Writing an academic paper in APA style

The APA style is official for the academic writing of the American Psychological Association and was first introduced to use a little less than a hundred years ago. This style is mainly used in writing academic works in the field of psychology and social science.

The untrained student will be very difficult to write a work in the style of APA, so when you receive such a task, it is better to entrust it to specialists thesis writing help. This article provides tips on how to write an APA-style academic paper.

APA style today is the most popular when writing all kinds of academic works, so very often in the learning process, students are faced with sparing of this kind. To successfully complete it, you must follow these rules:

Get a guide to the rules of execution of written works in the style of APA

You can find it both in print and on the Internet. In the instructions for the design of works in the style of APA, you can find information that characterizes the features of this style. Please note that the instruction was published in several editions, which differ from each other by the changes. To write the correct academic work in the APA style, corresponding to the current period, use the guide of the latest edition.

Pay attention to the presence of APA style templates in computer programs

Some of these programs contain the function of automatic text editing in the style of APA. If you are unable to find such options in your computer programs, you will have to work on editing text in APA style in manual mode.

Carefully read the features of the APA style.

The features of the APA style include font size, line spacing, headers and footers. If you are applying for a high mark for academic work written in the style of APA, then pay attention to the following points:

  • for the main text, use a 12-point serif font. For titles and captions of illustrations, use a sans serif font;
  • the line spacing should be double for the entire text;
  • the indentation of each new paragraph should be 1.27 centimetres;
  • the text should be aligned to the left.

 Organize all work

Start each chapter with a new page, each of which should be numbered as follows:

  • cover page – page 1;
  • abstract – page 2;
  • main text – page 3;
  • the list of used sources starts with a new page after the end of the main text;
  • if there are tables, they are placed after the write-off of sources, each on a separate sheet;
  • if there are illustrations in the work, they are placed after the tables, each on a separate sheet.

Preparing the cover sheet

The alignment of the text on the cover page should be centred. Write a title, but remember that it should not exceed twelve words. Here write your name and the name of your educational institution.

Annotation

Start writing it from a new page by writing a title aligned in the centre. Its volume should not exceed 250 words. In it give an introductory concise description of your work: its theme, purpose, approaches, conclusions.

Main text

Start writing the main text of your academic work, paying attention to its correct design and formatting. According to the requirements of the APA style, the main text of the publication should contain four sections: introduction, methodology, results, conclusions. Each section should contain a title, except for the introduction.

List of sources used in writing academic work

It starts with a new sheet and has a title located in the centre of the page. Specify the list of authors in alphabetical order. In text editors with built-in APA style templates, you can format the list of references automatically.