Title page for a student paper in APA 7 style.

Title page for a professional paper in APA 7 style.

APA’s format uses the author-date system—just the author’s last name and the publication year. If you’re citing a specific part, add a page number for books or a timestamp for videos. This keeps your references clear and shows readers your sources quickly so your paper is credible and easy to follow.

Once you have your thesis statement and your arguments planned out, the next step is to organize your essay clearly and logically. This will help your reader follow your argument and stay engaged with your writing. Here are some tips for organizing your argumentative essay in APA style:

In APA style, headings break up long text sections and help the reader navigate your essay. Use clear, descriptive titles that summarize the main point of each section.

Abstract page for a student paper in APA 7 style.

In this section, we discuss the process you need to follow when learning how to cite an essay in APA format. The American Psychological Association added these rules to make the APA writing format offer better structure. It also helps readers quickly identify data sources as they move between professional journals.

In APA style, you may need to cite works with multiple authors or corporate (organization) authors. Here’s the format for parenthetical citations:

The official APA format book was primarily created to aid individuals with submitting their paper for publication in a professional journal. Many schools adopt certain parts of the handbook and modify sections to match their preference. To see an example of an APA format research paper, with the spacing we believe is most commonly and acceptable to use, scroll down and see section D.

Now, we will explore some of the APA style essay format examples of mistakes you shouldn’t make. This ensures that you hit the ground running with your project and get top grades.

A sample APA essay is available at this .

There are five levels of headings; the first three levels are the most commonly used in course assignments. Levels four and five are typically used in longer papers (e.g., a master’s thesis or dissertation). Follow these current APA level heading formatting guidelines:

Follow these five steps to format your abstract in APA Style:

In an argumentative essay, the main objective is to convince the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. To accomplish this, supporting your argument with credible evidence is essential. Here are some tips for keeping your argument with evidence in an APA-style argumentative essay.

Resources to help with citation in APA, Chicago, CSE, MLA, and more.

Section headings are not required for an APA paper, but level 1 headings can be very helpful to help your reader move from one major topic to another, especially for lengthy papers. Level 1 headings can be placed anywhere in your paper as a way to classify or organize your paper into sections. For a section of your paper that needs to be broken down into additional sections, this is when a level 2 heading is used, and so on.

Resources to help with citation in APA, Chicago, CSE, MLA, and more.

Also, the headings should follow APA style precisely, and there should be consistency in line spacing and indentation. Deviations from these guidelines can distract readers and detract from the essay’s credibility.

Sample of an APA format title page for a student paper:

If your essay includes supplementary material, add an Appendix on new pages following the References. Title each appendix with the word “Appendix” followed by a letter (e.g., Appendix A) if you have multiple appendices. Center and bold the title of each appendix to follow APA guidelines.

Here’s our version of how APA format for outlines could look:

Choosing a topic and developing a thesis statement are critical steps in the process of writing an argumentative essay in APA style. The topic you choose should be one that you are passionate about, has plenty of evidence to support your argument, and aligns with APA style guidelines. Here are some tips to help you choose a topic and develop a thesis statement for your argumentative essay: