Formatting APA Style in Word 2007In order to best set up a Word document for completing a paper using APA format, begin by opening Word. Do this by clicking on the Start button (Windows XP) or the Windows button (Windows 2007). With the menu active, point to All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Word 2007. Word will now open.

A good rule of thumb when using the computer to create a document is to save early, save often, and save in several locations. Students should NEVER save to the computer in the school; instead they should save to their U: drive. Please see your instructor for directions for accessing your U: drive.

General Document FormattingAPA style documents are to be in Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spaced, with 1” margins all around. Word 2007 does not use all of these as defaults.

1. To change the font, go to the Home Ribbon in the Font section and click the down arrow next that will currently read Calibri (Body). Scroll through the list of fonts to find Times New Roman and click on it.

2. To change the font size, on the Home Ribbon in the Font section, click the down arrow next to the font size that currently reads 11 and click on 12.

3. To change the document to double spacing, on the Home Ribbon in Paragraph section click on the Line Spacing button (bottom row, fifth button) and choose 2.0.

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4. Margins are 1” all around by default, so they do not need to be changed. However, Word 2007 automatically adds additional space after paragraphs. That additional space must be removed for APA style. To remove the additional space, on the Page Layout ribbon in the Paragraph section click in the box next to After (currently reads 10 pt) and type in a 0 and press Enter.

Once these adjustments are made, you are ready to begin keying your title page.

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The Title PageThe title page must include a page header, running head, and the general cover information.

1. To enter the page header, double click in the top margin area of the page. This will open the header area. Tap the Tab key twice so that the insertion point is now on the far right side of the header area. Type the first 2-3 words of the title of the paper and press the space bar 5 times. To enter the page number – DO NOT JUST TYPE IN THE PAGE NUMBER – first switch to the Header & Footer Tools Design Ribbon. On the ribbon, go to the Header & Footer section and click on Page Number Current Position Plain Number.

2. Exit the Header and Footer area by clicking the Close Header and Footer button. This will return you to the document to start the Running Head.

3. Once you exit the Header and Footer area, on the first line of the document key Running Head: then press the Spacebar two times and key the abbreviated title of the paper in 50 characters or less in ALL CAPS.

4. Following the Running Head, press Enter approximately ten times. To enter the title/general cover information, first you will need to center the information. To center the text, hold down the CTRL key and press E (Ctrl+E). Key the title, author name, and school name on individual lines as directed by your instructor.

5. Once you have entered the entire title/general cover information, press Enter and return the alignment to Left (Ctrl+L). Your cover page is now complete.

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6. To get to the next page to begin your abstract, press Ctrl+Enter. This will insert a page break and move you to the next page.

The AbstractThe abstract is simply a concise summary of the key points of the paper. The abstract page begins with the title “Abstract” (centered and otherwise not formatted) on the first line and the written abstract starting on the next line. The abstract should be a single paragraph, double-spaced, and less than 120 words. The Page Header set up on the title page will also appear on this page. (Note that it now shows you are on page 2.)

To center the title Abstract, press Ctrl+E. The key the word Abstract. Press Enter after entering Abstract.

On the next line, first return the alignment to Left by pressing Ctrl+L, then key the abstract you have written. DO NOT press tab or otherwise indent the paragraph. The text will automatically be double-spaced because you set that up on the title page.

Once you have completed keying your abstract, press Enter and then Ctrl+Enter to move to the top of the next page to begin keying your research paper.

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The Main BodyThe main body of the APA paper is where you actually report on your research. Your class instructor will instruct you on what is expected in this section – including the length of the paper.

At the end of the Abstract section, you pressed Ctrl+Enter to get to a new page. This new page is where you will begin keying your paper. The Page Header you created on the title page will continue on all pages of the main body. The body is also still formatted as Times New Roman, 12 pt, double-spaced, which you also set up on the title page.

Word will automatically wrap your text on to the next line when you are typing, so you only need to press Enter to move to a new paragraph. Word will also automatically move you to a new page when you run out of room on the current page.

Quotations of 40 words or fewer are woven into your text, enclosed in quotation marks. The parenthetical citation goes after the closing quotation mark, but before the final period, comma, or semicolon. Quotations longer than 40 words are set off from the text, beginning on a new line indented a half-inch (or five spaces on a typewriter) from the left margin. Quotation marks are not used to mark the quotation. The quotation is double-spaced and put in the same font as the regular text, and there is no blank line before or after the quotation. If the quotation includes one or more full paragraphs, their first lines should be indented another half-inch. The parenthetical citation comes after the closing punctuation mark (note that this is different from the practice with short quotations). To set up the indent for a long quotation, on the Page Layout Ribbon in the Paragraph section, change the Left to 0.5

and press enter. Be sure to change it back to 0 after pressing Enter at the end of the quotation.

All sources of information must be given credit within your writing. An internal citation is an abbreviated version of the citation that appears on your references page and is located in close proximity to the “borrowed” idea, thought, quote, etc. See instructor handouts for information required in internal citations.

Upon completion of keying the main body, press Enter and then press Ctrl+Enter to move to the next page. This new page will be used to create your references page.

NOTE: Students should use the Spelling & Grammar option on the Review ribbon to check for errors. This is NOT a foolproof method of finding all possible spelling and grammar errors in the document. It is

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strongly suggested that students proofread their document as many times as needed in order to find and correct spelling and grammar errors.

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The References Page The Reference page appears at the end of every APA formatted document. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must correspond to an internal citation in your essay.

Your references should begin on a new page. The word References should be centered at the top of the page, but otherwise unformatted. The references page is double-spaced, just like the rest of the document. Reference entries should be in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author of each work. All reference entries are entered using the hanging indent style. The titles of longer works, such as books and journals, should be italicized. Titles of shorter works, such as articles from journals, newspapers, magazines, or essays in edited collections are NOT italicized, underlined, or entered using quotation marks.

After pressing Ctrl+Enter at the end of the main body, you are on a new blank page where your references will be entered. To enter the title References, first press Ctrl+E to center your text and then key the word References. Once you have entered the title, press Enter and then Ctrl+L to left align the references that will be entered.

Since all references must be entered using the Hanging Indent format, go to the Paragraph section on the Home ribbon and click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launch Arrow. This will open the paragraph dialog box. On the Indents and Spacing tab in the paragraph dialog box, click the down arrow for the Special box in the Indentation section and choose Hanging then click OK. Your hanging indent is now set up and ready to go. Hanging indent formats paragraphs so that the first line of the paragraph is against the left margin and all subsequent lines of that paragraph are indented .5” off the left margin. Be sure to press enter only after entering all of the information for each individual reference.

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To verify that all of your reference entries are in alphabetical order, select all of the entries (by placing the mouse at the beginning of the first entry, holding the left mouse button down, and dragging to the end of the last entry before releasing the mouse – the selected text will appear with a blue background) and press the Sort button in the Paragraph section of the Home Ribbon. This will open the Sort Text Dialog box. Verify that the first drop down arrow says Paragraphs, the second says Text, and the option for Ascending is selected, and then press OK. This will put your entries in alphabetical order by the first word in each entry.

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