apa style format APA Style Sample for Reasearch Papers

APA Format: APA stands for American Psychological Association. Scientists in the field of behavioral and social sciences came up with the APA style of referencing so that all research papers, journals and articles be written in a standardized format. The papers written in APA style are based on following sections:

  • Cover page/Title
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Method
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Reference
  • Appendix (charts, tables, diagrams)

While you are formatting your work in the APA style, make sure you pay attention to very minor details such as margins, punctuations, headings, line spacing and typography. Alignment of the text should always be towards the left of the page, the entire paper should be in double spacing and the font style must be Times New Romans.

APA Style Sample Headline

Headings and sub headings make it easier for the readers to read and understand your ideas and opinions. In APA style, there are usually five levels of heading which are differentiated on basis of their alignment on the page, text size and text style (bold, italics, underlined).

APA Style Sample Bibliography

In APA style, it is mandatory to include a list of sources consulted in the composition of the manuscript otherwise, the content will be considered as plagiarized.

APA Style Reference Sample

When referencing in the APA style, document the sources used in complete and accurate format. For every source you should mention the name of author(s), year of publication, title of the source, name of publisher, place of publication and page numbers. It is crucially important to follow the specified punctuation and capitalization. For example,

Sanders, G. P. (1990). Animal models of discrimination learning. Journal of Learning and Behavior, 81, 635 – 647.

Rovin, J. (1979). The fantasy almanac. New York: Dutton.

APA Style Citation Sample

In APA style, citation is usually done in the sections of introduction and literature review. The format is usually in the author-date style. For example,

Kessler (2003) discovered that…

In 2003, Kessler found…

Early onset results in a more persistent and severe course (Kessler, 2003).