APA format standards are the following:

Be typed Double Spaced Two spaces between sentences On a standard 8.5 x 11 paper 1” margins around, including top and bottom 10-12 pt Times New Roman or similar font A paper header in the upper left-hand of every page and page number in the upper right-hand side

of every page.

Title Page

The title page consists of a Page header and a title.

In Word 2007, click the [insert] tab on the far left of the menu, and then select [header]. Be sure to select [three columns].

Your document should look like this:

First, click the option that says [different first page]. In the first column, click [type text], and type the following:

Running head: AWESOME ENGLISH

For our example, the full title is going to be “Middletown’s Awesome English Paper”. For the header, however, we’ve abbreviated it to “Awesome English”, which are the main phrases in the title. Additionally, please note that “head” is lower case deliberately.

After you have typed in your “Running head”, click the center column [type text] and delete it. Now third column—right-hand side—[type text] . Select [Page Number] once again; this time, however, select [current position] and then [plain text]

The number 1 should now appear.

Your finished header should look as follows:

Now, click below the header. The text should stay, but the graphic that shows you are working in it will disappear:

We now need to add a title. It will consist of the following information:

Name of the paper

Your name

School Affiliation

For this example, the information will read as follows:

Middletown’s Awesome English Paper

John Doe

Middletown High School

The title page information should be in the upper half of the page. Space down 12 lines:

In order to center the text, you need to highlight it and then do one of the following:

Hold down [control] and [e] at the same time.

Or, while the text is highlighted, right click and select [paragraph]. Another window will appear:

After selecting paragraph, the following window will appear:

Being certain that you have the [indents and spacing] tab selected, choose [centered] under [alignment].

The final option of choosing to center text is to make sure you are under the [home] tab, then select the centering icon under [paragraph]. If you do not have 2007, most of these options can be found under [format].

Your document now looks like this:

Lastly, you’ll need to double space the text. To do so, highlight it and then hold down [control] and the number [2]. As a side note, remember that when you spaced down, the document was using single space.

You are almost finished the title page; however, there is a mistake. You may notice that the header is not the same font as the rest of the page. To fix the problem, do the following:

Double click where the header is.

Highlight the entire header:

You have multiple options, but we will only go over one. Right click the highlighted area, and then select [font]. The following window will appear:

Click in the window directly under font. The word +Body is lightly highlighted. Now, type the phrase [Times]

As you type, you will see word searching for the font that corresponds to the word “times”. In this case, the font type is “Times New Roman”. Select it, and click the OK button. Another way to search for the font is to scroll down to the type you choose. After you have clicked the OK button, you should be returned to the header section of the page. The font of the header should now be in “Times New Roman”. Click out of the header.

Your title page is complete, and is in APA format. Now, let’s work on the Abstract.

The purpose of the abstract is to give your reader a general idea about your paper. In essence, you are writing a brief summary. To create an abstract, click right after the last word on your title page. In our case, it is “School”.

Now, click [insert] and select [page break]:

You should immediately jump to a new, blank page. Your cursor will be centered:

Write the word “Abstract”, capitalizing only the letter “A”. Press [enter] once. Hold down [control] and [L], or use another option that you were previously shown, to move the cursor to the left. Your document should look like this:

Your abstract should be short—about 150 to 200 words. In essence, it should be a paragraph about half a page long, no longer. Make sure that your text is double spaced. If it is not, use the methods you previously used. Your paper should look as follows:

But we have a problem. The problem is the header once again. Our header on the abstract shouldn’t have the phrase “Running head” in it at all. Likewise, it shouldn’t be in the main document. Let’s fix that. Scroll back to the title page. Double click the header. Delete the phrase “Running head”. Click out of the header.

Your abstract is now complete. In order to begin the main body of the text, click at the very end of the abstract and insert a [page break]. It should look like this:

Begin typing the main text. If there are problems with the format such as line spacing, font, etc., then use the same tools as we’ve previously used. You can adjust the point size by either highlighting all of the text using the command [control] and [a], or by physically highlighting with your mouse wheel. To change the point size, right click, select [font] and choose the appropriate size. APA format demands the point size to be between 10 and 12.

To create a reference page, create a new page break at the end of your main text. Center the title “References” in the same way you did for “Abstract”. Press [enter] once and begin typing. The format for each reference is as follows:

Entries are double spaced The first line of each entry is flush left, and every line afterwards is indented. Names are ordered alphabetically by author name.

See the example below: