Formatting an essay into APA style

How to format an essay into APA style?

A research paper or an essay which is formatted well with the help of standard reference style stands out from the rest because it uniformly brings information together for enhanced readability.  

APA and its importance:

America Psychological Association (APA) reference style is one such standard writing style adopted by many universities. It includes all the necessary manuals required to format a paper. It is recognized one among the best reference style because of the quality that it sustains.

A method to write research papers, it is a common style used as a template for subjects like social sciences.APA style is an attempt made to show something which is already proved.

Formatting an essay into APA style:

•  Indentation: Indentation is required to format accordingly to bring clarity into the paper which is written.It is important to have good readability the way content has significance.In APA reference style, each paragraph is indented with half an inch flushed from the left margin. There should also be double space throughout the document.

•  Margins: The page must have a margin of 1 inch left from each side of the paper that is left, right, top, bottom.

•  Spacing: Each paragraph must be separated with a space for better understanding. Double spacing is encouraged in APA style.

• Paper size: Paper size must be 8.5 x 11 inches.

• Font: The content must have 12 pts as its font size and font can be Arial or Times New Roman. This will make it look presentable.

• Page numberings:

            1.Page number must be flushed to the right

2.Numbering the pages is important to continue the readability without a break. 

3.Page number must appear on the top right of every page. 

4.Numerals like 1,2,3 must be used instead of Arabic numbers like I, II, III

• Alignment: The alignment always should be fixed to the left margin of a page. It must never be justified which is a bad practice of formatting.

Sections of APA reference style:

The following are the elements that are used while writing a research paper using APA reference style:

1.Title:A title for a paper is as important as the content being written. From the beginning of the document which is prepared, there are page headers which should appear on top right of the page. Other important things to cover are:

1.It must include a Running head followed by a semicolon and then the title to be included. This must be flushed to the left of page. (Example: Running head: YOUR TITLE)

2.Title should never be underlined, italicized.

3.First letter and important words should be always capitalised.

4.A title should not end with a period.

2.Abstract: An abstract is condensed form of the whole paper being written. It summarizes the important ideas and major points which are to be explained further. Not more than 15-250 words, an abstract must be written filtering out main points as discussed further in paper.

Abstract must not contain any explanation hence should not contain any citation. It should be indented to center of the page.

3.Main Body: This section contains the main part of the paper. Here all the important content to be delivered. As per the guidelines of APA, it is suggested to use tables and graphs.

4.Headings: APA uses headings to separate information appropriately and connect them well. Each heading must contain individual information properly indented with other formatting necessary.