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Writing in APA Style 7th Edition Example Paper

Student Name

Antioch University Santa Barbara

Course Name

Instructor Name

January 8, 2020

Title in bold, Capitalize All

of the Major Words; no

word limit.

Student Name, Institution,

Course Name & Number,

Instructor, and Due Date,

all on separate lines

Change from APA 6: No Running head
Every page has a page number in the header

Student Paper Example

Based on the Seventh Ed. of the

Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association

Use same font size

for everything in the

entire document

APA 7 no longer requires

12-pt. Times New Roman.

Permitted fonts:

 12-pt. Times New

Roman

 11-pt. Georgia

 11-pt. Calibri

 11-pt. Arial

 10-pt. Lucida Sans

Unicode

One blank double-spaced

line under title.

Entire document should be

double-spaced.

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Abstract

This paper describes some basic parts of writing in APA style 7th Edition. These components

include seven major areas: the title page, abstract, formatting concerns for student writing, use

of language, in-text citations, the references page, and titles and figures. This paper also

provides examples of specific changes that are required by APA style 7th Edition.

Keywords: APA style, citations, frustration

Level 1 heading

(see box below)

An abstract is a brief

comprehensive summary of the

contents of the paper, typically

no more than 250 words.

Abstracts are not usually

required for student papers.

Check with your instructor to

see if an abstract and/or

keywords are required for your

paper.

If you’re not required to

include an abstract, begin the

main text on this page.

Keywords are words, phrases,

or acronyms that describe the

most important aspects of your

paper. They are used for

indexing in databases and help

readers find your work during a

search.

If required for your paper,

provide 3–5 keywords.

Keywords can be listed in any

order.

Indent ½ inch.

No period

Page number
1 inch margin

Headings: Use headings in your paper to distinguish between

main sections and sub-sections.

Format for the Five Levels of Headings in APA Style

Level Format

1 Centered, Bold, Capitalize Major Words
Text begins as a new indented paragraph.

2 Left Align, Bold, Capitalize Major Words
Text begins as a new indented paragraph.

3 Left Align, Bold Italic, Capitalize Major Words
Text begins as a new indented paragraph.

4 Indented, Bold, Capitalize Major Words. After a
period, text begins on the same line and continues.

5 Indented, Bold Italic, Capitalize Major Words. After
a period, text begins on the same line and continues.

Main sections (divisions)

of the body of your

paper

Sub-sections

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Writing in APA Style 7th Edition Example Paper

Writing in the style of the American Psychological Association (APA) is a regular practice

for students of higher degree programs in psychology and many programs in science. The new

edition of the manual has made several changes, such as endorsing the use of the singular they,

as exemplified in the next sentence. Each student writer who applies the new APA student

writing standards may encounter different challenges, however, they may use the resources

provided by the AUSB Writing Center for support in learning the relevant new rules.

According to the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association (2019), the style’s broad applicability “helps authors present their

ideas in a clear, concise, and organized manner” that “uniformity and consistency enables

readers to (a) focus on the ideas being presented rather than formatting and (b) scan works

quickly for key points” (p. xvii). Since this paper is mostly written in the seventh edition of APA

style, attentive readers will note that it has many examples of changes from the sixth edition.

Most of the rules demonstrated here are those a student will need to have some acquaintance

with in order to write easily according to the student writing guidelines, which are distinct from

APA’s new journal article reporting standards (Paiz et al., 2013).

The Structure of a Paper in APA Style

The APA style guidelines are designed for primary research papers that usually contain

the following sections: (a) introduction, (b) method, (c) results, (d) discussion, and (e)

references. However, the actual headings may vary depending on the type of paper one is

writing (American Psychological Association, 2019). For example, papers that do not describe

primary research or original experimental data may omit the method, results, and discussion

Level 1 heading

(see p. 2)

Use singular

“they”

New in APA 7:

Use “et al.” for three

or more authors

Title is bolded and

centered, Capitalize

All of the Major Words

Level 1 heading

(a main section)

One

space

after a

period

1 inch

margins on

all sides

Repeat title from Title page

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sections (Xyers, Young, Zucherman, & Anne, 2019, p. 291). Some sections may be broken into

subsections, in which case the authors must use the appropriate headings and subheadings

(Xyers, Young, Zucherman, & Roberts, 2019, para. 4).

Organizing the Main Body

Most APA style papers written by students are not experimental; the organization of

headings and subheadings within the main body of the paper is therefore particularly

important. In certain cases, the author might use additional major sections, such as a literature

review, to introduce their own material.

Organizing the Main Body When There are Additional Content Concerns

In some common graduate assignments, students are instructed to compare therapeutic

models, provide possible interventions given specific presenting problems, or engage in case

study analyses. These papers may have particular sections (such as presenting problem, or

socio-cultural considerations of a given model).

Language Concerns in the Body of the Paper. Sometimes, writers who are just

becoming comfortable with APA style, or with academic writing in general, will mimic academic

language in ways subtly less clear than writers who use academic register fluently. For example,

one might write the following sentence, which sounds academic to the mental ear, but in which

almost everything is done poorly:

during the preparatory process of elucidating the critical and fundamental elements of

this theory for analysis, it would be observed that certain subjective elements of the

theory would be excessively situational to the point of being non-applicable outside of

the theorists’ particular circumstances. (Goodwin, 2012a)

Exception to “et al.” rule for 3 or more authors:

Include as many authors as needed to distinguish

between sources with the same first author(s).

Level 2

heading

(a sub-

section)

Level 3 heading (a

sub-section of the

Level 2 sub-section)

Level 4

heading

(see

p. 2)

If a quotation

is 40 words

or more, use

a block quote

format: new

line, indent ½

inch, double

space, no

quotation

marks.

Short
papers
usually
only
need
Level 1
and 2
headings

For block quotes,

period comes

before citation.

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We observe that such a sentence serves little use beyond parody. The same sentiment can be

expressed in appropriate academic register in the following fashion: this theory is based on

subjective components and thus is not widely applicable (Goodwin, 2012b).

Language Concerns as Issues of Unstated Academic Expectation. Writers for whom the

distinction between the two earlier examples is unintuitive should not be dismayed. Graham

and Harris (1997) have shown that an academic style of writing is slowly learned, and is not

often intuitive. Often, the rules of academic English, and American academic English in

particular, are presented as assumptions rather than with explicit guidance (Graham & Harris,

1997). A student may look at their peers and see no one else asking questions about unclear

elements of an assignment, or unclear expectations, and try to muddle through on their own

rather than raising the issue. However, most academic expectations need to be explicitly taught

at some point, so students should not feel bad asking for clarification. Often, if one writer has a

question about the expectations, many others do also (S. Harter, personal communication,

September 30, 2018).

In-Text Citations and References

The American Psychological Association (APA) encourages authors to cite any works

that have impacted their own (APA, 2019). In general, the style guide recommends

paraphrasing sources rather than using too many direct quotes, “because paraphrasing

allows you to fit material to the context of your paper and writing style” (APA, 2019, p. 270).

A direct quote is best employed when the original author has stated a point particular

memorably, concisely, or effectively, or when the original author is providing a technical

Personal communication formatting example. Cite

in text but not on References page. (see p. 7)

Cite the

specific page

number of

direct

quotes.

Narrative

citation style

Parenthetical

citation style

2 Styles of In-

text Citations:

Narrative &

Parenthetical:

Level 4

heading

Level 1

heading

Para-

phrase

About page numbers:
 Use for direct quotes

 Use for paraphrases of information on a specific page
o Otherwise, optional for paraphrases

No
page #
(see
box
below)

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definition or explanation of a term. Under other circumstances, a paraphrase is usually more

efficient than a direct quotation. Both paraphrased ideas as well as quotations need to be cited,

though; only common knowledge does not require a citation. A good general rule of thumb

might be: “when in doubt, cite it, and if you don’t have a citation, double-check” (S. Chase,

personal communication, August 12, 2017).

Writers using APA style should be careful to format their citations appropriately. Most

in-text citations follow the format of author and year in parentheses, providing page numbers

(or paragraph numbers) for every direct quotation. For paraphrases/summaries in your own

words, include a page number when information is from a specific page of a source; otherwise

a page number is optional, but may be helpful. The formatting of references in the references

list, however, is more complicated, and writers should check their work to ensure that they

have used the appropriate format for each citation, depending on the type of source.

Figures and Tables

As shown in Table 1, the seventh edition of APA has made some changes to the

formatting of figures and tables. For example, figures now use the same title format as tables

(see Figure 1).

Final Recommendations

APA style is an effective way of formatting and presenting complex material. APA can be

time-consuming to learn; visit us in the AUSB Writing Center for help with any of your APA

questions.

Personal communication formatting example. Cite

in text but not on References page. (see p. 7)

Use table and figure numbers to refer the reader to tables

and figures. Do not write “see the table above/below”.

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References

American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological

Association (7th ed.).

Goodwin, J. (2012a). Made up examples of bad academic writing. Academic Writing, 343(1),

1006–1010. http://doi.org/11.1136/acadbad.12345

Goodwin, J. (2012b). Good reading is hard writing: Another made-up journal article about

academic writing. Reading & Writing, 25(3), 143–152.

http://doi.org/10.1234/readwrite.123456789

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (1997). It can be taught, but it does not develop naturally: Myths and

realities in writing instruction. School Psychology Review, 26(6), 414–424.

Paiz, J. M., Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, G., Franks, M., Paul, R.,

Keech, E., Ruiz, G., Allison, A., Caterelli, B., Zhou, M., Soong, R., Nguyen, Y., Bedo, O.,

Sanders, B., Howard, C., Denny, H., … Keck, R. (2013). Online writing: The challenges of

learning APA. Journal of Psychotherapy. http://doi.org/10.4567/apa-style.67810

Xyers, K., Young, G., Zucherman, F., and Anne, A. (2019). Example with multiple authors. In G. Y.

Iwamasa & P. A. Hays (Eds.), Big Book of Examples (2nd ed., pp. 287–314). CRC Press.

Xyers, K., Young, G., Zucherman, F., and Roberts, B. (2019, June 1). Example citation for multiple

authors. BBC News. http://www.bbcnews.com/example-for-multiple-authors.html

New in APA 7:

 No place of publication for books  Leave hyperlinks

 Do not use “retrieved from” or a retrieval date unless the website content updates often by
design (e.g., social media)

Level 1 heading

When publisher & author are the same, omit that info.

Include DOI as

hyperlinked URL
Capitalize only

the first word

of a journal

article and

subtitle.

Include

up to 20

authors

References should be in

alphabetical order and

double spaced.

Exception: Do not include personal

communication on your References

page, e.g., emails or interviews, since

they are not recoverable. Instead,

cite them in-text. (See p. 6.)

The References provides the information necessary for a reader to

locate and retrieve any source you cite.

 Every source you cite must appear on your References page.

 References page only includes sources cited in the body of your paper.

Same author,

same year:

use a & b

Use a

hanging

indent

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Table 1

An Example of an APA Style Table

Table or Figure Change from 6th Edition

Table Mostly the same for simple tables, but avoid unnecessary

borders or shading in a table

Figure Now uses same title format as tables

Note. A table note may optionally be included under the table to clarify the contents of the

table for the readers of the manuscript.

Figure 1

Writing in APA Style

Note. A figure note may optionally be included under the figure to clarify the contents of the

figure for the readers of the manuscript.

Limited shading and borders now

preferred. (Do not use vertical

borders to separate data.)

Figure titles now parallel to table titles

(above the figure)

Figures and

tables are

left-aligned

Place each table on a separate page,

followed by each figure on a

separate page