CSUAPA7thedRequirementsOverview.pdf

APA Requirements Guide

Entire document
Format

●Use Times New Roman 12 Point font

●Use 1 inch margins all around

●All parts are double spaced (title page, abstract, body of paper and
references)

●No pictures, graphics or other fancy formatting

Writing Style

●Give preference to narrative style (paragraphs rather than bulleted lists)

●Give preference to paraphrasing of sources rather than long quotations

●Sources should support the writer’s words (quoted material should not predominate)

●A paraphrase is a SIGNIFICANT rewording of the original text, not just a minor editing

●Exact words of sources must be within quotation marks and must be cited

Title Page

General standards

●No text enhancements such as large font, underline or italics.

●Centered on the page vertically & horizontally

●Student name, Dept., University, Course, instructor’s name and date

Contents of a title page

●Page number in upper right-hand corner

●Title of paper (bold)

●Other information

Must be in heading area and appear on ALL pages

●Use automatic page numbering (title page is page 1)

Title will be 3 to 4 lines from the below the top margin.

Other information begins two lines below the title:

First line: Author’s first name, middle initial(s), las name.
Second line: Author’s affiliation (Dept.) & University
Third line: Course Number and Name
Fourth line: Instructor’s Name with Title
Fifth line: Assignment due date

Note: Instructors have “academic freedom”. If they want the date, the
class name, or any additional information; it will be located between
your name and the name of the school.

Plain Fonts

Double spaced

No graphics

1 inch all

around

1

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Paper title centered, bold, upper & lower case

Your name

Affiliation, Columbia Southern University

Course Number & Name

Instructors Name & Title

Assignment Due Date

[Student papers do not contain an author’s note]

Automatic Page number

Abstract (NOT REQUIRED BY CSU)

General standards

●The abstract is a separate page (page 2)

●The word “Abstract” appears centered on the first line

●In mixed case, In bold.
Contents of an abstract

●Uses a single paragraph with no indentation

●Summarizes the purpose and parts of the paper (for graduate students)

●Summarizes what the paper will be explaining for homework (for
Undergraduates)

●250 words or less (including articles- the, a , and).

● Follow with “Keywords:” (note italics and colon), indented with list of keywords written in lowercase
(except for proper nouns) and separated by commas. Do not place a period at the end of the list.

Body of the paper (page 3 (2 for CSU) and following)

Title

●Line 1 of page 3 (2) repeats the full title as it appears on the title page

●Centered, in plain text (bold, NO underline or italics)
Note: Title takes the place of “Introduction”. Do not use “Introduction”
Introduction – The introductory paragraph(s) describes the paper topic

Citations

●Use citations for both ideas (paraphrases) and exact words of a source

●Use author last name(s) and year of publication

°in parentheses and separated by a comma

°If there is no publication date, use the abbreviation n.d.
▪ Note: Do not use date retrieved as a publication date.

A retrieval date is no longer used in references.

°If the source has no author listed, use the article title

●Sources with 3 to 5 authors

°Name all authors in the first citation

°For additional citations of that source use the first author’s last name

°Use “et al” before the publication date.

°If there are 6 or more authors “et al” may be used on the first citation
When the author’s name(s) or title (if there is no author) is used in the sentence, place the year of publication
immediately after the name in parentheses. Stapleton & Benson (2003) stated that… –or– Internet Safety
(n.d.) states that…
Headings, sometimes called Subtitles in the body of the paper:

Level One

Start typing here just like any other paragraph. This is centered, in bold, upper and lower case.

Level Two

Start typing here just like any other paragraph. This is flush left, upper and lower case and in bold.

3

Repeat Complete Paper Title Here

The opening discusses the topic of
the paper. It should NEVER repeat
the abstract.

Use mixed case

No enhancements

Do not use “Introduction”

2

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is… In part

1, it discusses. Part two explains…

Single paragraph

250 words or LESS

Keywords: college, teaching, scales

4

What you say in the paper (Smith, 2006)

goes here. When you cite, you indicate

the source (Internet Safety, n.d.) by using

parentheses. Inside of the parentheses

are author last name and date (Hunter,

Phelan, Mckeough & Benson, 2009).

Hunter (Hunter et al, 2009) also says…
…According to Whiteboard Guidelines
(2009) several rules …

level three. It would start here and the paragraph would follow these words on the same line. It is
indented, all lowercase, and in bold. Note that there is a period after the level.

level four. It would start here and the paragraph would follow these words on the same line. It is
indented, in bold, all lowercase and the heading would end with a period

level five. It would start here and the paragraph would follow these words on the same line. It is
indented, NOT in bold, all lower case, in italics and the heading would end with a period.

o A heading should not be the last line of a page

Reference Page(s) (Note: the reference list starts on a new page)

●First line: the word References appears on its own line
o Centered, in mixed case, bold. no underline

or italics

●Reference list
o Alphabetical based on author’s last name
o If there is no author, use title but ignore “The”, “A”, or “An”
o Each reference must be cited at least once
o Each citation must have a matching reference
o References are listed only once

●General structure of a reference
o List authors’ last names followed by first initial, no full first names
o Give complete title
o For Internet sources use “[URL]” (Note: no brackets)

12

References

The article title. (DATE). Journal title.
Vol, page#-page#.

Last name. F.I. (DATE). Title of
journal. Vol., page#-page#.

Web page title. (n.d.) URL.

Last name, first
initials only

Website Address
DIRECTLY from
the material, not
the home page.