How to Write Using APA Writing Style

1). Prepare the title page of your paper. Use Times New Roman 12-point font. Type a running head at the upper-left side of the page. The running head should literally include the words "running head" along with an abbreviated version of the title of your paper, and all of this should not exceed 50 typed spaces on the page (counting letters, punctuation and spaces between words). Type a header in the upper-right side of the page as well. The header can be the first two words of the title of the paper.
2). Type the title of the paper in the center of the page. Center the title vertically and horizontally. Use double spacing. After typing the title of the paper, hit the "Enter" key once then type your name (first name, middle initial, last name). After typing your name, hit the "Enter" key again then type the name of your university affiliation.
If you are a student, your university affiliation is the name of the school you are attending. If you are a researcher or professor, your university affiliation is the name of the school you work for or the name of the school sponsoring your research.
3). Type the abstract on the next page after the title page. The abstract is on a separate page by itself. Type the abstract of the paper in such a way that the word "abstract" is put in the center of the page at the top of the page. Type a brief summary of your paper. Do not indent when you start typing. Just type the summary, which should be one double-spaced paragraph and should not exceed 120 words.
The abstract should include a listing of the topic you investigated, the purpose of the investigation, a brief statement of how you investigated the topic and a brief summary of what your findings were. Do not go into excessive detail because this part of the paper is just a brief summary.
4). Type the remainder of the paper. The paper has sections such as the introduction (which provides background information on the topic), method (where you describe what you did and how you conducted your study or how you found your information), results (where you summarize the data you collected and present your findings) and discussion (where you interpret and evaluate your findings).
There should be double spacing throughout the text; there should be double spacing between headings and text as well as double spacing between each line of text. Double-space your text on 8 ½-by-11-inch paper with 1-inch margins on each side. Indent five spaces when you begin each new paragraph. The left margin should be justified, while the right margin should be uneven or ragged.
Page numbers should be inserted in the upper-right corner of each page. Capitalize the beginnings of sentences, capitalize titles and italicize the titles of books. Headings for the major sections of the paper should be centered and placed at the top of the section. Headings of subsections of the paper should be flush with the left margin right above the subsection text.
5). Cite ideas or paraphrase ideas by writing the sentence paraphrasing the idea first and then putting the citation in parentheses with the author's surname first then a comma followed by the year of publication. Cite a direct quote by enclosing the quote in quotation marks then putting the author's surname, the year of publication and the page number where the quotation was drawn in parentheses after the closing quotation marks. Cite lengthier quotes by stating the author of the quote; then put the year of the publication in parentheses; then indent the quote five spaces from the left margin; then type the quote as a block paragraph.
At the end of the quotation, in parentheses, cite the author's surname again with the year of publication and the page number that the quote is on in whatever book or journal you found the quote in. When listing a group of citations they should be in parentheses in alphabetical order by surname and separated by semicolons.
6). Type references at the end of the paper in a separate references section. There needs to be a separate heading for the references section. Alphabetize the references according to the author's last name. If there are several authors, then alphabetize based on whichever author is listed first in the article, book or other publication. After the last name of the author (and her first initial), put the year of publication in parentheses. Then, list the title of the journal article or book or other document.
The information that follows depends on what type of material is being referenced, since there are varying formats for books versus articles versus online or other types of documents. Get a copy of the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" (fifth edition) so that you can see actual examples of how to present various types of references in the reference section of the paper. This book is available at most schools or libraries.