APA Format Tips

Writing an essay is as easy as putting words on paper with a proper beginning, middle, and end. But, most of the time, the instructor will throw a wrench into the plans buy saddling your writing with a required structure. There are several different choices when it comes to writing style guidelines, but the most used style was devised by the American Psychological Association (APA).

They have informed the writer how to write an essay or research paper in such a way that it can be easily understood. Learning to write an essay in this format is much easier than it may, at first, sound. Several easy to follow tips will make the entire process less daunting.

In-Text Citations There are two main ways to put in-text citations in when you write an essay. The first is buy either writing a quote or idea that you took from another author and after the quote or idea making a notation about where you found the cite. Like this: Blah, blah, blah (None, 1999). You can accomplish the same thing by doing it in this way: None (1999) said blah, blah, blah.

The reason that you write an in-text cite is so that you acknowledge that another writer had this thought originally. This will help the writer avoid any plagiarism complaints. References Learning how to write an essay properly begins and ends with how to compose a reference.

When an in-text citation is completed, as shown above, it is not complete. It does not show where the citation originated from, or where the reader can go to look up the original material. As with the in-text cite, there are only two main ways to complete a reference. They are for a book and a periodical.

The book reference looks like this: None, R. B. (1999). Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher. A peer reviewed periodical is usually what is required for the next reference. Magazines are unreliable sources because they often only include the writers biased opinion, whereas a peer reviewed article is backed up by research.

The reference is completed as follows: None, R. B. (1999). Title of the article. Journal Title, Volume(Number): Pages. Remember that all references must be done with a hanging indent when you write an essay in APA style. They must follow the above form exactly, so as to separate the different bits of information that are necessary.

Format The format is just as important as the in-text citation or the reference list when you write an essay. Following are a few miscellaneous tips:

All margins of the paper must be one inch.

The abstract, if one is needed is not indented and contains no more than 120 words.

Use a font that is easy to read such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Courier New.

All parts of the paper must be double spaced.

There are only two types of headings to use in most papers.

The title of the paper must be centered at the top of the first page and in caps.

The different secondary headings should be left adjusted, in caps, and italicized.

Theses are a few of the important things to remember to know how to write an essay in APA style.