Advanced Reading and Writing Paper Formatting Guidelines
General APA Guidelines
Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5\on all sides. You should use 10-12 pt. Times New Roman font or a similar font.
Include a page header at the top of every page. To create a page header, insert page numbers flush right. Then type \Major Paper Sections
Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References. Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page.
Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.
Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (Ph.D.).
Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research. Abstract
Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold, formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions,
participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150 and 250 words.
You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, center the text and type Keywords: (italicized) and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases. In-Text Citations: The Basics
Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found...
APA Citation Basics
When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for
example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or
making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. In-Text Citation Capitalization, Quotes, and Italics/Underlining ? ?
Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. (Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media.)
When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-Born Cyborgs.
Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: \Hitchcock's Vertigo.\
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Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The Wizard of Oz; Friends.
? Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles
from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: \Constructing Possible Worlds\Short Quotations
If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by \phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. According to Jones (1998), \when it was their first time\
Jones (1998) found \implications does this have for teachers?
If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.
She stated, \she did not offer an explanation as to why. Long Quotations
Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.
Jones's (1998) study found the following: Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199) Summary or Paraphrase
If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.)
According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners. APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).
Reference List: Basic Rules
Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. 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 be cited in your text.
Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page \the title). All text should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay. Basic Rules ? ?
All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all
authors of a particular work for up to and including seven authors. If the work has more than seven authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.
If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or
multiple-author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest. Capitalize all major words in journal titles.
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When referring to books, chapters, articles, or Web pages, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.
Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.
Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.
Please note: While the APA manual provides many examples of how to cite common types of sources, it does not provide rules on how to cite all types of sources. Therefore, if you have a source that APA does not include, APA suggests that you find the example that is most similar to your source and use that format. For more information, see page 193 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition.
Sample Student APA Paper: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090212013008_560.pdf Reference Page Rules: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/6/
MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format
General Guidelines ? ?
Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper. Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt.
Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor).
Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times.
Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.) Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis.
If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).
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