The Basics of APA
Format
An Introductory Tutorial for
Student Nurses
By Teresa Berter, BSN, RN, CPN
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Introduce and define APA format
 Provide general guidelines for an APA paper
 Outline specific format and style requirements, with
references to the appropriate pages in the APA Manual
(6th ed.)
NOTE: This tutorial is intended to introduce the basic
concepts of APA format. It is in no way intended to
replace the APA Manual (6th Ed.). All students should
purchase a copy of this important Manual and use it for
all nursing course writing assignments.
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APA DEFINED
APA, simply put, is a style of formal writing, especially for
publication. The rules of APA format are outlined in
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th Edition).
APA has been adopted as the writing style of choice by
many disciplines, including the fields of nursing and
medicine.
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GENERAL GUIDELINES
APA is formal writing, so avoid:
 slang expressions (i.e., “potty training,” “write-up”)
 medical jargon* (i.e., “drawing labs,” “call a code”)
 contractions (i.e., “isn’t,” “can’t”)
*Even if the intended audience for the paper (nurse peers, for
example) is familiar with the jargon used, the “formal writing”
rule still wins this battle!
Source: APA Manual, p. 68
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GENERAL GUIDELINES
While APA style is formal, third-person writing is not
required – in fact, first-person is preferred when it
improves the clarity of the paper.
Instead of writing “This writer reviewed the literature and
found…” (third-person), it is fine to write “I reviewed the
literature and found…” or “In my review of the literature, it
was found…” (first-person).
Source: APA Manual, p. 69
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CAPITALIZATION
With few exceptions*, do not capitalize words other than
the first word of a sentence and proper names.
Instead of writing “The Respiratory Therapist came to the
Emergency Department…” you would write “The respiratory
therapist came to the emergency department…”
*See the APA Manual, pp. 101-104, for exceptions to the
capitalization rule.
Source: APA Manual, p. 102
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ABBREVIATIONS
A word or phrase that is typically abbreviated needs to be
written out completely the first time it is used, followed
by its abbreviation in parentheses. Subsequent
mentions can then just use the abbreviation.
So, the first time you would write “In the United States (U.S.),
the registered nurse (RN) typically cares for two patients in
the intensive care unit (ICU).” Throughout the rest of the
paper, U.S., RN, and ICU may be utilized without further
explanation.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 106-107
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NUMBERS
As a general rule, single digit numbers (0-9) should be
spelled out (i.e., zero, one, two, etc.); numbers 10 and
above should be expressed in numerals (i.e., 10, 20,
30, etc.).
*See the APA Manual, pp. 111-114, for exceptions to this general
rule.
Source: APA Manual, p. 111
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FORMATTING
Font, Margins, and Spacing
The preferred font is Times New Roman 12-point.
Margins should be 1” on all sides. (Check the default
setting in your word-processing program. In Microsoft
Word, for example, the left and right margins default to
1.25”, so the 1” margins must be set.)
Double-space the text, including text in block quotations.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 228, 229
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FORMATTING
Indenting and Alignment
Indent the first line of every paragraph five to seven spaces,
or ½ inch, from the left margin. (This is the typical default
setting in most word-processing programs.)
Do not right-justify the text (where all lines are the same
length); use the flush-left style that results in a “ragged”
right margin of text.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 228-229
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FORMATTING
Title
The title should be concise, yet able to clearly summarize
the main idea of the paper.
The title of the paper should be centered on the first line of
page 2*. The title should not be bolded, italicized, in ALL
UPPERCASE LETTERS, or underlined and should be in
the same font as the text (i.e., Times New Roman 12-point).
*If no title page is required, then the title of the paper would be
positioned on page 1, on the first line of text following an identifying
personal information block. See the Writing Assignment directions for
title page requirements.
Source: APA Manual, p. 23
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HEADER
Page Numbers
The page number is placed flush right in the header. It is
positioned ½” from the top edge and within the 1” top
margin.
The title page (if required) should be identified as page
number 1, with the remaining pages numbered
consecutively in numerals.
If there is no title page, then the first page of the paper is
page 1.
Source: APA Manual, p. 230
FORMATTING
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Running Head
The running head is an abbreviated title that is placed
flush left in the header on every page of the paper. It is
positioned ½” from the top edge and within the 1” top
margin.
On the first page of the paper, the running head contains
the words “Running head: ” followed by the first 50
characters of the title of the paper (counting letters,
punctuation, and spaces between words) in ALL
UPPERCASE LETTERS.
Source: APA Manual, p. 229, and Corrections Insert
FORMATTING
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Running Head (cont.)
The running head should be in the same font as the text of
the paper and should not be underlined, italicized, or
bolded.
On all subsequent pages, the running head contains just the
first 50 characters of the title of the paper in ALL
UPPERCASE LETTERS.
Note that the words “Running head: ” only appear on the first
page of the paper. (For examples, see the APA Sample Paper
in the Corrections Insert located at
http://supp.apa.org/style/PM6E-Corrected-Sample-Papers.pdf)
Source: APA Manual, p. 229, and Corrections Insert
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CITING YOUR SOURCES
As a general rule, you should cite:
 Any ideas, theories, or research that influenced your
paper and were not your own original thoughts.
 All facts and figures that are not common knowledge
to the general population.
So, you would not need to cite, for example, that pneumonia is a
respiratory illness that often results in hospitalization.
However, you would want to cite the source for the
percentage of women who are diagnosed every year with
breast cancer, which would not be common knowledge for
every reader.
Source: APA Manual, p. 169
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CITING YOUR SOURCES (cont.)
For direct quotes, you must provide the page number (or
paragraph number for non-paginated material).
For paraphrased information, it is encouraged (but not
required) to provide a page or paragraph number to aid
an interested reader in locating the information in the
original source. This is especially helpful if you are
paraphrasing information from a lengthy or complicated
source.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 171-174
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DIRECT QUOTES
Use direct quotes when you are reproducing, word-forword, material from another author’s work.
It is a good rule of thumb to only use direct quotes when the
information presented by the original author is worded so
uniquely that paraphrasing it would cause the original
meaning to be compromised or lost completely.
If a direct quote is fewer than 40 words, incorporate it into
the text and enclose the quotation with double quotation
marks.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 170-171
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DIRECT QUOTES (cont.)
If a direct quote contains 40 or more words, it should be
presented as a block quotation:
 Starting on a new line of text
 The entire quote indented five to seven spaces, or ½
inch, from the left margin
 Double-spaced
 Without quotation marks
The citation would then be placed at the end of the block
quotation, in parentheses following the final punctuation
mark.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 170-171
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS
Use the author-date method of citation (surname of author
without suffixes or titles and the year of publication*).

Early onset results in a more severe course (Kessler,
2003).
If the name of the author appears in the text, then cite only
the year of publication in the parentheses.

Kessler (2003) found that among samples…
When required (direct quotes, statistics, etc.), also provide
the page number.

It was found that among those studied, 82% had a poor
outcome (Kessler, 2003, p. 43).
*Even if the reference includes a month and year, only put the
year in the citation.
Source: APA Manual, p. 174
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS (cont.)
For the specifics of citing references in text, refer to
Sections 6.11 through 6.21 in the APA Manual,
including how to cite:
 A source with multiple authors
 Sources from authors with the same last name
 A source with no identified author
 Secondary sources
 Personal communications
Source: APA Manual, pp. 174-179
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REFERENCES
References acknowledge the sources used for your paper
and provide a way for the reader to locate those
sources.
With two exceptions*, every reference cited in the text
must be listed in the reference list – and each entry in
the reference list must be cited in the text.
*The only exceptions to this rule are classical works (i.e., the
Bible, the Qur’an) and references to personal
communications, which are cited in the text and should not
appear in the reference list.
Source: APA Manual, p. 174
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REFERENCES (cont.)
To format the reference page:
 Start on a new page.
 Center the word References (not bolded, italicized, in
ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS, or underlined) on the first
line of the page in the same font as the text (i.e., Times
New Roman 12-point).
 Double-space all reference entries and use the hanging
indent format (where the first line of each reference is at
the left margin and subsequent lines are indented five
to seven spaces, or ½ inch).
Source: APA Manual, p. 37
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REFERENCES (cont.)
 Be accurate and complete in reference entries, paying
careful attention to the spelling of names and the
completeness of journal titles.
 In general, a reference should contain the author’s
name, date of publication, title of the work, and
publication data.
 For the specifics of formatting a reference list, refer to
Sections 6.22 through 6.32 in the APA Manual.
 For examples of references, organized by type of
source, refer to Sections 7.01 through 7.11 in the APA
Manual.
Source: APA Manual, pp. 180-192, 198-215
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CONCLUSION
 This tutorial is provided only as a basic overview of APA
format and is not all-inclusive. Refer all specific APA
questions to the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th Edition).
 While working on any writing assignments, contact the
Writing Center for assistance in the areas of focus,
clarity, organization, development, grammar, and
punctuation.
 Special thanks to Professor Linda Pennington,
Professor Meghan Hollowell, and Dean Kathleen
Carissimi for their assistance and guidance in the
creation of this tutorial.