APA Format for Research Papers

APA Format for Research Papers

One of the most important requirements for research papers is to format them according to the necessary style. Mostly, the formatting style depends on the kind of research area the writer is dealing with. For the Humanities, MLA format is usually required; if the paper should be done on Psychology or exact sciences, most likely you should format your paper according to the rules of APA style.

So, in this article you will find the rules to follow when using APA format for research papers. In contrast to other manuals for using APA format for research papers, this article presents only the most important and essential rules to follow. So, it will be rather convenient for you to keep them in front of you while writing your paper.

• Type your paper on a while 8.5×11 inch paper;
• Use only a legible font for writing. Usually 12 point font is required. According to APA format for research papers, Times New Roman, New York, Courier New, Tahoma, and Palatino are also accepted;
• Double space throughout your paper. Also, when using APA format for research papers, double space before and after the headings. If you include any figures into the paper, triple space before and after these figures.
• Use 1 inch margins on all sides when using APA format for research papers.
• Place the page numbers in the upper right hand corner of each page. So, to use APA format for research papers when placing the page numbers, type the first 2-3 words of your title, then indent 5 spaces, and place the number of the page.
• Place the bibliography list of a separate page. According to APA format for research papers, this page is called “References”. The entries of the reference list should be alphabetized by the authors’ names or the titles of the books (if the book is anonymous).
• According to APA format for research papers, any figure including tables, schemes, or graphs, should be signed with its own number. They should be arranged chronologically starting with no. 1. If a certain figure was taken from the source directly, cite this source below.

While using APA format for research papers, you should also pay much attention to the abbreviation. If a certain abbreviation may be unfamiliar to the reader, you have to explain its meaning. If you want to get more detailed information about how to do abbreviation according to APA format for research papers, visit the following website: www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/apastyle.pdf