APA Style Page Formatting Instructions for MS Word 2010

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1 APA Style Page Formatting Instructions for MS Word 2010 Six key components for any cover page in APA style: Page setup Running head Title Author(s) name(s) and affiliation Author note 1. Page setup All APA style papers must have 1 inch margins on each side of the page. Select the Page Layout tab located on the top of the page. It is just to the right of the Home and Insert functions. Click on Margins. Select Normal for 1 inch margins on all sides of the document. Click on Orientation. The Portrait choice should be highlighted. The preferred typeface in APA style is Times New Roman using a 12 point font. In the Home tab, move the mouse to the small down-arrow just to the right of the Font name and from the drop-down menus select Times New Roman font by dragging the slide bar all the way down, and then adjust the point size to 12 points. All APA papers must be double-spaced (including the title page, abstracts, references, etc.) Click on the Home link located at the upper left section of the tool bar. This is the default page. Click on the line spacing icon which is located in the Paragraph section of the toolbar. Open the drop down menu and select 2.0 as your line spacing. MS-Word is set up to add spaces before and after each paragraph. If you see the phrase Remove Space Before Paragraph or Remove Space After Paragraph click on them so they change to read Page 1 of 5

2 Add Space Before Paragraph or Add Space After Paragraph Doing so will ensure that no extra spaces are being added. 2. Running head and page numbers APA papers must include a short name for your paper placed at the upper left hand corner of the page. Select the Insert tab from the top menu. Select Page Number from the Header & Footer toolbar Select Top of Page from the drop-down menu. Select Plain Number 3 from the slide-out menu. Look at the tool bar at the top of the page. Under the tab Design you will find a box labeled Different First Page. Check this box. This will allow you to create different running heads for the title page and the subsequent pages. Make sure your header will keep the APA recommended font by selecting Times New Roman, 12 point at the Font toolbar (Home tab). Once the number is inserted and correct font is selected, type Running head: (Capitalize the R ), add a space. Type a short name for your paper (use all caps). Insert spaces between the last letter in the running head text and the page number. The Running head should be at the far left margin and the page number at the right margin. Close the window by momentarily pressing the Esc key in the upper left corner of the keyboard. After finishing typing in the title page information (check item 3 of this manual), go to page 2 of your text and double click on the page number on the top of your page. Include the short name for your paper, but this time without the words Running head. Then position the cursor after the short name and add spaces until the text is left justified. Make sure your header will keep the APA recommended font by selecting Times New Roman, 12 point at the Font toolbar (Home tab). Close the header by pressing Esc. The remaining pages of your paper will have the proper running head on them. 3. Title All titles on the cover page in APA are center justified. Page 2 of 5

3 Click on the Home link at the upper left section of the tool bar. Justification Buttons Click on the center justification icon.. Type in the full title, capitalizing the first letter of each word. Double space between each line. 4. Author(s) name, institutional affiliation, and author note All authors and their institutional affiliations must be identified on the title page. This information is also center justified. Click on the Home link at the upper left section of the tool bar. Click on the center justification icon just beneath the link for Review. Type in the name of first author using first name, middle initial, and last name, followed immediately below with the institution the author is from (Yukon College). Course number and due date can also be included beneath the institutional affiliation Author note may not be required for all courses, so make sure you talk to your instructor about it. If you need to include a standard author note, type in the phrase Author Note centralized several inches beneath the title information. Identify your department and contact information in different paragraphs, left justified. Double space between each line if text has more than one line. 5. Using hard page breaks between sections of APA style papers An APA style paper consists of: - cover page - abstract page (if required) - full text of paper - reference pages - tables/graphs (if required) A hard page break is inserted between each of the sections described above. To insert a page break after the title page, follow these steps: Position the cursor at the end of the last line of text on the title page. Click on Insert link at the upper left of the toolbar Page 3 of 5

4 Click on Page break left side of the toolbar, just beneath the Home link. 6. Formatting an Abstract page Use a hard page break to separate the abstract from the title page Type the label Abstract using uppercase for the first letter only Center the label by clicking on the Center Justification icon beneath the Review link. Type in the text of your abstract as a single paragraph. Do not indent the first sentence. The abstract must be double-spaced. Adjust the text back to Align Text Left. Insert a hard page break after the abstract to separate it from the body of your paper. 7. Formatting your Text Make sure that you are using the double-space setting by clicking on the line spacing icon which is located in the Paragraph section of the toolbar. Start your text by typing the full title of your paper in centralized position (not bolded). After typing the title, return the text to Align text left. The first line of every new paragraph must have a ½ inch indentation. Add the indentation by pressing the Tab key of your keyboard before starting a new paragraph. Every new section of your paper (e.g Introduction, Conclusion) must have a centralized heading in bold. 8. Formatting the References page Insert a hard page break to separate the body of the paper and the reference page. On the first line of the new page, type References (Reference [singular] if there is only one citation. Note the capitalization). Center the label using the instructions described previously. Type in each reference in alphabetical order using the last name of the first author of each source you used in your paper. The order of the elements for each reference should be like this: o Author name(s) beginning with last name and initials. o Year of publication Page 4 of 5

5 o Title o Publishing information o For articles: Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or URL of the database you retrieved the article from. Check the APA Reference List Guide at the library if unsure. Guides also available on APA uses hanging indentation for the reference list. All lines following the first line of text are indented 5 spaces. To create a hanging indentation for the whole page, try this: o Make sure the horizontal ruler appears at the top of your text page. You can activate the ruler by clicking on the View tab, and then check the Ruler option. o You will see two arrows that can be slid along the ruler. The top arrow is the First Line Intent. The bottom arrow is called Hanging Indent. o Type all the references using the proper APA format, but do not indent any line. o Highlight all the typed text in references. o Place your mouse on the Hanging Indent arrow, then hold the left mouse key and drag the Hanging Indent arrow five spaces to the right. The second and subsequent lines of text for each reference should appear indented 5 spaces. o An alternative way to make the indentation is to use the Tab key for the second and subsequent lines of each reference. Additional help: APA Guidelines provided by The Online Writing Center (OWL) at Purdue University: References Aldrich, A. W. (2011, July 9). Formatting your paper in APA style (sixth edition) using MS-Word (Office 2007 and 2010). Retrieved from Edition-Style-Format-Instructions-for-Office-2007-and pdf Zelig, A. (2010, February 1). APA Formatting instructions for MS Word Retrieved from Page 5 of 5