APA Paper Format: How to Set Up Your Paper (7th Edition)

APA paper format comes down to a short list of settings: 1-inch margins on all sides, an accessible font used consistently (12-point Times New Roman is the safe default), double spacing throughout, a half-inch first-line indent on every paragraph, a page number in the top-right header starting at 1 on the title page, and a title page whose layout depends on whether you are a student or submitting for publication. Those rules come from chapter 2 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition, 2020), and this guide walks through each one with the manual's section numbers, then shows the exact clicks in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

One warning before the rules: the 7th edition changed several things that older guides, older templates, and many instructors' handouts still get wrong. Student papers no longer need a running head. The "Running head:" label is gone even for professional papers. There are two different title pages now. If a guide tells you otherwise, it is describing the 6th edition, which APA replaced in October 2019.

The page setup rules

Five settings apply to the whole document, from the title page through the last reference.

Margins. One inch on all four sides (Section 2.22). This is the default in both Word and Google Docs, so it only needs checking when your file started from a template or an older document.

Font. APA does not require one specific font. Section 2.19 asks for a font that is accessible and legible, used consistently throughout, and it names six recommended options: 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, and 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode. Times New Roman at 12 points is what most instructors expect, so when the assignment sheet is silent, use it. The one exception to consistency: text inside figure images uses a sans serif font and may vary in size.

Line spacing. Double-space the entire paper (Section 2.21): title page, abstract, body text, block quotations, and the full reference list. Do not add extra blank lines before or after headings or between paragraphs. The lone extra line APA does want is on the title page, where one blank double-spaced line sits between the title and your name.

Alignment and indentation. Left-align the body text and leave the right edge ragged; full justification is against the rule (Section 2.23). Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches, one press of the Tab key (Section 2.24).

Page numbers. Every page carries a page number in the top-right corner of the header, and the count starts at 1 on the title page (Section 2.18). Use your word processor's automatic page numbering; typing numbers by hand breaks the moment you add a paragraph.

APA also uses one space after the period at the end of a sentence. If you learned two spaces on an older edition or from a typewriter-era instructor, one is the current rule.

The student title page

The 7th edition splits the title page in two: one version for students, one for professionals submitting to a journal. For coursework at any level, high school through graduate school, the student version applies, and it is simpler than what the 6th edition asked of everyone.

The student title page is double-spaced and carries these elements, centered, in this order (Sections 2.3 to 2.6):

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Working Memory

Jordan Rivera Department of Psychology, Sierra Valley University PSY 210: Cognitive Psychology Dr. Elena Vasquez October 12, 2026

Line by line:

• Title (Section 2.4). Three or four double-spaced lines down from the top margin, centered, in bold, in Title Case. Make it concise and specific; the 7th edition dropped the old recommendation to stay under 12 words, but a focused title still beats a sprawling one. Then one blank double-spaced line before your name.
• Author name (Section 2.5). Your full name, centered, in regular (non-bold) type. For a group project, list every student on the same line or consecutive lines, in the order agreed with your group.
• Affiliation (Section 2.6). The department offering the course and the university, separated by a comma: "Department of Psychology, Sierra Valley University."
• Course number and name (Section 2.2). As it appears in the syllabus or course catalog: "PSY 210: Cognitive Psychology."
• Instructor name (Section 2.2). Use the title your instructor uses: Dr., Professor, or none.
• Due date (Section 2.2). Month, day, year, in the format used in your country.

The page number 1 sits in the top-right header. Nothing else goes in the header on a student paper.

A professional title page swaps the course, instructor, and due date for an author note in the bottom half (ORCID iDs, disclosures, and a corresponding-author email, per Section 2.7), and it adds a running head. Unless you are submitting to a journal, you can ignore both.

The running head: the rule that changed

This is the single most common point of confusion in APA 7, and the search data shows it: students still ask whether every page needs "Running head: SHORTENED TITLE" in the header.

The current rule (Section 2.8): student papers do not use a running head at all unless the instructor specifically asks for one. Their header holds only the page number.

Professional papers, and student papers whose instructor requests one, use an abbreviated version of the paper's title, in ALL CAPS, flush left in the header on every page including the title page, on the same line as the page number. It cannot exceed 50 characters, counting letters, spaces, and punctuation. The label "Running head:" that the 6th edition put on page one is gone; the 7th edition uses the bare abbreviated title on every page.

So a professional header looks like this on every page:

SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND WORKING MEMORY 4

If your instructor's template still shows "Running head:" on the title page, follow the template. The instructor grades the paper; APA does not. But when the assignment just says "APA format," the current rule is no running head for students.

Page order and the abstract question

Section 2.17 fixes the order of a paper's parts, each main section starting on a new page:

1. Title page
2. Abstract (only if required)
3. Text (the body of the paper)
4. References
5. Footnotes (if any)
6. Tables (if any)
7. Figures (if any)
8. Appendices (if any)

Many instructors prefer tables and figures embedded in the text near where they are discussed, which APA 7 also permits. When in doubt, embed; it is easier to read and to grade.

The abstract follows the same student-versus-professional logic as the running head. Professional papers include one; student papers include one only when the instructor or the assignment (a capstone, a thesis) requires it. When you do write one: it starts on its own page after the title page, under the label "Abstract" centered and in bold (a section label, Section 2.28), as a single double-spaced paragraph with no first-line indent, summarizing the paper in no more than 250 words. Many instructors and journals specify 150 to 250; if yours gives a range, use it.

The first page of text repeats the paper's title, centered and in bold, on the first line (Section 2.11). Do not write "Introduction" as a heading; the repeated title marks the introduction. The first heading you write comes after the introductory material, at whatever point the paper's first named section begins.

Headings: the five levels

APA 7 uses five heading levels, and every level is in bold Title Case (Section 2.27). What distinguishes them is placement and italics:

Use the levels in order. Main sections after the introduction (Method, Results, Discussion in a research report) take Level 1; their subsections take Level 2; subsections of those take Level 3; and so on. Skipping a level (a Level 3 directly under a Level 1) is a formatting error. Most class papers never need more than two levels.

Do not add extra blank lines above or below a heading. Double spacing carries through unchanged, which is the part word processors fight you on; the Word and Docs steps below deal with it.

Two labels are formatted like Level 1 headings but are section labels rather than headings: "Abstract" and "References" (Section 2.28), both centered and bold at the top of their own pages.

Setting it up in Microsoft Word

1. Margins. Layout > Margins > Normal (1 inch all around).
2. Font. Home > select Times New Roman, size 12 (or another of the six recommended fonts).
3. Double spacing. Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing > 2.0. Then, in the same menu, open Line Spacing Options and check "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style," or set Spacing Before and After to 0 pt. Word's default 8 pt after-paragraph spacing is where those forbidden extra gaps come from.
4. Page number. Insert > Page Number > Top of Page > Plain Number 3 (right-aligned). Word numbers the title page as 1 automatically.
5. Running head (only if required). Double-click the header area, check nothing, and type the ALL CAPS abbreviated title flush left on the same line as the number, then Tab it into position. Skip this entirely for a normal student paper.
6. Paragraph indent. Press Tab once at the start of each paragraph, or set it once: select the body text, open the Paragraph dialog, and set Special to First line at 0.5".
7. Reference list hanging indent. Select the finished reference entries, open the Paragraph dialog, and set Special to Hanging at 0.5". The full click path, including the Mac variant, is in our hanging indent in Word guide.

Setting it up in Google Docs

1. Margins. File > Page setup > 1 inch on all four sides (the default).
2. Font. Times New Roman, size 12, from the toolbar.
3. Double spacing. Format > Line & paragraph spacing > Double. Also select "Remove space after paragraph" in the same menu if it appears.
4. Page number. Insert > Page numbers > choose the option with numbers on every page, top right.
5. Title page. Press Enter three or four times (double-spaced lines) from the top, type the bold centered title, add one blank line, then the identity block from the student title page section above.
6. Paragraph indent. Tab at the start of each paragraph, or Format > Align & indent > Indentation options > Special indent > First line > 0.5.
7. Hanging indent for references. Same dialog, Special indent > Hanging > 0.5. Our hanging indent in Google Docs guide has screenshots of each step.

Docs also offers a built-in APA template (File > New > From template gallery), but check it against the rules above before trusting it; template galleries lag edition changes.

Formatting a class report in APA

A recurring search that lands people on this page is "APA format for report writing," which usually means a lab report, a research report, or a structured class report rather than an essay. The page setup is identical to everything above. What changes is the skeleton of headings.

A standard research or lab report uses these Level 1 headings after the title-repeating introduction (Section 2.11):

Method Results Discussion References

with Level 2 subsections under Method (commonly Participants, Materials, Procedure). A non-experimental class report has no fixed heading set; build Level 1 headings from the assignment's required parts and keep them parallel and short. Where the report cites sources, the in-text citations and reference entries follow the same APA rules as any paper; if the report itself draws on published reports (a government agency's, an NGO's), our guide to citing a report in APA 7 covers those reference entries.

One thing reports need more often than essays: tables and figures. Number them in order (Table 1, Figure 1), give each a bold label and an italic title on separate lines above it, and cite the source below it if the data is not yours.

The reference list page

The reference list starts on a new page after the body, under the section label "References," centered and bold. Every entry is double-spaced with a hanging indent of 0.5 inches: first line flush left, every following line indented. Entries are ordered alphabetically by the first author's surname, with specific tie-break rules that our APA reference list order guide walks through entry by entry.

The formatting of each entry depends on the source type, which is a separate topic from paper format; the patterns for the common ones are in our APA guides for journal articles and books.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Adding a running head to a student paper. The 6th edition required it, most older templates include it, and APA 7 removed it. Unless the instructor asks, the student header is a page number and nothing else.
• Writing "Running head:" before the abbreviated title. Dropped in the 7th edition even for professional papers. The header shows the bare ALL CAPS short title.
• An "Introduction" heading. Section 2.11 says to repeat the paper's title, bold and centered, at the top of the first text page. The title is the introduction's heading.
• Extra blank lines around headings. Word's default paragraph spacing quietly inserts them. Set Before and After spacing to 0 pt and let double spacing do all the vertical work.
• Full-justified text. The clean right edge looks tidy and is against Section 2.23. Left-align only.
• Starting page numbers on page 2. The title page is page 1 and shows its number. MLA papers work the same way, but writers coming from other formats often suppress the first number out of habit.
• Following a 6th edition guide. The giveaways: a running head on every student paper, "Running head:" on page one, a 12-word title cap, and two spaces after periods. All four are outdated.

APA paper format at a glance