What Is the APA Format?

APA is an acronym for the American Psychological Association. APA format is the research documentation style used by psychologists and other social science disciplines. In addition to professional associations, APA is most commonly used by college and university students to format research papers. APA format makes very specific use of style and formatting conventions like margins, spacing and typeface. The "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" details the meticulous nature of this editorial style.

Facts

According to the American Psychological Association Style website, APA format was first introduced in 1929 by a group of psychologists and other professionals intent on establishing a set of rules for document creation in the social and behavioral sciences. The group focused on developing an editorial style that would easily allow publishers and readers to scan for important information within the document. APA is used for term papers, research reports, literature reviews and case studies. Unlike other documentation styles, APA format concentrates on manuscript elements that are characteristic to scientific writing.

Sections

An APA style document is divided into eight specifically ordered sections. The title page contains the article and author information, followed by the abstract, which summarizes and highlights the findings or conclusions reached by the researchers. The introduction presents historical or background information, while the method section outlines how the study was conducted. The results section presents the findings, which leads into a discussion of the significance of the findings. The reference page consists of all the sources referred to throughout the document. The appendices, the final section, lists additional tables, graphs or other information related to the subject matter of the manuscript.

Format

APA format requires consistency among elements of style such as font, line spacing, margins and page headers. Times New Roman or another serif font is used for paragraph text, while sans serif fonts like Arial are used for image captions. The first line of every paragraph is indented five spaces. APA uses five levels of headings, each with its own particular formatting style. The entire manuscript is double spaced, aligned to the left, with page numbers inserted at the top right of every page. Tables, figures, references and appendices are divided into separate pages.

References

APA style uses the author-date format for citing references, which distinguishes it from other editorial styles used in the humanities or other disciplines outside the scientific community. The accuracy of citations is important since readers use them to verify the sources referred to throughout the manuscript. References are listed alphabetically by the author's last name followed by the publication date, title of the article and publication information, in that particular order. Hanging indents are applied to the second line of all references. The most common types of sources cited in the reference section include dissertations, books, chapters of books, podcasts, book reviews, journal articles or conference proceedings.

Considerations

Although many examples of APA style appear on various websites, the definitive style manual is published by the American Psychological Association, now in its sixth edition. The "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" can be found in public libraries or purchased at local bookstores. The official website for APA Style also provides extensive tutorials and examples of manuscripts written according to APA guidelines.

References

• APA Facts

Resources

• American Psychological Association
• APA Format