Skip to Main Content

English 101 - English Composition

What is APA Formatting?

APA Style is a set of guidelines found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The rules determine how you cite references, punctuation, title page format, and so on.  You will be required to use APA Style when completing assignments.

The Basics: 

  • Legible and consistent font
  • 1 inch margins
  • Double spaced
  • Page Numbers
  • Needs to include:
    • Title page
    • Body
    • References 

What's New in the 7th Edition

  • APA now has different title page requirements for student papers. This title page does not require a running head and has a different set of information to include. See APA Style: Student Title Page Guide.
  • In professional papers, the words "Running head:" no longer appear on the title page. Only the shortened title and page number should be used.
  • Titles of papers are now bolded, with a blank line before the author's name.
  • There is no font requirement as long as the font is legible and consistent. Authors may now use additional fonts (Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucinda Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, and Georgia 11).
  • The heading for the References list is now bolded.
  • There are now guidelines for annotated bibliographies.
  • APA now uses more inclusive language, notably the use of the singular "they."

APA has simplified in-text citations in regards to multiple authors. If there is one or two authors, list their names:

(Hunt, 2020); (Hunt & Smith, 2020)

For three or more authors, list only the first author's name and then et al.

(Hunt et al., 2020)

  • Don't state "retrieved from" in the reference list.

  • Websites should now be italicized.

  • Publisher location is no longer needed in the reference entry.

  • DOIs should be listed as a URL.

  • Up to 20 authors for each source should be listed in the reference list. Formerly, APA only required that one list the first 7 authors for a given source.

In the opposite direction, APA now requires listing up to 20 authors for a source in the references list. This is a change from the the 6th edition. For works with more than 20 authors, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis point, and then list the last author's name.

Smith, J., Jones, B.E., Brown, K.E., Doe, J., Chan, L., Garcia, S.M., White, C-G., Fernandez, J., Ahmed, A.J., Zhao, L.,

Cohen D., Watanabe, K., Kim, K., Del Rosario, J., Yilmaz, P.K., Nguyen, T., Wilson, T.H., Wang, W., Kahale, A. . . .

Zhange, Z.Z. (Date). Title. Source.

APA Style Guides