apa style paper margins

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How to Write an APA Style Paper

Last Updated: May 26, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 319,041 times. Learn more...

The American Psychological Association's (APA) method of citation is one of the most widely used styles for writing scientific and research papers, particularly in fields like psychology, sociology, business, economics, and medicine. This style can seem intimidating, but it’s mostly a matter of dividing your paper into the right sections and following basic formatting guidelines. Give your paper a strong intro, then follow up with the methods, results, and discussion sections. Include references, an abstract, and any relevant tables or figures, and you’re good to go!

APA Style Paper Outline

Formatting the Title Page and Abstract

• For instance, a title like “Age, Health, and Cities” is too short and vague.
• ”Age-Based Influences on the Perception of Access to Healthcare in Cities” is more informative.
• Center the title on the page.

• Age as an Influence on Perceived Access to Healthcare in Cities
• Rohanda Jenkins
• University of Toledo

• For example, “AGE AND PERCEIVED ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE”

Creating the Main Body

• Your introduction should summarize your topic, it’s relevance to other research, and how you arrived at your hypothesis.
• Keep things interesting. Avoid boring your readers with lists like “Schmidt concluded in 2009 that…. As Donaldson conferred in 2011…. In 2013, Pavlov then argued…”
• Instead, write in terms of ideas: “Scholars such as Schmidt and Donaldson have proven that there is widespread variability in access to healthcare. The role of age in creating this variability has not been adequately considered. Knowledge of health care options among the elderly is an important starting point that Pavlov’s research explores, but a more comprehensive study of age-based influences is needed.”

• Title each subsection (“Participants,” “Materials,” “Procedures”) in bold print, and set the subsection titles all the way to the left. Begin each paragraph on the next line.
• If it is necessary to describe the equipment you used, you can also include an “Apparatus” section instead of or in addition to the “Materials” section.
• The goal of the methods section is to show other researches how to replicate the study, if they wanted to.

• Refer to the APA manual or your specific field for precise information on how to format statistics.
• Make references to any supplementary materials you have in your paper (charts, images, graphs, tables, etc.). For example, you might write something like “As Figure 1 indicates…”

• For example, your discussion might say something “Although this study indicated that teens perceive health care as being less accessible than adults over 35, additional research is needed to explore this topic among 18-35 year olds.”

Applying the Finishing Touches

• List the references alphabetically, according to the first author’s last name.
• Don’t put an extra space between each reference. Regular double spacing is all you need.
• Use hanging indentation for the reference entries.
• Make sure to also include APA style in-text citations if you cite a reference in the body of your essay.

• If you are a student, however, your instructor may ask you to incorporate tables or figures into the body of your paper. Always ask if you aren’t sure.

• Put the word “Abstract” centered in regular type on the line above the paragraph.
• You should write the abstract after you’re finished with the paper, put position it on its own page just after the title page.

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• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/title-page
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
• ↑ https://www.canadacollege.edu/htpcommittee/docs/GUIDELINES%20FOR%20RESEARCH%20PAPER%20S14.pdf
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/discussion-phrases-guide.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/figures
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/abstract-keywords-guide.pdf

About This Article

To write an APA-style paper, use a 12-point font size, double spacing, and 1-inch margins all around. You should also include a title page with the title of your paper and your name and institution. Also, include a page header at the top of every page that gives a brief synopsis of your paper's title in under 50 characters. At the end of your paper, make a "References" page that contains all of the sources you used in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. To learn how to write and format the body of an APA-style paper, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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APA Sample Paper

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Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Media Files: APA Sample Student Paper  ,  APA Sample Professional Paper

This resource is enhanced by Acrobat PDF files. Download the free Acrobat Reader

Note: The APA Publication Manual, 7 th Edition specifies different formatting conventions for student  and  professional  papers (i.e., papers written for credit in a course and papers intended for scholarly publication). These differences mostly extend to the title page and running head. Crucially, citation practices do not differ between the two styles of paper.

However, for your convenience, we have provided two versions of our APA 7 sample paper below: one in  student style and one in  professional  style.

Note: For accessibility purposes, we have used "Track Changes" to make comments along the margins of these samples. Those authored by [AF] denote explanations of formatting and [AWC] denote directions for writing and citing in APA 7. 

APA 7 Student Paper:

Apa 7 professional paper:.

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What should the margins be in an APA formatted paper?

Table of Contents

• 1 What should the margins be in an APA formatted paper?
• 2 How wide should the margins in APA be?
• 3 What is APA margin settings?
• 4 What should be the page margin and line spacing in APA Style?
• 5 What is margin in HTML?
• 6 How do you set margins on a computer?
• 7 What size are the margins in APA?

Margins should be one inch in all directions (top, bottom, left, right). The proper font size is 12-point font; the acceptable font type is Times New Roman.

Does APA have 1 inch margins?

Formatting margins in APA Style is straightforward. The Publication Manual calls for margins to be a minimum of one inch (2.54 cm) on all sides throughout the manuscript. Each margin must be at least one inch wide.

How wide should the margins in APA be?

In general course papers, all margins should be set to 1 inch on each side of the paper.

What are the margins for APA 7th edition?

Set all margins to 1 in. or 2.54 cm (APA, 2020, p. 45). If different margins are required due to publication requirements (e.g., a thesis or dissertation that will be published in print), please follow the publisher’s requirements.

What is APA margin settings?

Use 1-inch margins on every side of the page for an APA Style paper. However, if you are writing a dissertation or thesis, your advisor or institution may specify different margins (e.g., a 1.5-inch left margin to accommodate binding).

How do you set margins?

Select Layout > Margins. Select Custom Margins. In Margins, use the Up and Down arrows to enter the values you want….Change default margins

• Select Layout > Margins > Custom Margins.
• Set your margins.
• Select Set As Default.
• Confirm your selection.

What should be the page margin and line spacing in APA Style?

Rules for All APA Papers:

• Margins: 1″
• Recommended font: 12-point Times New Roman, or 11-point Calibri, Arial or Georgia; or 10-point Lucida sans Unicode or Computer Modern.
• Line Spacing: Double. Make sure that there is no extra space after each paragraph (Microsoft Word defaults to including one.

How do you make a paper margin?

Change margins in your document to change the layout and make sure everything fits. Select Layout > Margins….Change default margins

What is margin in HTML?

Margins are used to create space around elements, outside of any defined borders. This element has a margin of 70px.

What is margin How do we set the margin?

A margin is a space separating text or other elements from the edge of the paper commonly adjusted through the page setup. Most programs allow for the top, bottom, left, and right margins to be set. The standard margin settings are 1″ top and bottom and 1.25″ left and right.

How do you set margins on a computer?

What are the margins for APA?

What size are the margins in APA?

What are margins in APA style?

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