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Guide to the Style of the American Psychological Association (APA)
All the blue-colored numbers, for example, (8.03, p. 228), refer to chapters, sections, and pages
in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010).
All the green-colored page numbers, for example, (p. 495), refer to pages in Bordens and
Abbott (2014).
The latest information from the American Psychological Association is at www.apastyle.org
1. Review this information before turning in a report.
2. Leave uniform margins of at least 1 inch (2.54 cm) at the top, bottom, right, and left of every
page. Just use the default setting (p. 495) for margins of your software if it is at least 1 in.
(2.54 cm) (8.03, p. 229) (p. 496).
3. Double-space everything (8.03, p. 229) (pp. 495, 501, & 507) even though the Publication
Manual does not double-space in all of its examples.
4. Use a serif typeface with a font size of 12 points for text (8.03, p. 228) (p. 495).
5. Every page should have a running head that is printed at the top of the pages of the
manuscript and published article. It is in all capital letters and is no more than 50 characters
long, including punctuation and spaces (8.03, pp. 229-230) (p. 496). It starts at the top left
margin of the page. Include the page number at the right margin.
On the Title Page only, put “Running head: YOUR RUNNING HEAD IS HERE”.
On subsequent pages, leave off the phrase “Running head:” but do include “YOUR
RUNNING HEAD IS HERE”. I explain how to do this in Appendices B and C of my sample
report, which is on my webpage: http://courses.MissouriState.edu/JRosenkoetter/
6. Use boldface for the main headings of the text (Method [with its subheadings: Participants,
Apparatus, and Procedure], Results, and Discussion) as shown on page 63 of the
Publication Manual, and also for symbols for vectors and matrices (4.45, p. 118). Do not
use boldface for the headings: Abstract, References, or Appendix (pp. 496-497).
7. The length of each typed line is a maximum of 6.5 in. (16.51 cm) (8.03, p. 229) (p. 496). Do
not right-justify lines. Instead, use the flush-left format and leave the right margin ragged
(8.03, p. 229) (p. 496). Do not divide words with a hyphen at the end of a line. Do not use
the hyphenation function of your software. Let the line run short (8.03, p. 229) (p. 496).
8. Use the tab key to indent the first line of every paragraph five to seven spaces or ½ in. (13
mm). The default setting used by most word-processing software is acceptable (8.03, p. 229)
(p. 496).
9. Use one space after commas, colons, semicolons, periods that separate parts of a reference
item, and periods after the initials in personal names, but do not space after internal periods
in abbreviations (e.g., a.m., i.e., U.S.). Spacing twice after punctuation marks at the end of
a sentence aids readers of draft manuscripts (4.01, pp. 87-88) (p. 49).
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10. Use complete sentences. Read your report for errors in logic, grammar, and spelling (8.03, p.
230) (pp. 525-532).
11. Do not use contractions. This rule is not in the Publication Manual, but it considers these
manuscripts to be formal writing and it does not use contractions.
12. Use metric (International System of Units [Système International d’Unités {SI}]) units (see
items 2, 7, and 8 for examples) (4.39-4.40, pp. 114-115).
13. Use words to express numbers (integers) below 10 (“three-dimensional block-like
objects”, “four-line diagrams”) and those that begin sentences (4.32-4.33, pp. 111-113)
(p. 523).
14. Use Arabic numerals to express numbers 10 and above (“10-line diagrams”), points on a
scale (“scored 4 on a 7-point scale”), all numbers in the abstract (except those that begin a
sentence [4.32, p. 112]), numbers that denote a specific place in a numbered series (“Trials
2 and 3, Block 5, Day 2”), numbers that represent statistical or mathematical functions
(“multiplied by 3”), numbers that immediately precede a unit of measurement (“with
10.54 cm of, 4 seconds”), and each number in a list of four or more numbers (4.31-4.39,
pp. 111-114). (See pages 523-524 for eight useful rules.)
15. Do not use a slash ( / ) when a phrase would be clearer (not “mother/guardian,” but
“mother or guardian”). Do not use a slash for simple comparisons; use a hyphen instead,
for example, not “test/retest reliability” but “test-retest reliability” (4.11, pp. 95-96).
16. Do not use “he/she.” Write out the phrase, “he or she” if that is what you mean. See 3.12,
p. 74.
17. Rosenkoetter says use the word “correlation” only when reporting a correlation coefficient or
when referring to a correlational design.
18. Do not say, “significance was found.” Say that “a significant difference was found”
or “a significant main effect of profession was found.”
19. Do not say that the hypothesis was “proven” to be correct. Say that the hypothesis was
“supported.”
20. A term to be abbreviated must, on its first appearance, be written out completely and
followed immediately by its abbreviation in parentheses, for example, “studies of simple
reaction time (RT) to a calendar picture have shown a positive correlation (r =
.58) between RT and attractiveness.” Abbreviations in figures and tables must be
explained in the figure caption or a table note (4.23, p. 107).
21. Cite support from others when you make a statement that might be challenged by a
reasonable person, for example, all behavior is the direct result of either sex or
aggression (Freud, 1923).
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22. The title is usually about 10 to 12 words that summarize the main idea of the report. Identify
the theoretical issues or the variables and the relationship between them (2.01, p. 23) (p.
498).
23. The abstract is not a “teaser.” You should state what was done and what was found. It must
be self-contained, that is, no tables, no figures, and paraphrase rather than quote. Type all
numbers—except those that begin a sentence—as Arabic numerals (2.04, pp. 25-27, 4.31, p.
111) (pp. 499-501). Get as much as possible into no more than 180 words.
24. For Rosenkoetter, use the words “hypothesis” and “prediction” in both the Introduction
and the Discussion sections. The hypothesis and the prediction are both statements about the
relationships between variables (p. 24).
25. The operation definitions of all of the variables must be given in the Method section (2.06,
pp. 29-32). Rosenkoetter wants to see the correct variable names in the appropriate
subsections of the Method section.
26. Describe procedures carefully in order, do not rush through your description, read your
description and ask yourself if it really happened that way (2.06, pp. 31-32) (p. 505).
27. Italicize anchors of a scale (4.21, p. 105, 4.07, p. 91). Use the same words that were given to
the participant. Use Arabic numerals to express numbers of the scale (4.31, p. 112), for
example, Please rate the colors of these words from 1 (not helpful) to 5 (very helpful).
28. Give the names of all statistical tests (2.07, pp. 32-35, 4.41-4.46, pp. 116-123) (pp. 507,
509).
29. Give the alpha level you used for making conclusions about statistical results (2.07, p. 34) (p.
509). We will use an alpha level of .05 for PSY 302.
30. Here are some examples of how to report statistical results using numbers (4.44-4.49, pp.
116-124) (pp. 509-510). (See Table 16-2, page 510, for abbreviations for statistical symbols.)
 the mean was 8.05
 the standard deviation was 2.51
30 (a). When using a statistical term in the narrative, use the term, not the abbreviation.
For example, use “the means were” not “the Ms were” (4.45, p. 117).
30 (b). When using a statistical term in parentheses, use the abbreviation, for example,
(M = 8.05) or (SD = 2.51).
30 (c). Put a space on both sides of an equal sign ( = ) or ( < ) (4.46, p. 118).
30 (d). Report means, standard deviations, correlations, proportions, and inferential
statistics such as t, F, and 2 to two decimals (4.35. p. 114).
30 (e). Use a zero before the decimal point with numbers that are less than 1 when the
statistic can exceed 1. Do not use a zero before a decimal fraction when the statistic
cannot be greater than 1 (e.g., correlations, proportions, levels of statistical significance,
and effect sizes [except Cohen’s d]) (4.35. p. 113).
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30 (f). The Publication Manual (2010) says to report exact p values to two or three
decimal places and to report p values less than .001 as p < .001 (4.35. p. 114, see also
2.07, p. 34 and 5.16, p. 139) (p. 509).
for a t test: t(49) = 2.11, p = .031
for an ANOVA: F(2, 36) = 7.18, p < .001
for an ANOVA (p. 127): F(1, 136) = 4.86, MSE = 3.97, p = .029, R2 = .03
for a correlation coefficient or effect size (R²): r = -.24, R2 = .37
for a regression equation: Y = 0.02X + 3.60
for a chi-square: 2(4, N = 90) = 10.51, p < .001
for a confidence interval: 95% CI [5.67, 7.98]
31. State the results of a statistical test using words, for example: (4.44, pp. 116-117) (p. 507).
The t test for independent samples, using an alpha level of .05, showed that
the first grade girls (M = 4.23, SD = 4.76) reported a significantly greater liking for
school than did the first grade boys (M = 1.38, SD = 6.87), t(22) = 2.62, p = .008.
32. You must refer to all tables, figures, and appendices by in the text (i.e., the Introduction,
Method, Results, or Discussion sections) (2.13, p. 39, 5.05, p. 127). Consider the names to be
proper nouns and capitalize the first letter, for example, Figure 1, but not italicize the name
in the text.
33. If tables or figures present results, they should not be mentioned before the Results section.
34. Number all tables with Arabic numerals in the order in which the tables are first mentioned in
the text. Tables should have a title that is italicized and has the major words capitalized (5.05,
p. 127, 5.12, p. 133) (pp. 517-518).
35. Number all figures with Arabic numerals in the order in which the figures are first mentioned
in the text. Each figure should have a caption that serves both as an explanation of the figure
and as a figure title. The caption is placed directly below the figure (5.22, p. 158). Only the
first word of the caption is capitalized. The caption is not italicized, but Figure 1. is
italicized, but not indented (5.05, p. 127, 5.21, p. 151, 5.23, pp. 158-160) (pp. 518-520).
36. The literature review should be in the Introduction section and, for Rosenkoetter, should have
a separate paragraph for each item. The paragraph should describe what was shown.
37. All articles, books, and so forth that are cited in the text (6.11-6.21, pp. 174-179) (pp. 520523) must be listed in the Reference section in alphabetical order by the first author's
surname. The order of authors’ names within the citation must not be changed. All items in
the reference list (2.11, p. 37, 6.11, p. 174, 6.22-6.26, pp.180-183) (pp. 512-516) must be
cited in the manuscript.
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38. APA journals use the author--date method of citation; that is, the surname of the author and
the year of publication are inserted into the text at the appropriate point, usually in the first
sentence about the work cited. Examples are given in the Publication Manual (6.11-6.21, pp.
174-179, Table 6.1 on page 177 is particularity useful) and Bordens and Abbott (2014) on
pages 520-523.
39. For a direct quotation, include the page number or the paragraph number (use the
abbreviation para.) in addition to the author and year (6.05, p. 171-172) (see pp. 521-523 for
three examples).
40. References should be in a hanging indent format (Ctrl + t) (2.11, p. 37, 6.22, p. 180) (p. 513).
41. The Reference section is described in the Publication Manual (2.11, p. 37, 6.22-6.32, pp.
180-192) with examples in Chapter 7 (pp. 193-224) and Bordens and Abbott (p. 512-516).
(a) If you are citing a journal article that you read from either a print (paper) source or an
electronic source, the reference would look like the following if the article has a Digital
Object Identifier (DOI) (Examples 1 & 2, 7.01, p. 198):
Stich, K. P., Dehnhardt, G., & Mauck, B. (2003). Mental rotation of perspective
stimuli in a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). Brain, Behavior and
Evolution, 61, 102-112. doi:10.1159/000069355
(or the now preferred http://doi.org/10.1159/000069355)
(b) If you are citing a journal article that you read from an electronic source and the article
does not have a DOI, use (Example 3, 7.01, p. 199):
Stich, K. P., Dehnhardt, G., & Mauck, B. (2003). Mental rotation of perspective
stimuli in a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). Brain, Behavior and
Evolution, 61, 102-112. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid
=9&hid=112&sid=c6ea8f2b-d869-46fa-8463-54e5f0c22d16%40sessionmgr109
(c) If you are citing an abstract that you got from a database, like PsycINFO, the reference
would look like the following (Example 16, 7.01, p. 202):
Stich, K. P., Dehnhardt, G., & Mauck, B. (2003). Mental rotation of perspective
stimuli in a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) [Abstract]. Brain,
Behavior and Evolution, 61, 102-112. doi:10.1159/000069355
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42. For Rosenkoetter’s PSY 302 classes, you may use abstracts of articles in your literature
review if you cannot find copies of the articles. But you must cite them as abstracts, like in
41. (c), and include a copy of each one. If you read the entire article, please include a copy of
its first page. All articles in APA journals can be found in PsycARTICLES, therefore
abstracts of APA journal articles will not be accepted. Other members of the Psychology
Department may not permit the use of abstracts in a literature review.
43. APA style uses only surnames followed by all initials (and periods) for all authors in the
Reference section. There is a space between the first initial (followed by a period) and the
second initial (and its period), and so forth (4.01, pp. 87-88, 6.25, pp. 181-182, 6.27, p. 184)
(pp. 496, 512-516).
44. “If each issue of a journal begins on page 1, give the issue number in parentheses
immediately after the volume number” (7.01, p. 198) (6.30, p. 186). See Example 3 (7.01, p.
199). (This means that the issue number should be left off of almost all journal reference
citations.)
45. When writing a reference citation for a book, omit superfluous terms, such as, Publishers,
Co., or Inc., which are not required to identify the publisher. Retain the words Books and
Press (6.30, p. 187).
46. An Appendix should have a title that is centered below the word “Appendix”. The title has
the major words capitalized (2.13, pp. 38-39). For several appendices, use “Appendix A”,
“Appendix B”, and so forth.
47. The order for pages is: (8.03, pp. 229-230)
 title page (separate page numbered page 1 [2.01, 8.03, pp. 229-230] [pp. 498-499])
 abstract (separate page numbered page 2, not indented, only one paragraph of no more
than 180 words including punctuation and spaces [2.04, 8.03, p. 229] [pp. 499-500])
 text (start on a separate page numbered page 3 [2.05-2.10, 8.03, p. 229] [pp. 500-512])
 references (start on a separate page [2.11, 6.22-7.11, 8.03, p. 230] [pp. 512-516])
 tables (start each on a separate page [1.10, 3.62-3.74, pp. 147-176, 8.03, p. 230] [pp.
517-518])
 figures (place each on a separate page; include caption on page with figure [5.20-5.30,
8.03, p. 230] [pp. 518-520])
 appendices (start each on a separate page [2.13, 8.03, p. 230])
References
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Bordens, K. S., & Abbott, B. B. (2014). Research design and methods: A process approach (9th
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.