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APA Student Paper

Text (Body)

1. Begin the text on page 2, the page right after the title page

Repeat your title exactly as it is on the title page, including keeping it centered and bold.

Image showing the paper title

2. Indent first line when starting a new paragraph

On the Home tab go to Paragraph and click the arrow.

Image showing the paragraph arrow

Find Indentation and change Special to First line.

Image showing first line indentation

Then, your paragraph will be half inch (0,5") or 1,27 cm indented.

Image showing a paragraph indented

3. Use section headings

APA Style specifies five levels of section headings.

  • Level 1 is the highest level and denotes the start of a major new section.
  • Level 2 headings are one level lower and are used to split a major section into sub-sections.
  • Levels 3, 4, and 5 are used to create more specific sub-sections and sub-sub-sections.

For example, in a research paper, you would use a Level 1 heading to denote the start of the ‘Methods’ section and Level 2 headings to denote the start of sub-sections for ‘Participants’ and ‘Procedures.’ You could further sub-divide the ‘Procedures’ section into sub-sections explaining each of your different groups or conditions using Level 3 headings. And so on and so on.

Note that using all five levels of section headings is not required, so don’t feel any pressure to do so. You should only use as many headings and levels of headings as needed to neatly organize your paper.

Each type of section heading is formatted differently. Check the following table which demonstrates how to format headings in APA Style.

Level

Format

1

Centered, Bold, Title Case Heading

         Text begins as a new paragraph.

2

Flush Left, Bold, Title Case Heading

         Text begins as a new paragraph.

3

Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case Heading

         Text begins as a new paragraph.

4

         Indented, Bold, Title Case Heading, Ending With a Period. Text begins on the same line and continues as a regular paragraph.

5

         Indented, Bold Italic, Title Case Heading, Ending With a Period. Text begins on the same line and continues as a regular paragraph.

4. Indent a block quotation

If you want to include in your paper a block quotation, start writing it on a new line and indent the whole block 0,5"(half inch) or 1,27cm. from the left margin. If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first line of each paragraph an additional 0.5" (half inch) or 1,27cm. Double-space the entire block quotation.

Image showing a block quotation

5. Insert a page break 

When you finish writing the text of your paper, go to the Insert tab to add a page break to ensure that the Reference list of your paper will start from a new page.

Image showing a page break

Once you’ve done that, you have finished formatting the text (body), and you are ready to move on to formatting the Reference list of your paper.

If you want to add footnotes in your paper, consult the Text (body) and the End matter pages of the APA Professional Paper.