citation style, and formatting preferences, please reach out to your professor. Librarians may assist you with matching formatting guidelines pulled from the official MLA and APA handbooks. 

Basic Paper Formatting for APA

Page Setup:

  • 1-inch margins 
  • Easily readable font at sized at 11pt or 12pt. Use the same font throughout. (For example, Times New Roman at 12pt.)
    • Font options: Calibri, Arial, Lucida Sans Unicode, Times New Roman, Georgia
  • Double space the entire paper, including title page, headings, text, block quotations, and reference list 
  • Number all pages consecutively in the top righthand corner (in header)
  • Note on paragraph spacing: make sure your alignment is set to 0 before and after

Title Page: 

  • APA papers receive a separate title page with the following information centered on the page:
    • Title of Paper in Title Case and Bold
      • ***add an additional double space blank line between the title and following info:
      • Your name 
      • School Affiliation - i.e. Blue Ridge Community College
      • Course name and number
      • Instructor's name 
      • Assignment due date

While Writing:

  • Begin your paper by restating the title on the 1st page - centered and bolded
  • Indent the first line of each new paragraph
  • Section labels should be centered and bold
  • Headings: APA has five levels of headings that can be used throughout your paper. For more information on what those headings should look like, check out this guide from the APA style website

Works Cited:

  • Appears at the end of the paper, on a new page
  • Capitalize, center and bold the heading, References
  • Double space throughout
  • Use hanging indents throughout

APA Sample Paper with Formatting