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Mary Wuergler
Listen to the audio version of how to structure the body of an APA style paper:
How to structure the Body of APA Style Paper (Text version).
The image above shows the perfect APA format for the body of a paper.
After the title page is the beginning of the paper. At the top of the page, the title of your paper appears again. The title is the same as on the title page, centered, bolded, not underlined, and not italicized.
The recommended font for the entire paper is Times New Roman 12. The paper size is US Letter 8 1/2” x 11” (check under Layout that it is not set to A4). Double space the entire paper and indent one tab at the beginning of each paragraph. Do not put a line space between paragraphs.
The introduction is indented one tab (0.5 inches or 1.27 cm) and begins immediately after the title with no line space. The introduction begins with a general statement about the topic to get the reader’s attention. Often, the last sentence in the introduction clearly states the topic of the paper and is called the thesis statement. You should, however, be sure to follow your professor’s instructions on how to write an introduction, body and conclusion for the type of assignment you are submitting.
Each body paragraph is indented one tab (0.5 inches or 1.27 cm) and begins immediately after the previous paragraph with no line space. Look at the last page of this document to see how to set the paragraph spacing before and after the paragraph to 0 pt. Each body paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence, gives examples or proof of what you state in the topic sentence, then ends with a concluding sentence.
If you are quoting the exact words of another author, make sure that you introduce the quote and use quotation marks around the author’s words. In an essay about pets for example, the writer may say that dogs may help their older owners to stay healthy as researchers found that “those with a dog and who were involved in its care were less likely to be lonely” (Opdebeeck et al., 2021, p. 1559). After the direct quote, you need to have an in-text citation which includes the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number of the reference and then explain to the reader how this quote supports or proves your claim. If you paraphrase the author’s words, you may include the page number, but it is not required, and you do not need to use quotation marks (American Psychological Association, 2020).
The final paragraph restates the thesis statement in other words, then usually ends with a general statement about the topic or something to get the reader thinking more about the topic.
Following the end of the paper on a new page should be your reference list, more on this in the next chapter.
Perfect APA format L6-8 [World File] is a downloadable Word document which includes the image above (page 2).
MS Word document you can edit and use to write your assignment: Template for APA formatted document EAP L5-8 [Word File]
Georgian College’s