There are several available writing formats that are being utilized by researchers, students, and writers today and APA writing style is among them. APA format of writing is mostly used in studies like education, psychology, and social studies. This kind of writing format was introduced by a group called American Psychological Association in 1929 in order to provide helpful parameters and standards that will be used when arranging and organizing a paper. These guidelines will ensure that all works in this writing format will be readable, correct, and consistent with each other. Although the whole APA directions and recommendations are extremely broad, here are some of the most general and common rules that you need to know in order to make use of APA format.

• Margin – All sides will have one inch in measurement.
• Spacing – The whole document or research paper will use double-spacing.
• Font – It is especially suggested that Times New Roman should be the font style used and 10 or 12 as the font size.
• Title Page – This page should contain the research paper’s title, the running head, your complete name, and the institution where you are associated with. After the heading, the first line will have the paper’s title, the second will have the writer’s name, and then lastly, the institution or school. All these information should be centered both horizontally and vertically.
• Header – The header should contain the following: “Running Head:” which will then be followed by the title of the paper and written in full capital letter. Also, ensure that every page of the paper will contain a header presenting the paper’s title as well as the number of the page.
• Abstract – This is the part of the document that will follow the title page. It primarily consists of what the paper will present. For instance, you will find the methodologies used, the findings form researches made, and the conclusions. The recommended length of this summary is about 150 to 250 words.
• Body’s Alignment and Spacing – In every paragraph, the first line should be indented always. After every period, there should be two spaces before the next sentence.
• In-Text Citations – In-text APA citation texts should always be used in order to authenticate the sources and of course, to avoid any plagiarism issues. Using the proper APA format citation, the citations or references should be enclosed in parenthesis together with the date of publication and the last name of the author.

o   Example: (Lieber, 2003)

• Reference Page – This page will be titled “References” and will follow APA format citation as recommended. It will contain more in-depth information about all sources. As indicated in APA format citation rules, the list of references should be arranged alphabetically. If the information cannot be contained within one line, according to APA format citation, the second line should be indented using the TAB key. Also, APA format citation regulations indicated that quoted references should be both included in the Reference page and the in-text citations. In order to have a proper understanding of how APA format citation should be done, make sure to check out samples and tutorial online.