What Is The Proper Research Paper Format: APA Style Manual

APA style is the abbreviation for American Psychological Association. It is usually used for general and social sciences across the globe. Different universities and colleges have their own preferences and may want students to follow a certain style for any subject.

An APA style has two basic rules that you need to focus on

A scientific research paper shows the theories and laws which are already proved as true, which is why you need to use present perfect or past perfect tense when you cite someone’s work. You can use simple present tense for your own opinions and general logics

The second important thing is the year of publication. It should come after the name within parenthesis

Thomas Simpson (1899) studied the behavior of pets when they lose their owner

Basic APA Facts

• A paper that you write in APA style should always have double spacing for the text, title page, citation, references and entire paper.
• The entire paper should have one-inch margin on all sides. This includes the top, bottom, right and left of your paper
• Whenever you copy or use an idea from someone else, you need to acknowledge it by including the quotation or idea in the parenthesis. This is necessary if you do not want to be accused of plagiarism
• Whenever you quote something from someone else and his or her work you will need to include it in the citation area.
• When you write the title of a book, journal, essay, paper, movie, television series, drama, lecture, program or an audio recording you will have to underline it to make it distinct from the rest of your paper
• Each page of your paper needs to have a running header.
• The number of each page must appear in the header on the right corner
• The name of the author can come in the text. If you do not write it in the text, you can include it in the citation enclosed in parenthesis along with the date.
• You should give the page number in your parenthesis when you quote something. You can use the alphabet (P) to show page numbers.

These are the basic rules you need to follow if you are writing a paper in APA format. Make sure to double-check all the dates, names, and facts you include in your paper.

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