Formatting
These four parts or sections must all be present in order for a paper to conform to APA style.
title page, abstract, main body, references
When you use a word-for-word quote in a paper, make sure to enclose it in quotation marks, the last of which is in this position relative to the citation.
before
These 2 elements are required for a basic in-text citation in APA style (though direct quotes may also require a page number).
Author's last name, year of publication
e.g. (Jones, 1998)
Each in-text citation must match with (and point to) a reference in the list, which will be easy to locate because references are arranged like this.
alphabetically
These types of lines are never to be used in an APA formatted table.
vertical lines
In the header section of the paper, these words appear on the title page but not on subsequent pages.
Running head
Direct quotes of any length which are not enclosed in quotation marks and followed by a citation are considered this.
plagiarism
When listing authors in a parenthetical citation or reference, the last author is set off by this symbol.
& "ampersand"
e.g. (Jones, Smith, & Leery, 1998).
Author names in a reference are inverted, with last names followed by these.
first (and middle) initials
A table is used to simplify the presentation of this. Figures can be anything else.
raw data, numbers, statistics
An entire APA paper, including between headings and text, and between references, should be this.
double-spaced
If you want to quote a qualified person with whom you have engaged in conversation, you may do so, provided you cite the quote as this.
personal communication
In the absence of a personal author(s) name, you may substitute this type of author for an APA reference and citation.
corporate or group author
e.g. (High Point University, 2019).
This is a string of original numbers used to identify scholarly articles across databases. When present, you must include it at the end of the reference.
doi (digital object identifier)
e.g. doi:10.1007/s10956-008-9140-4
Tables and figures are numbered separately. The number and title go before the table, while the number and title/caption are in this position relative to a figure.
below/after the figure
This is the number of heading levels APA designates; however, you are not required to use them all.
5 levels
This type of quotation spans four or more lines and, due to its length, is offset (indented) from the rest of the text.
block quotation
For works with five or more authors, list all authors in the first citation in-text; afterward, just list the first author's last name followed by this Latin abbreviation.
et al.
Latin for "and others"
References to web sources must include a locator (URL) preceded by this phrase.
Retrieved from
Table titles are always distinguished by this punctuation.
Italics
APA style references begin flush left, with all but the first line of a reference indented five spaces; called this.
hanging indent
This phrased is used in-text to refer to outside material quoted within your source.
"as quoted in"
e.g. (as quoted in Myers, 2015).Multiple in-text citations within the same parentheses are separated by this punctuation mark.
; semicolon
e.g. (Martin, 2009; Harris & Boyd, 2010).
This is a type of source for which the full date (not just the year) may be necessary in the citation.
newspaper article
blog post
social media post
If you need to cite a source or clarify something underneath a table, you can include this.
Note.