Running head: APA STYLE
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APA STYLE
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Writing Papers in APA Style for Dr. Murphy’s Classes
Lonna M. Murphy
Passaic County Community College
Writing Papers in APA Style for Dr. Murphy’s Classes
Warning: This may not be enough guidance for other classes, but it will help you in my class.
Basics:
APA style has to do with how you format a paper for other psychologists to read. Your textbook is written in APA style, but most of APA style has to do with how you write up research. I will not be focusing on those components. This handout will only focus on the components that you need for my classes.
Formatting:
All papers must have a one inch margin, 12 point font, a serif font like Times New Roman (this font) or Courier, and be double spaced. You must single space after all periods, and your references must also be double spaced and in hanging paragraph form. You should start off any paper for me with a title. This title should be at the top of page one and centered. Also, capitalize all first letters except for small words like “the” or “an”. You will also need a title page, and I will instruct you in a later section how to write it.
In Microsoft word 2007: To set your margins click on “Page Layout”. Then click on “Margins” on the left hand side. Set Top, Bottom, Left, and Right all to 1.
To get 12 point font and a serif font click on “home”. Choose Times New Roman or Courier on the left hand side and choose 12 under size on the box directly to the right.
To set up double spacing, click on “Page Layout”. Then click on small double arrow in the bottom right hand corner of the box that says “Paragraph”. Then click on “line spacing” and choose double. This way you will not need to hit enter after each line. Also DO NOT hit enter twice between paragraphs. I always have several students who turning papers with double spacing within their paragraphs and quadruple spacing between paragraphs. For example:
Here is the wrong way:
“You must write in 12 point font. You must use a serif font like Times New Roman (this font) or Courier. You must double space. Your references must also be double spaced and in hanging paragraph form. “
“You must write in 12 point font. You must use a serif font like Times New Roman (this font) or Courier. You must double space. Your references must also be double spaced and in hanging paragraph form.”
Here is the right way:
“You must write in 12 point font. You must use a serif font like Times New Roman (this font) or Courier. You must double space. Your references must also be double spaced and in hanging paragraph form. “
“You must write in 12 point font. You must use a serif font like Times New Roman (this font) or Courier. You must double space. Your references must also be double spaced and in hanging paragraph form. “
I will get to formatting for hanging paragraphs in the reference section when I talk about the reference section.
Title Page: This is the main thing that has changed from the last edition of the APA Style Gui...
