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Citation Style & Formatting Guide: APA Style

Basic APA Formatting Rules

  1. Alphabetize the citations in your references list by the author's last name. 
  2. Double space your entire document, including the references list. 
  3. Use a Hanging Indent for all citations in your references list. 
  4. Check the capitalization and italics for each citation in your references list. 

APA Document Formatting

Font Guidelines

  • Serif - 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or 10-point Computer Modern

  • San-Serif - 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode

Line Spacing

Page Header, Running Head, Page Numbers

Title Page Setup

Section Headings

Tables & Figures

 

Microsoft Word - Hanging Indent

APA Style Guide (American Psychological Association)

In-Text Citations

In-text citations are abbreviated citations following an idea or quoted text in your writing. 

In-text citations must always correspond to an expanded citation in your references list. 


Basics of APA In-text Citations: 

  • Quotes - when you use the exact text from another source, this is defined as "quoted text." Quoted text should always be in parentheses and include an in-text citation with a page number. Example - (Smith, 2019, p. 52) Click here for instructions. 
     
  • Paraphrase & Summary - when you paraphrase or summarize another author's idea or writing you should give credit to the original source by including an in-text citation. Since you may be combining ideas from across multiple pages or from multiple author's a page number is not needed. Examples - (Smith, 2019); (Smith, 2019; Davis, 2017) 
     
  • Long Quotes - if your quoted text totals 40 or more words, you should use the "block quote" format. Click here for instructions on how a block quote should be formatted. 
     
  • Multiple Authors - if your source has two or more authors, the formatting of the in-text citation will change. Consult the APA Publication Manual section 8.17 for formatting examples.