Introduction

APA style format means the rules presented in the publication manual off the American Psychological Association. It is a preferred method of writing research papers for many classes.

Methods of writing

• Set the margin off your paper to one inch with left side justification and ragged right margins.  Also, set the indent at half an inch and the line spacing to double-space.  Select times new roman as the font.
• Organize your paper as follows, title, abstract, introduction, method, result, discussion, reference and appendices particularly if the paper is a summary and analysis of other work.
• Begin by making a title page with full title, your name and school below.
• On a new page, write “Abstract” in bold, centered at the top, one inch from the top of the pager.  Begin your abstract on the text double spaced line.
• On a new page, begin by writing the method, results and the discussion.  The sections need to have bold faced, centered headings, but they do not need to begin on a new page each.
• Begin reference section on a new page, with a centered, bold-faced heading.  List the works you cited in alphabetical order by the first authors last name.  indent the second line each bibliography entry, and double space the entire list
• Whenever you quote paraphrase, or borrow a key word from another source, you must cite the author and the year of the reference.  You do this in the body of your paper, often within the sentence.
• Learn the correct hierarchy of headings.  A main section heading is always bold and centered.  The next level of subheading is bold and left justified: each word starts with capital letter as if it were a title. Then follows bold and left indented; only first word is capitalized.  Next is bold, italic, indented with first word capitalized.

The APA format is a standardized format system for formatting research papers and citing resources.  By following its rules, you can write a paper that conforms to standard guidelines, your paper will appear professional and scholarly researched. Researchers in education, social workers, nursing, business and many other behavioral social sciences, frequently use APA format.