HOW TO FORMAT AN ESSAY IN APA STYLE?

Essay writing is an essential part of any academic curriculum, but it can be quite a daunting task. It can be stressful, and you may feel anxiety when you get an essay writing task and Google, “Help me write an essay”.  You have to plan your time and procedure before you actually sit to write. Essays are a teacher’s way to identify how well a student can express his ideas. You can start by researching the topic and the necessary details. Then you can do the actual writing following a proper structure and outline. Keep your target audience in mind and pen down your ideas such that they grab the reader’s attention.

Not only efficient writing is crucial, but the right formatting is equally important. A poorly formatted essay can blow away all your writing. Proper formatting gives a clean and clear look to your paper, making it stand out of the rest. There are different kinds of formatting techniques. Some colleges provide their guidelines regarding the essay format, and some leave it on you. There are two most popular formatting styles for essays: APA and MLA. Today we will discuss how to format your essay in APA style of formatting.

What is APA style?

APA stands for the American Psychological Association. It is the official publication style of the association and is most commonly used in formatting essays, assignments, thesis and other kinds of research papers. This style provides strict guidelines of formatting each section of the paper.

Guidelines

• Use double-spacing throughout the essay.   
• The margins should be uniform being one-inch at the top, bottom, left, and right sides of the document.
• The page number should be there at the top right corner of every page. You can also auto-generate page numbers.
• A running head of no more than 50 characters should be included at the top left corner of the page. It is the shortened form the title.
• Include a title that is short and precise and clearly describes your essay.
• You must include a title page containing contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation. The APA format states that title should be centered in the upper half of the page and its length should not exceed 12 words. Don’t underline, bold, or italicize the title. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (Ph.D.) in the author's name. Additionally, you can include the course title, instructor name, and date.
• The font should be readable without serifs like Calibri, Times New Roman, Arial, Tahoma, etc. The font size should be 12pt.
• Left indent the first word of each paragraph, one half-inches.
• A Reference List is mandatory as per APA format. It should be located at the end of the paper in alphabetical order of the last name of the author. You can also include the date next to the author name.
• As per APA guidelines, each essay should have four major sections, i.e. the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.
• The APA format states 5 levels to specify headings and sub-headings. They should be bold and indented against the next.

If you don’t want to lack behind just because your paper was not formatted properly, follow the formatting guidelines properly. This will both save your time and effort.

Summary: Essay writing can be fun if you follow the right procedure. The APA style of essay writing lets your essay stand out and gives it a perfect shape.