Created by Larry Treadwell. You can find the accompanying video on the library's tutorials page: http://www.stu.edu/lib/Research/CitationStyleManuals/Tutorials/tabid/3872/Default.aspx
2. What is APA style
• APA Style Manual is published by the
American Psychological Association
– It is widely used among the social sciences to
document
• What research and information was used
• Who the authors are
• Where the research was found or published
• When it was published or created
• Why it was used, and
• How it was used
3. Why use it
• Because it is fun
– Alright so it isn’t fun, but your professors require
it, and using APA is certainly more fun then failing
a paper, or being accused of cheating and
plagiarism.
4. Formatting the Paper
• Setting the Margins: APA requires 1 inch margins
– Set the Margins in MS Word is under the Page Layout tab.
– Select Margins, then select Normal.
5. Formatting the Paper cont.
• In APA style the paper should be double spaced, with 0 “spacing” before and after
each line.
• Double spacing formatting is under “paragraph” on the Home tab.
6. • Font size should be Times New Roman or Arial at
12 pt font.
• The font and the font size can be adjusted from
the Home tab.
Font Size
7. The Header
• Every Document has a header with the document title and page
number.
– The Header should be in ALL CAPS and Left Align.
– To Insert a Header, select the Insert Tab and the first header option.
9. Page Numbers
The Header is Left align, but the Page Numbers are Right aligned and
are inserted the same way as the Header.
1. After inserting the Header, the Click on the Insert Tab,
2. Select Page Number
3. Then Select Current Position
4. Then hit the “Tab” key until the page number is all the way to the
edge of the right margin.
10. Header & Page Numbers
• After Inserting the Header and the Page Number, the end
result should look like the example below, with the Header
left aligned in ALL CAPS and the Page Number right aligned.
11. Title Page
The Title Page should contain at a minimum the following:
Running head: FIRST 5 -10 WORDS OF THE TITLE OF PAPER (left aligned)
The Title of the Paper (centered)
The Author(s) of the Paper(centered)
The University Name (centered)
The Date (centered)
12. Headings
• APA has 5 levels of Headings. For papers students will primarily only use
the first 3 heading levels. See p.62 of APA Manual
Level 1 Heading: Bold, Centered and Upper and Lowercase Text
Level 1 heading are the paper’s major sections such as:
Chapter 1, Introduction, Literature Review, Analysis, Discussion, References, and Methodology
Level 2 Heading: Left Aligned, Bold Upper and Lowercase Text
Level 2 headings are sections or subdivisions of level 1 headings such as:
Instrument, Participants, Procedure, and Materials
Level 3 Heading: Indented, bold, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
Level 3 headings are sections and subdivisions of Level 2 headings.
13. APA Style Guide
• The University Library has an APA style guide available in pdf format under the Research and Citation
Guides on the Library’s main page www.stu.edu/library
• The style guide covers
– Documenting sources
– Formatting the paper
– Creating a reference list
– And Quotes
14.
15. Writing the Paper
• If you are writing an APA paper you may not write in first or second person
unless specifically allowed by the professor.
– Therefore, You may not use I, you, we, us, and our.
– Additionally, phrases like, this author believes, this authors opinions are also
not acceptable.
• The paper may require your opinion, but this means that your paper take
a stance and that the writing and research provided support your opinion.
This does not mean that it is ok to write I, you, we, us and our.
• For example, I would not write:
– I believe that Manchester United is the best football club in the world. Instead
the sentence should look more like
– Manchester United is the biggest and best football club in the world, and
should be supported by everyone (Treadwell, 2013).
• The above statement clearly expresses the belief of the writer and
provides supporting research with similar beliefs as well.
16. Writing the Paper cont.
• APA papers are based upon the research. Any
and all information must be supported by
research in the form of in text or parenthetical
citations.
17. References
In APA style, every paper must have References. This is not optional. The
reference list is the basis for the information that will be discussed in the paper.
1. Reference must be on their own page with the heading References in bold.
2. Reference must be arranged in alphabetical order by author’s last name.
3. References must be cited in the paper. If an item is on the Reference list, it
MUST be cited within the paper.
4. References are double spaced and have a hanging indent, unless otherwise
specified.
5. Only the first word in the title is capitalized unless the word is a proper noun.
6. No first names are used. Use the author(s) last name and first initial.
7. The publication title is italicized. For books this means the book title is
italicized, for newspapers, magazines and journals the journal title is italicized.
8. For examples of specific types of references like websites, see the St. Thomas
University Library APA cheat sheet and the APA Manual.
18. References List Example
References
Armstrong, G., &Giulianotti, R. (2001). Fear and loathing in world football. Oxford: Berg.
Manchester United (2013). IamUnited. Retrieved from www.manutd.com
Rowley, J. (2005). Brand and club alliances: Manchester United and Britannia building society. Management
Research News, 28(8), 55-60.
Shaw, D. R. (2007). Manchester United football club: Developing a network orchestration model. European
Journal of Information Systems, 16(5), 628-642. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000702
Vincent, J., Hill, J. S., & Lee, J. W. (2009). The multiple brand personalities of David Beckham: A case study of the
Beckham brand. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 18(3), 173-180.
19. In Text Citations
a.k.a. Parenthetical Citations
APA styles an author & date method for in text citations.
1. Any information provided must have a citation supporting it.
2. Any information directly quoted must have a citations supporting it and a page or
paragraph number.
• (Shaw, 2007, p. 10)
• (Shaw, 2007, para. 12)
3. If statistics are provided, the statistics must have a supporting citation with a
page or paragraph number. See above.
4. The easiest way to provide correct attribution for a reference is to provide the
author and the date inside ( ) at the end of the sentence. See examples below.
Examples from Reference list. These are just examples and are hypothetical and do not
necessarily accurately reflect the research.
Fear and loathing are common place in football through out the world (Armstrong,
&Giulianotti, 2001). Throughout the world over 1 billion people support Manchester United
F.C. (Shaw, 2007, p. 10). Since, Manchester United is the largest football club in the world it
can play a strong role in the development of acceptable societal norms (Rowley, 2005).
20. Questions and Answers
APA is easy to learn but it takes some time.
If you have questions, please come to the University Library or contact the Librarians, we are happy to help you with
your research and APA style.
• Gricel Dominguez
Assistant Library Administrator and Public Services Librarian
MLIS, University of South Florida
MA, Florida International University
BA, Florida International University
Office: 305-628-6665
gdominguez@stu.edu
• Jonathan C. Roach
Library Administrator
PhD, Practical Theology, St. Thomas University
MDiv, Ecumenical Theological Seminary
MLIS, Wayne State University
BA, Anderson University
Office: 305-628-6627
jroach@stu.edu
• Larry Treadwell IV
Instructional Coordinator
Associate Professor
MLS, University of South Florida
BA, Florida Atlantic University
Office: 305-474-6860
ltreadwell@stu.edu
