328 / Types of Writing
SAMPLE APA STYLE PAPER
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association describes a style,
referred to as the APA style, primarily for psychology papers but used in other cur-
ricular areas as well.
- The title page includes the title, the author’s name, and the author’s school
affiliation, double-spaced, centered left to right and top to bottom. A title
requiring more than one line is also double-spaced. A running head, a
shortened version of the title, appears at the top right margin with the page
number a double space below and flush with the right margin. The head is
repeated, without the page number, at the bottom. - An abstract follows, summarizing the paper. The abstract page includes a
shortened form of the title and a running head in the upper-right corner. The
title, Abstract, appears centered one inch from the top. The abstract is a single
paragraph written in block form (that is, without indentation) beginning
a double space below the title. The abstract should be 75 to 100 words for
theoretical articles or reviews and 100 to 150 words for empirical papers. - The first page of the paper repeats the title, centered, one inch from the top.
Text begins a double space below the title. - The parts of the paper are labeled (Method, Results, Discussion, References) in
a manner similar to other technical reports. [See Chapter 40, Technical Report.]
Headings of the same level are typed in the same format. - All pages include a running head and are double-spaced.
- The notes are parenthetical and include the author’s last name followed by a
comma and the date of publication. When the author’s name appears in the
text, only the date appears in parentheses. If reference is made to a specific
page or chapter, or if a quotation is included, the parenthetical note must also
include a page or chapter number. Use the abbreviation p. or pp. preceding
page numbers: (Smith, 1992, pp. 78–81). - Instead of a bibliography, the APA style calls for a reference list. This list must
include every citation in the text. Note, too, that the form for entries differs
considerably from the MLA style. The use of surnames with only initials, the
use of parentheses around the date of publication, the omission of capital
letters in all but the first word and proper names of titles, the omission of
quotation marks around periodical titles, and the underscoring of volume
numbers of periodicals are some obvious differences. Note, too, that the entries
are double-spaced with hanging indentation, the second line and following
lines being indented only three spaces, rather than five as in the MLA style.