APA 7 Resource Center: Professional Paper

General Guidelines:

• Font: APA now allows several different options for fonts, you can choose one of the following, make sure to use the point size specified: 

  • Calibri, 11 pt.
  • Arial, 11 pt.
  • Lucinda Sans Unicode, 10 pt.
  • Times New Roman, 12 pt.
  • Georgia, 11 pt.

• Spacing: In general, your entire document should be double spaced.

• Margins: Margins should be set uniformly at 1 inch on all sides.

• End of a Sentence: There only needs to be ONE space after a "period." 

• Headers:

  • Running Head: Professional papers always have a running head
  • Page Numbers: Page numbers should be included as part of the running head

• The paper should be written in the following order: 

  • Title Page (with running head/page number at the top)
  • Abstract 
  • Text
  • References
  • Footnotes
  • Tables
  • Figures
  • Appendices

• Title Page: The title page should contain the following components placed in the middle of the page, centered, each on its own line:

  • Running head and page number
  • Paper title
  • Authors & researchers' names
  • Department and school
  • [SPACE]
  • Author note
  • Abstract on page 2
  • Paper begins on page 3

One of the most important things to remember for APA style formatting is consistency! The APA has not released guidelines on every single type of resource because the possibilities are endless. Just remember to follow the general formats when imputing information about a resource, include as much information as necessary, and be consistent! If you have questions about how to cite a particular resource, feel free to contact the library. Our contact information can be found on the "Get More Help" tab of this guide.