Manuscript Format
Uniform reporting standards allow for easier navigation of written works and allows easier comprehension of study results. These standards can be used for manuscripts, articles, scholarly papers and student work.
Be aware that these are guidelines and can be modified to meet the needs of a particular journal, course or instructor. The information given here is based on APA 6 Publication Manual and should be applied when special instructions are not given.
**Note these are standard guidelines. Your instructor may modify any or all of these guidelines to meet the needs of an assignment. Please read all assignment instructions carefully!
Before beginning, you should configure a blank document in your word processing program to meet APA 6 specifications. Be sure your word processor does not have different 'default' settings that will change your formatting on different pages.
Typeface
(font): (Section 8.03, p.228)
- Times New Roman, with 12-point font size should be used. Do not use justifications or alter the spacing between words. The default settings are usually acceptable.
Margins: (Section 8.03, p.229)
- Uniform margins of at least 1" (2.54 cm) should be used on the top, bottom, left and right sides of every page.
Line Spacing: (Section 8.03, p.229)
- Double-space the entire paper.
- Be sure you double space the title, headings, footnotes, quotations, references and figure captions.
- Never use single or 1.5 spacing except inside a table or figure.
- Check that your paragraph is not set to add spaces "Before" or "After" the paragraph
Line alignment: (Section 8.03, p.229)
- Use flush left alignement which leaves the right side 'ragged' and uneven.
- Allow the word processor to automatically wrap sentences.
- Do not divide words or use hyphenations functions to break words at the end of the line.
- Sentences should be allowed to run short and wrap to the next line rather than breaking words or using hyphens.
Paragraph indentation: (Section 8.03, p.229)
- Indent the first line of every paragraph, and the first line of every footnote. Indentation should be approximately 1/4 inch and consistent throughout the manuscript.
- Use the tab key to keep indent consistant.
Use of special characters. (Section 8.03, p.229)
- Type all special characters that you can using the keyboard or special character function of the word processor.
- Special characters include accented letters and Greek or roman letters, math symbols and other symbols.
Order of manuscript pages: (Section 8.03, p.229-230)
The pages of a manuscript should be arranged: title page, abstract, text, references, tables, figures, appendices.
This video will walk you through how to format a paper in APA
https://youtu.be/8u47x2dvQHs
Click 'NEXT' on the top or bottom of the page to continue.
