APA Paper Example: Format, Title Page, References, In-Text Citations

APA format is the documentation style of the American Psychological Association, used across psychology, nursing, public health, education, social work, business, and most social and health sciences in the United States, with current guidance from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual published in 2019. The format covers paper-level rules (title page, abstract, levels of heading, page header, line spacing), in-text citations using author-date references in parentheses, and a references list that follows a four-element template (Author. Date. Title. Source) handling journal articles, books, websites, datasets, social media, and grey literature. EssayFount writing experts help undergraduate and graduate students apply APA 7 correctly across coursework essays, literature reviews, research proposals, dissertation chapters, and any social or health science assignment that requires the American Psychological Association's citation system. This guide on apa paper example walks through the rules, examples, and decisions that come up in real student work.

Written by Rohan Mehta, Lead Writing Expert (Health Sciences). Reviewed by Naomi Alvarez, Lead Writing Expert (STEM and Engineering). Last reviewed 2026-04-24.

What APA format covers

APA format applies three layers of rules at once. A strong APA paper aligns all three. The student version (used for most coursework) and the professional version (used for journal submission) share the same body conventions and differ only in title page and running head requirements.

• Paper-level format. Title page, abstract, levels of heading, line spacing, page numbers, font, and margins.
• In-text citations. The (Author, Year) parenthetical format used whenever a source is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
• References list. The alphabetical list of cited sources at the end of the paper, formatted to the four-element template introduced in the 7th edition.

APA places more emphasis than other styles on citing every claim that comes from outside the writer's own data. For health and social science writing, the working assumption is that any factual statement traces back to a study or report and needs an in-text citation.

APA paper format

Margins, font, line spacing, and page numbers

• Margins: 1 inch on all four sides.
• Font: APA 7 accepts a range of fonts. Common choices include Times New Roman 12-point, Calibri 11-point, Arial 11-point, Lucida Sans Unicode 10-point, and Georgia 11-point. Pick one and use it throughout.
• Line spacing: double-spaced throughout, including the title page, abstract, body, block quotations, references list, table notes, and figure captions.
• Paragraph indent: first line of every paragraph indented one half-inch.
• Page numbers: top right corner of every page, starting with 1 on the title page.
• Running head: required only for the professional version. Student papers do not include a running head.

Student-paper title page

APA 7 introduced a simplified title page for student papers. It contains the title, author name, affiliation, course number and name, instructor, and assignment due date. All elements are centered, double-spaced, and placed on the upper half of the page.

Effects of Telehealth Visits on Diabetes Self-Management
Among Rural Adults: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study

Sofia Reyes

School of Nursing, Midwestern State University

NURS 412: Research Methods in Nursing

Dr. Rohan Mehta

14 April 2026

The title is bold, in title case, centered three to four lines down from the top of the page. Author names appear with full first name, middle initial, and last name. The affiliation lists the academic department and institution.

Abstract

Most undergraduate APA papers do not require an abstract. Research papers, theses, and journal-style submissions do. The abstract appears on a new page after the title page, headed with the bold word Abstract centered, and runs 150 to 250 words in a single paragraph that summarizes problem, methods, key findings, and conclusion.

Five levels of heading

APA 7 organizes papers with up to five levels of heading. Use only as many as the paper needs. Most undergraduate papers stop at level 2.

• Level 1: Centered, Bold, Title Case. Body begins on the next line, indented.
• Level 2: Flush Left, Bold, Title Case. Body begins on the next line, indented.
• Level 3: Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case. Body begins on the next line, indented.
• Level 4: Indented, Bold, Title Case, Ends with a Period. Body begins on the same line.
• Level 5: Indented, Bold Italic, Title Case, Ends with a Period. Body begins on the same line.

Standard sections of an APA research paper

APA empirical papers follow a fixed section order: Introduction (no heading; the title appears at the top of the body and the introduction begins immediately), Method, Results, Discussion, References, and Appendices when needed. Literature reviews and conceptual essays use level-1 headings the writer chooses, but the order of sections still moves from introduction through the body to a conclusion and references.

APA in-text citation format

APA uses author-date parenthetical citations of the form (Author, Year). Place the citation directly after the borrowed material, before the closing punctuation.

Standard examples

• One author, paraphrase: Telehealth visits improved A1c control across rural primary care (Patel, 2024).
• One author, direct quotation: The intervention "doubled adherence to weekly self-monitoring" (Patel, 2024, p. 412).
• Author named in the sentence: Patel (2024) reported that adherence doubled. The year follows the name; no year in the parenthetical.
• Two authors: (Patel and Kim, 2024). Both names are linked by "and" in narrative sentences and by "&" inside parentheses: (Patel & Kim, 2024).
• Three or more authors: use the first author's last name followed by "et al.": (Patel et al., 2024).
• Group author: spell out the full name on first use with the abbreviation in brackets: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2023). Use the abbreviation alone in subsequent citations: (CDC, 2023).
• No author: use a shortened title in italics for stand-alone works or in quotation marks for parts of larger works: ("Telehealth Adoption," 2024).
• Same author, multiple years: list the years in chronological order separated by commas: (Patel, 2022, 2024).
• Same author, same year: add lowercase letters after the year: (Patel, 2024a, 2024b).
• Multiple sources in one citation: separate with semicolons, alphabetized: (Kim, 2023; Patel, 2024; Reyes, 2025).
• No date: use "n.d." in the year position: (Patel, n.d.).
• Personal communication: cite in text only, not in references: (J. Patel, personal communication, 14 April 2026).

Block quotations

Quotations of 40 or more words become block quotations: indented one half-inch from the left margin, double-spaced, no quotation marks. The parenthetical citation appears after the closing punctuation of the block. Use block quotations sparingly; in social and health sciences, paraphrase and synthesis are preferred over long direct quotations.

APA references list format

The references list begins on a new page after the body of the paper, carries the page number in the upper right, and is titled References in bold, centered at the top.

Page-level rules

• Double-spaced, no extra spacing between entries.
• Hanging indent of one half-inch on every entry.
• Entries alphabetized by the first author's last name. Entries with no author are alphabetized by the first significant word of the title.
• Multiple works by the same author: list chronologically, oldest first. Use the same author's name fully on each entry; do not use em dashes or short forms.

The four-element APA template

APA 7 reduces every reference to four elements answered in order:

1. Who is responsible? Author or group author. Last name, initials.
2. When was it published? Year in parentheses, with month and day for periodicals and online posts when known.
3. What is the work? Title in sentence case (only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized). Italic for stand-alone works; not italic for parts of larger works.
4. Where can the work be found? Source: publisher for books, journal name and issue for articles, URL or DOI for online sources.

References examples by source type

Journal article (with DOI)

Patel, R. (2024). Telehealth and diabetes self-management in rural primary care: A randomized trial. Journal of Rural Health, 40(2), 405-417. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12789

Journal article (no DOI, online only)

Reyes, S., and Kim, M. (2025). Caregiver burden in pediatric long-term ventilation. Pediatric Nursing. https://www.pediatricnursing.org/article/s12345-025-12345

Print book

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Edited book chapter

Hoffman, A. (2021). Health equity frameworks in primary care. In M. Williams and S. Ortiz (Eds.), Equity-Centered Public Health (pp. 145-172). Springer.

Government report

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). National Diabetes Statistics Report 2023. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/index.html

Website page

World Health Organization. (2024, March 14). Telehealth and digital health policy guidance. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/telehealth-2024

Newspaper article (online)

Schultz, K. (2024, June 14). The hidden cost of rural hospital closures. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/health/rural-hospitals.html

Dissertation

Lopez, M. (2022). Patient-reported outcomes after telehealth-delivered cardiac rehabilitation [Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

YouTube video

National Institutes of Health. (2024, January 8). What is implementation science? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABCD1234

Social media post

World Health Organization [@WHO]. (2025, March 14). New report shows ... [Post]. X. https://x.com/WHO/status/1834567890123

Dataset

U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey 1-year estimates [Dataset]. https://data.census.gov/table?g=ACS_1YR_2024

Sample APA paper opening

The excerpt below shows the introduction of a sample APA student paper on telehealth and diabetes self-management. The full paper would continue with Method, Results, Discussion, and References sections.

Effects of Telehealth Visits on Diabetes Self-Management
Among Rural Adults: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study

Diabetes affects an estimated 38.4 million adults in the United States, and the burden falls disproportionately on rural communities, where access to endocrinology, diabetes education, and primary care is uneven (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2023). The expansion of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic offered a partial response, with some rural primary care networks reporting sustained telehealth volumes after pandemic-era flexibilities ended (Patel, 2024). Whether routine telehealth visits change diabetes self-management behaviors, including self-monitoring of blood glucose, medication adherence, and dietary tracking, has been less consistently studied. The present pilot examined associations between telehealth visit frequency over 12 months and four self-reported self-management behaviors among rural adults with type 2 diabetes. We hypothesized that participants with at least quarterly telehealth visits would report higher adherence than participants with fewer than two visits per year, after adjusting for age, education, and baseline A1c.

How to write an APA paper step by step

1. Set the document. Set 1-inch margins, double spacing, an APA-accepted font, and a header showing the page number in the upper right corner. Disable widow and orphan control if your software adds them.
2. Build the title page. Title in bold, centered, three to four lines from the top, followed by author, affiliation, course, instructor, and date.
3. Add an abstract if required. 150 to 250 words on a new page after the title page, headed with bold "Abstract" centered.
4. Plan the headings. Outline the paper using level-1 and level-2 headings before drafting. APA empirical papers use a fixed structure (Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion); essays and reviews are more flexible.
5. Cite as you write. Add (Author, Year) parenthetical citations the moment you use a source, and add the corresponding references entry to a running list immediately.
6. Use sentence case for titles. APA capitalizes only the first word of a title, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. This rule trips up writers coming from MLA.
7. Apply hanging indents in references. Use the paragraph dialog hanging-indent setting; do not tab manually.
8. Order references alphabetically. By first author's last name; by first significant word of the title for sources without an author.
9. Cross-check. Every in-text citation must have a matching references entry, and every references entry must be cited at least once in the paper.
10. Run a final format pass. Confirm fonts, spacing, page numbers, levels of heading, and that DOIs are formatted with the https://doi.org/ prefix.

Common APA format mistakes

• Using title case for titles in the references list. APA references list uses sentence case. (Title case appears in the body of the paper for level-1 and level-2 headings.)
• Forgetting the year in in-text citations. APA always includes the year. (Patel) is incomplete; (Patel, 2024) is correct.
• Adding a running head to a student paper. APA 7 student papers do not require a running head. Only professional submissions do.
• Wrong DOI format. APA 7 wants DOIs as https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx, not "doi:" or "DOI:" prefixes.
• Missing page numbers in direct quotations. APA requires a page or paragraph number for every direct quotation: (Patel, 2024, p. 412) or (Patel, 2024, para. 7).
• Capitalizing too many words in titles. APA references uses sentence case. Only the first word, first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Wrong author abbreviation. Authors in references are listed as Last, F. M., not Last, First Middle. Use initials.
• Listing multiple author works in wrong order. Same author multiple works: list chronologically, oldest first. Same author same year: append lowercase letters (2024a, 2024b) and order alphabetically by title.
• Citing personal communication in references. Personal communications appear in text only, not in the references list.
• Italicizing journal article titles. Italicize the journal name and volume number; the article title is not italicized.
• Placing references on the same page as the body. The references list always begins on a new page.
• Mixing & and "and". Use "&" inside parentheses (Patel & Kim, 2024) and "and" in narrative sentences (Patel and Kim, 2024).
• Using "et al." for two authors. APA uses "et al." starting with three or more authors. For two authors, name both every time.
• Forgetting the location for online sources. APA 7 requires a URL or DOI for every online source. "Retrieved from" is no longer used; the URL stands alone.
• Misusing italics in headings. Level-1 and level-2 headings are bold and not italic. Level-3 and level-5 are bold italic. Level-4 is bold and not italic.
• Inconsistent author name in same paper. Use the same form of an author's name across all in-text citations and the references entry.
• Citing a source not in references. Every in-text citation needs a matching references entry. Cross-check before submitting.
• Citing a paper based on the abstract. Cite only sources you have read in full unless you explicitly use a secondary citation: as cited in (Patel, 2024).

How EssayFount supports APA format

APA format is the documentation backbone of nursing, public health, psychology, social work, education, and business writing. Even strong content writers lose points to APA's specific conventions: sentence case in references, the year in every in-text citation, hanging indents on the references list, and the difference between "&" and "and." EssayFount writing experts work with undergraduate and graduate students to apply APA 7 correctly across coursework essays, literature reviews, research proposals, dissertation chapters, and journal-style submissions. We help with title page setup, levels of heading, parenthetical citation accuracy, references construction across every common source type, and end-to-end format audits before submission. Our editors flag mismatches between in-text citations and references, normalize DOI formatting, fix hanging indents, and confirm that titles are styled in sentence case throughout.