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An APA running head is not needed for undergraduate or master’s courses per the
University Writing and Style
Guidelines. If you are a student in a doctoral program, or otherwise require a running head in your paper, consult the doctoral APA Sample
Paper in the CWE>Tutorials and Guides>Doctoral Writing
Resources.

Pagination: Use the header feature in
Microsoft® Word to set the page number (see
Appendix A).

Writing Style and Mechanics
Student Name
Course/Number
Date
Instructor Name

The title: Use upper and lower case letters, centered between the left and right margins, and positioned on the upper half of the page. Use black, 12point Times New Roman font throughout. Arial and Courier font types are acceptable.

All lines are double-spaced throughout the entire document. Use black, 12-point
Times New Roman font throughout the document. Arial and Courier font types are acceptable.

This APA Sample Paper is intended for undergraduate and master’s level students.
The University of Phoenix APA sample papers represent the consensus of key academic officials within the University. This particular sample reflects expectations outlined in the University of Phoenix Writing and Style Guidelines for undergraduate and master’s courses, which correspond with the University’s preferred style guide for most programs: The Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, Sixth Edition. If your course materials direct you to follow MLA style, please see the MLA Sample Paper in the Center for
Writing Excellence (CWE)>Tutorials and Guides>MLA Information.
This sample paper is offered as a concise tool to help students with style, but it is not a definitive or binding representation of format for all courses. The CWE provides many tools to help students write and format effective papers; however, the faculty member determines the assignment grade in the course.

Abstract: Typically, an abstract is required only for publication. If your assignment instructions indicate a requirement to use an abstract, a sample can be found in the CWE>Tutorials and Guides.

Center for Writing Excellence
© 2014 Apollo Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Writing Style and Mechanics
Indent the first line of each paragraph using the tab key, set at five to seven spaces or one-half inch.

Use the paper title above your introduction, centered not bolded. 2

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) began as a
Direct
quotations require a page number or paragraph number.

journal article in 1929. The APA reported results from a meeting of scholars “to establish a simple set of procedures, or style rules, that would codify the many components of scientific writing to increase the ease of reading comprehension” (APA, 2010, p. xiii). Today, the
Publication Manual is in its sixth edition and the APA style described in it is a widely

Use one or two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence, but be consistent with usage throughout the document. recognized standard for scholarly or professional writing in the social sciences. Although the style guide is designed to prepare manuscripts for publication, many universities and health care journals have adopted its use as a guide to achieve uniformity and consistency (Cuddy, 2002).
Writing in the style prescribed by the Publication Manual can be a daunting experience for students. As with any new skill, “practice makes perfect” (S. Proofreader, personal communication, June 28, 2004). Points of APA style most often used by undergraduate and

Personal communication citation: No need to include on the reference page. graduate students are listed below. However, keep in mind that this sample paper is a guide and should not be considered as a replacement for the Publication Manual.
Format Considerations

Level one heading:
Centered, bolded, upper and lower case letters.
.

Some commonly used rules and formats from the sixth edition of the Publication Manual are listed below. Please