APA Cheat Sheet – see the “Big 13” in the table below!
My goal is to nail down APA elements in the first application of our course so that we can focus on content from that point on. When I see
the same person making the same mistakes from week to week it means that no growth is occurring. Stagnation is rarely a good thing. This
must be applied to me too. I enjoy it when students help me grow. If you find an error in this document or in my weekly scoring you need to
email me with the item and the support. Don’t allow me to stagnate! ALWAYS ask questions if you have them! 
This document follows what is located inside Walden’s writing template (http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm - click on #6) and in the
APA pocketguide you received at the beginning of your program. No instructor can require you to add in extra elements (ex: an Abstract) or
to format differently than which Walden has in the MSED template.
Need someone to quickly review your paper? Use the automated service at Grammerly! Go to http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/index.html
and click on Grammerly in the big Green button on the left. If you need more assistance use Walden’s Tutoring Center
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/821.htm
APA pocketguide page numbers may vary from version to version. If you discover that one item is off by 2 pages then the rest probably are
as well.
Click on a topic below to see the information
Page Margins
Title on page 2
First person
Citations
Citing Electronic Sources
Page Header
Cover Page
Double spacing
Introductory paragraph
Font and Size
Concluding paragraph
References
Citing the DB in the paper
The most current Walden MSED writing template is found here http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm - click on #6
You can also visit Walden’s Writing Center at: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/792.htm. There is a whole section on the right side about
formatting in MS Word. And Walden’s APA Style: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/APA.htm
Note: Citations and references must match…..if it is listed in the Reference section then it must have been used via in-text citation. If it is
used as an in-text citation then it must be listed in the Reference section. If you merely name a source but do NOT use any info from it then
no citations/references are needed. For example: For my history class we use the Houghton Mifflin text titled A More Perfect Union. No
citation/reference is needed for the publisher or textbook in the previous sentence.
Rule
Page Margins – all 4 set to 1”
each
Page Header
Example/How
File>Page Setup
See next page & How-to in
DocSharing
Cover page
Title on page 2
Double space
Introductory paragraph
First person (never second
person)
Font and size
Hanging indent
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/436.htm
See the Walden template
See the Walden template
p. 34 – 2b General Manuscript
Guidelines
The only exception is using
THIRD person when writing
Part B in EDUC6733
Times or Courier size 12
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/432.htm
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/320.htm
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/711.htm
p. 34 – 2b General Manuscript
Guidelines
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/320.htm
Concluding paragraph
References
Start references on a new page
Support
page# followed by section title
p. 35 – 2b General Manuscript
Guidelines
Walden template
Begin references on the first
new full page after the paper
has concluded.
See an example at the end of
this table
Starts p. 63 – 4 Preparing
References
Walden template
p. 66 – 4c Format for APA entries
(section titled Indentation
Patterns)
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/428.htm
Alphabetical order
A, b designation (when more
than 1 source shares the same
author(s) and same year)
See this explanation:
http://tiny.cc/aborder and
p. 68 – 4d Alphabetizing the
Reference List
p. 71 – 72 – Special
Circumstances
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/624.htm
Citations
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/11.htm
Last names only and year
(Smith, Cook & Moore, 2010)
Not: (Smith, L., Cook, T., & Moore,
R., 2010)
No date – source does not have a
date
Page number for one page and
for more than one page
Use (n.d.) for both citation & ref
(Smith & Cook, n.d.)
(Smith, Cook & Moore, 2010, p.
6)
Starts p. 70 - 4e In-Text
Citations
p. 70 – 4e Basic Forms of In-text
Citations
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/11.htm
p. 68 – 4c under Acceptable
Abbreviations
p. 67 4c – Page Numbers
(Smith, Cook & Moore, 2010, pp. 6
-7)
Video citation
See my webpage for the
See Walden template
Et al – In the first citation list all
authors then use et al for
subsequent citations.
course in which you are
enrolled. I have created all
citations & refs for you.
(Smith, Cook, Moore, 2010) –
Then
(Smith et al., 2010)
Ampersand
(Smith, Cook & Moore, 2010)
p. 72 Three, four, or five authors
(look for a blue colored table) –
you can also look up “et al” in the
index
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/34.htm
p. 66 – 4c Format for APA entries
Not: (Smith, Cook and Moore,
2010)
Citing Electronic Sources
Discussion Board (if wanting to
cite a colleague in your paper)
Citation
Reference
http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/355.htm
(Swan, 2006, September 22)
Walden template
Swan. D. (2006, September 22). Learning styles. Message posted
to EDUC 6610 discussion board, Week 3.
Hanging Indent – the first line is left aligned and the rest of the lines are indented 5 spaces. If you
cannot figure out how to do the hanging indent, please Google it including the version of Word you are
running – ex: How to do a hanging indent in Word 2003
Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2009). The reflective educator’s guide to classroom research:
Learning to teach and teaching to learn through practitioner inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press
You can also visit Walden’s Writing Center at: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/792.htm There is a
whole section on the right side about formatting in MS Word.
Walden’s APA Style: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/APA.htm
Walden’s Tutoring Center: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/821.htm