Academic
Eventually, every college student faces one of the scariest writing assignments – writing an essay in APA format. From the first look, it seems like a daunting and time-consuming task, especially if you usually write your essays in a different style. However, this writing challenge is not as difficult as you may think. Learn the basics of APA before starting your essay and use our tips to format your essay properly.
How to Write an Essay in APA Format
You can find below advice that will be useful while preparing your essay. Do not be afraid to start writing an essay in APA format. Everything you need to know is gathered here. To write a great essay using APA format, you need to understand what is APA format. It is official publication style of the American Psychological Association. Usually, essays in this style are used in social sciences. This style of writing requires specific structure, as well as spacing and margins. Keep in mind that your teacher has strict requirements for the format of your essay, so do not gloss over it. Otherwise, you will lose some points. Guidelines to this format have pretty clear demands to formatting, however, always check instructions of your teacher. They may include some specific requirements.
Let’s dig into basics of APA format:
- Margins of the essay should be identical, preferably one-inch at each side of the paper.
- Your essay should have double spaces.
- Do not forget to add running head on every page at the top left (running head should be maximum 50 characters and include the shortened title of your essay).
- Add page number in the top right corner.
- Title page of your paper has been formatted in APA style. Crucial elements of your title page are the title of your essay, your name, and school affiliation. Add additional information if it is required in your teacher’s instructions (usually, course title, the name of the teacher and the date).
- Make sure that title is brief and clear. Also, it should define what your essay is about. The title of your essay should be 12 words maximum.
- One of the important components of the essay in APA format is a reference list. It should be located at the end of your paper and consist list of the sources that you cited in the paper. List reference list alphabetically.
- Font recommended to usage by American Psychological Association is Times New Roman size 12.
Please keep in mind, that instructions of your teacher may be different!
The structure of the essay in APA format is standard:
- title page;
- abstract;
- introduction;
- body;
- conclusion;
- reference sections.
Writing an essay in APA format is a time-consuming but interesting task. If you learn our tips and be careful while writing your essay, you will get the desired grade. Remember that only practice makes perfect. Do not be afraid of challenging tasks and good luck!
