apa 7 style essay

APA Formatting and Style (7th ed.)

• What's New in the 7th ed.?
• Principles of Plagiarism: An Overview
• Basic Paper Formatting
• Basic Paper Elements
• Punctuation, Capitalization, Abbreviations, Apostrophes, Numbers, Plurals
• Tables and Figures
• Powerpoint Presentations
• Reference Page Format
• Periodicals (Journals, Magazines, Newspapers)
• Books and Reference Works
• Webpage on a Website
• Discussion Post
• Company Information & SWOT Analyses
• Dissertations or Theses
• ChatGPT and other AI Large Language Models
• Online Images
• Online Video
• Computer Software and Mobile Apps
• Missing Information
• Two Authors
• Three or More Authors
• Group Authors
• Missing Author
• Chat GPT and other AI Large Language Models
• Secondary Sources
• Block Quotations
• Fillable Template and Sample Paper
• Government Documents and Legal Materials
• APA Style 7th ed. Tutorials
• Additional APA 7th Resources
• Grammarly - your writing assistant
• Writing Center - Writing Skills This link opens in a new window
• Brainfuse Online Tutoring

APA 7th ed. Fillable Word Template and Sample Paper

• APA 7th ed. Template Download this Word document, fill out the title page and get writing!
• Sample Paper APA 7th ed. Our APA sample paper shows you how to format the main parts of a basic research paper.
• APA 7th Sample Papers from Purdue Owl
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APA Style (7th ed.)

• Cite: Why? When?
• Book, eBook, Dissertation
• Article or Report
• Business Sources
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
• In-Text Citation
• Format Your Paper

Format Your Paper

Download and use the editable templates for student papers below: .

• APA 7th ed. Template Document This is an APA format template document in Google Docs. Click on the link -- it will ask for you to make a new copy of the document, which you can save in your own Google Drive with your preferred privacy settings.
• APA 7th ed. Template Document A Microsoft Word document formatted correctly according to APA 7th edition.
• APA 7th ed. Annotated Bibliography template A Microsoft Word document formatted correctly for an annotated bibliography.

Or, view the directions for specific sections below:

Order of sections (section 2.17).

• Title page including Title, Author, University and Department, Class, Instructor, and Date
• Body (including introduction, literature review or background, discussion, and conclusion)
• Appendices (including tables & figures)

Margins & Page Numbers (sections 2.22-2.24)

• 1 inch at top, bottom, and both sides
• Left aligned paragraphs and leave the right edge ragged (not "right justified")
• Indent first line of each paragraph 1/2 inch from left margin
• Use page numbers, including on the title page, 1/2 inch from top and flush with right margin

Text Format (section 2.19)

• Times New Roman, 12 point
• Calibri, 11 point
• Arial, 11 point
• Lucinda Sans Unicode, 10 point
• Georgia, 11 point
• Double-space and align text to the left
• Use active voice
• Don't overuse technical jargon
• No periods after a web address or DOI in the References list.

Tables and Figures In-Text (chapter 7)

• Label tables and figures numerically (ex. Table 1)
• Give each table column a heading and use separating lines only when necessary
• Design the table and figure so that it can be understood on its own, i.e. it does not require reference to the surrounding text to understand it
• Notes go below tables and figures

Title Page (section 2.3)

• Include the title, your name,  the class name , and  the college's name
• Title should be 12 words or less and summarize the paper's main idea
• No periods or abbreviations
• Do not italicize or underline
• No quotation marks, all capital letters, or bold
• Center horizontally in upper half of the page

Body (section 2.11)

• Align the text to the left with a 1/2-inch left indent on the first line
• Double-space
• As long as there is no Abstract, at the top of the first page, type the title of the paper, centered, in bold , and in Sentence Case Capitalization
• Usually, include sections like these:  introduction, literature review or background,  discussion, and conclusion -- but the specific organization will depend on the paper type
• Spell out long organization names and add the abbreviation in parenthesis, then just use the abbreviation
• Spell out numbers one through nine and use a number for 10 or more
• Use a number for units of measurement, in tables, to represent statistical or math functions, and dates or times

Headings (section 2.26-2.27)

• Level 1: Center, bold , Title Case 
• Level 2: Align left, bold , Title Case
• Level 3: Alight left, bold italics , Title Case
• Level 4: Indented 1/2", bold , Title Case, end with a period. Follow with text. 
• Level 5: Indented 1/2", bold italics , Title Case, end with a period. Follow with text. 

Quotations (sections 8.26-8.33)

• Include short quotations (40 words or less) in-text with quotation marks
• For quotes more than 40 words, indent the entire quote a half inch from the left margin and double-space it with no quotation marks
• When quoting two or more paragraphs from an original source, indent the first line of each paragraph a half inch from the left margin
• Use ellipsis (...) when omitting sections from a quote and use four periods (....) if omitting the end section of a quote

References (section 2.12)

Begins on a new page following the text of your paper and includes complete citations for the resources you've used in your writing.

• References should be centered and bolded at the top of a new page
• Double-space and use hanging indents (where the first line is on the left margin and the following lines are indented a half inch from the left)
• List authors' last name first followed by the first and middle initials (ex. Skinner, B. F.)
• Alphabetize the list by the first author's last name of of each citation (see sections 9.44-9.49)
• Capitalize only the first word, the first after a colon or em dash, and proper nouns
• Don't capitalize the second word of a hyphenated compound
• No quotation marks around titles of articles

Appendices with Tables, Figures, & Illustrations (section 2.14, and chapter 7)

• Include appendices only to help the reader understand, evaluate, or replicate the study or argument
• Put each appendix on a separate page and align left
• For text, do not indent the first paragraph, but do indent the rest
• If you have only one appendix, label it "Appendix"
• If you have two or more appendices, label them "Appendix A", "Appendix B" and so forth as they appear in the body of your paper
• Label tables and figures numerically (ex. Table 1, or Table B1 and Table B2 if Appendix B has two tables) and describe them within the text of the appendix
• Notes go below tables and figures (see samples on p. 210-226)

Annotated Bibliography

Double-space the entire bibliography. give each entry a hanging indent. in the following annotation, indent the entire paragraph a half inch from the left margin and give the first line of each paragraph a half inch indent. see the template document at the top of this page..

• Check with your professor for the length of the annotation and which elements you should evaluate.

These elements are optional, if your professor or field requires them, but they are  not required for student papers: 

Abstract (section 2.9).

• Abstract gets its own page
• Center "Abstract" heading and do not indent the first line of the text
• Summarize the main points and purpose of the paper in 150-250 words maximum
• Define abbreviations and acronyms used in the paper

Running Head (section 2.8 )

• Shorten title to 50 characters or less (counting spaces and punctuation) for the running head
• In the top margin, the running head is aligned left, with the page number aligned on the right
• On every page, put (without the brackets): [SHORTENED TITLE OF YOUR PAPER IN ALL CAPS] [page number] 

More questions? Check out the authoritative source: APA style blog

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How to Write an Essay in APA Format

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

What Is APA Format?

Apa essay format basics.

• Steps to Follow

Frequently Asked Questions

If your instructor has asked you to write an APA format essay, it might at first seem like a daunting task, especially if you are accustomed to using another style such as MLA or Chicago. But you can master the rules of APA essay format, too.

An essay is one type of paper that can be written in APA format; others include lab reports, experimental reports, and case studies. Before you begin, familiarize yourself with some of the basic guidelines for writing a paper in APA format. Of course, it will also be important to follow any other formatting instructions that are part of your assignment.

How do you write an essay in APA format? The basic elements you need to include are:

• A title page
• An abstract
• An introduction, main body, and conclusion
• A reference section
• Proper APA formatting with regard to margins, layout, spacing, titles, and indentations

This article discusses how to write an essay in APA format, including the basic steps you should follow and tips for how to get started.

Whether you’re taking an introductory or graduate-level psychology class, chances are strong that you will have to write at least one paper during the course of the semester. In almost every case, you will need to write your paper in APA format, the official publication style of the American Psychological Association . It is also used for academic journals.

Such rules are generally the same whether you are writing a high school essay, college essay, or professional essay for publication.

APA format is used in a range of disciplines including psychology , education, and other social sciences. The format dictates presentation elements of your paper including spacing, margins, and how the content is structured.

Most instructors and publication editors have strict guidelines when it comes to how your format your writing. Not only does adhering to APA format allow readers to know what to expect from your paper, but it also means that your work will not lose critical points over minor formatting errors. 

While the formatting requirements for your paper might vary depending on your instructor's directions, writing APA essay format means you will most likely need to include a title page, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and reference sections.

Your APA format essay should have a title page . This title page should include the title of your paper, your name, and your school affiliation. In some instances, your teacher might require additional information such as the course title, instructor name, and the date.

• The title of your paper should be concise and clearly describe what your paper is about.
• Your title can extend to two lines, but it should be no longer than 12 words.

An abstract is a brief summary of your paper that immediately follows the title page. It is not required for student papers, according to APA style. However, your instructor may request one.

If you include an abstract , it should be no more than 100 to 200 words, although this may vary depending upon the instructor requirements.

Your essay should also include a reference list with all of the sources that were cited in your essay,

• The reference section is located at the end of your paper.
• References should be listed alphabetically by the last name of the author.
• References should be double-spaced.
• Any source that is cited in your paper should be included in your reference section.

When writing in APA essay format, the text will include the actual essay itself: The introduction, body, and conclusion.

• There should be uniform margins of at least one inch at the top, bottom, left, and right sides of your essay.
• The text should be in Times New Roman size 12 font or another serif typeface that is easily readable.
• Your paper should be double-spaced.
• Every page should include a page number in the top right corner.
• The first word of each paragraph in your paper should be indented one-half inch.

For professional papers (usually not student papers), every page of the essay also includes a running head at the top left. The running head is a shortened form of the title, often the first few words, and should be no more than 50 characters (including spaces).

Steps to a Successful APA Format Essay

In addition to ensuring that you cite your sources properly and present information according to the rules of APA style, there are a number of things you can do to make the writing process a little bit easier.

Choose a Topic

Start by choosing a good topic to write about. Ideally, you want to select a subject that is specific enough to let you fully research and explore the topic, but not so specific that you have a hard time finding sources of information.

If you choose something too specific, you may find yourself with not enough to write about. If you choose something too general, you might find yourself overwhelmed with information.

Research Your Topic

Start doing research as early as possible. Begin by looking at some basic books and articles on your topic to help develop it further. What is the question you are going to answer with your essay? What approach will you take to the topic?

Once you are more familiar with the subject, create a preliminary source list of potential books, articles, essays, and studies that you may end up using in your essay.

Remember, any source used in your essay must be included in your reference section. Conversely, any source listed in your references must be cited somewhere in the body of your paper.

Write Your Rough Draft

With research in hand, you are ready to begin. Some people like to create an outline to organize their argument prior to drafting. You may want to start with a very rough outline, and then add details.

Once you have a detailed outline, the next step is to translate it from notes to complete sentences and paragraphs. Remember, this is a first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect.

As you write your paper in APA essay format, be sure to keep careful track of the sources that you cite.

How do you start an APA paper? Your paper should begin with an introduction that includes a thesis statement that presents your main ideas, points, or arguments. Your introduction should start on the third page of your paper (after the title page and abstract). The title of your paper should be centered, bolded, and typed in title case at the top of the page.

Review and Revise

After you have prepared a rough draft of your essay, it's time to revise, review, and prepare your final draft. In addition to making sure that your writing is cohesive and supported by your sources, you should also check carefully for typos, grammar errors, and possible formatting mistakes.

When citing information or quotations taken from an interview, APA format requires that you cite the source, how the information was collected, and the date of the interview. They should not be included in the reference section, however, because they are not something that can be located by a reader in any published source or searchable database.

Instead, the information should be cited parenthetically in the main body of the text. For example: “There was an increase in the number of college students who screened positive for depression/anxiety” (R. Heathfield, personal communication, May 9, 2021).

If the essay is in a chapter of a book, edited collection, or anthology, APA format states that you should cite the last name, first name, title of essay, title of collection, publisher, year, and page range. For example: Smith, John, "The Light House," A Book of Poems , editing by Peter Roberts, Allworth Press, 2005, pp. 20-25.

According to APA format, a two-part essay is formatted the same as an essay, however, you'll need to create two title pages.

If you're including a short direct quote in your APA-format essay, you will need to cite the author, year of publication, and page number (p.) or page number span (pp.). Quotations longer than 40 words should omit the quotation marks and be put in the text using block quotation formatting, on its own line and indented 1/2 inch from the left margin.

The cover page or "title page" in APA essay format should always include the title of your paper, your name, and school affiliation as well as the course title, instructor name, and date, if requested by your teacher.

Nagda S.  How to write a scientific abstract.   J Indian Prosthodont Soc.  2013;13(3):382-383. doi:10.1007/s13191-013-0299-x

American Psychological Association.  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.). Washington DC: The American Psychological Association; 2019.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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APA Format Quick Guide

Additional Navigation

Note to students using Grammarly: See this resource on Grammarly’s Place in the Writing Process

APA-7 delineates two versions: the student version and the professional version. Formatting elements except the title page, running head, and abstract are the same across both versions. At Liberty University, all undergraduate must use the student version and all graduate and doctoral students must use the professional version. Sample papers and templates in each version are linked below.

Have a formatting question?

Online students.

See a list of all services available to  online students at  www.liberty.edu/onlinewritingcenter

Residential Students

See a list of all services available to  residential  students at  www.liberty.edu/writing

Undergraduate Students

• Will follow APA-7’s “Student Version”
• Simplified title page
• No running head
• No abstract

Detailed sample APA-7 paper with visual aids, indexed by topic for Undergraduate Students APA-7 template for Undergraduate Students

Graduate & Doctoral Students

• Will follow APA-7’s “Professional Version”
• Expanded title page
• Running head required (same on all pages)
• Abstract required (unless specified in instructions)

Detailed sample APA-7 paper with visual aids, indexed by topic for Graduate/Doctoral Students APA-7 template for Graduate/Doctoral Students

Helpful Resources

• Comprehensive APA-7 Reference List (PDF)
• APA-7 References to Legal Materials – Bluebook (PDF)
• Sample Annotated Bibliography for  Undergraduate  Students (PDF)
• Sample Annotated Bibliography for  Graduate/Doctoral  Students
• Choosing Appropriate Resources for Academic Papers (PDF)
• Citing Artificial Intelligence (AI) when permitted to use (PDF)
• Use active voice, rather than  passive voice (PDF) .
• Be specific and concise.
• Avoid poetic or figurative language; scientific writing is the most appropriate for APA.
• Use past or present perfect tense (e.g., researchers have shown) for a literature review and description, and past tense when referring to results and experiments previously conducted.
• Title case = all significant words, usually those with 4+ letters, must be capitalized. Title case is used for titles of works mentioned in the body of your paper, and for the names of journals in your reference list.  All five heading levels also use title case.
• Sentence case = only the first letter of the first word, proper nouns, and the word following a colon, if any, should begin with capital letters. Sentence case is used for all resource titles in the reference list (i.e., book or article titles, webpages, etc.).
• Use quotation marks around the titles of shorter works (i.e., articles or poems) and italics for the names of larger words (i.e., books or plays) mentioned in the body of your paper.
• APA-7 allows a wide array of fonts and sizes but Liberty University prefers all course assignments to be completed in  12-point Times New Romans or 11-point Calibri font .
• APA papers use headings to separate paper sections and establish a hierarchy of information. Short papers (usually five pages or less in the body of the paper) may not have any headings unless required, but longer papers benefit from the organizational aspects of headings.
• Always begin with Level 1 headings and apply the appropriate heading and subheading levels from there. Do not simply progress from Level 1 to Level 2 to Level 3.
• For each heading, include at least two subsection headings or none at all. This follows the same principle as an outline: Section one would be divided into sections A and B or more; A cannot stand alone.
• As such, heading levels align with outline levels: Capital Roman letters in an outline become Level 1 headings, Capital Arabic letters become Level 2 headings, etc.
• Please note that some of the sample papers published by APA to demonstrate proper APA-7 format (including the “professional” version on pp. 50-60 of the APA-7 manual) depict the “Conclusion” section with a Level-2 heading. This is limited to empirical papers that are being submitted for publication in scholarly journals, as those conclusions pertain to the “Discussion” sections in such papers and are not conclusions of the overall papers themselves. Conclusions in academic papers at Liberty University will be Level 1 headings (including dissertations and theses, which are divided by chapters, unlike journal article manuscripts).
• A paper may only have Level 1 headings if it is not divided into smaller subsections — or the content under some Level 1 headings may include two or more Level 2 headings (and some content under Level 2 headings may include two or more Level 3 headings).
• Level 1 : centered, boldface, in title case, with the content beginning on the line below
• Level 2 : left-aligned, boldface, in title case, with the content beginning on the line below
• Level 3 : left-aligned, boldface, italicized, in title case, with the content beginning on the line below
• Level 4 : indented, boldface, in title case with a period, then one space, and begin your content on the same line
• Level 5 : indented, boldface, italicized, in title case with a period, then one space, and begin your content on the same line
• An in-text citation is used whenever another author’s work is directly quoted or paraphrased.
• Citations for paraphrases use an author/date format: (Author, Publication Year), e.g. (Smith, 2007).
• The citation for a direct quote should also include the page number: (Author, Year, p. #). If no page number is available (as in the case of an online webpage), list the paragraph: (Author, Year, para. 11). APA-7 expands this to including descriptive location details to get your reader to that content in longer non-paginated electronic resources such as e-books.  In such cases, provide a heading or section name. If the heading or section name is brief (generally four words or less) include the full name, without quotation marks (i.e., Owen, 2020,  Attachment Disorders section, para. 8).  If the heading or section name is too long (generally, more than four words), use an abbreviation of the heading or section, encapsulated in quotation marks. For example, for a section named “Peace and Power in Modern Day Relationships,” the citation would be (Owen, 2020, “Peace and Power” section, para. 3).
• You can move information from the in-text citations to other parts of the sentence that the quote is part of as long as all required elements are present: e.g. Smith (2007) says, “arrows are sharp” (p. 8). However, the date follows the author’s/authors’ name(s), unless APA’s exception applies for subsequent citations of the same resource in a paragraph in which the first such citation was narrative in-text (not parenthetical; discussed further in Liberty University OWC’s sample APA papers).
• The page number   follows a direct quote, even if these elements are split within your sentence. For example, Smith and Harlow (2011) elaborated on this by suggesting that “paper planes can float” (p. 8).  Owen (2017) posited that “foxes can fly” (p. 17) in her dream analysis.
• Any quotation longer than 39 words should be made into a freestanding “block” of text, with  no quotation marks (see Liberty University OWC’s sample APA papers due to formatting limitations of this webpage ).
• The entire left margin of block quotes should be indented one-half inch as a whole “block” (with no extra indent on the first line).
• The parenthetical citation with the page number on block quotes follows the quote and period, with no additional punctuation after it (unlike shorter quotes, where the parenthetical citation falls within the sentence itself with the period following it).

Special Rule Regarding Repeat Cit ations

• APA-7 allows writers to cite their source only once per paragraph,  provided   the reader can discern where the other sentence(s) derived from. This requires specific structuring. For example: Owen (2020) claimed that “foxes can fly” (p. 17). She detailed their nocturnal habits. Her research gave critical insight into this population.
• In each of the second and third sentences above, the sentences were structured in such a way that the content clearly refers back to Owen’s work. In the case of Bible verses, it is easy for the reader to understand that subsequent citations of those came from whichever Bible version was cited earlier in that paragraph. For any subsequent verses cited in a paragraph that already has a full Bible citation, you can just use the verse itself. In each new paragraph (or if you change versions in the same paragraph), you will need to include the full citation.
• For example: God calls each of us to witness to others to “make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” ( New American Standard Bible , 1971/1995, Ephesians 6:19-20). Mark 13:10 and Matthew 28:19 command us to preach to all nations and make disciples… There is no need to add the Bible version in that second sentence because the reader knows both of those verses refer to the same version of the Bible cited in the previous sentence.
• The rules for Bible citations have changed completely; you must now cite the Bible version in the body of the paper and include it in your reference list. Please see the appropriate sample APA-7 paper for your level of study for a detailed discussion of this .
• Note that APA-7 specifies to cite Bibles in “book formats” (p. 302) that are “treated as having no author.” Below are some examples of the hard copy references versus online references of some common versions. The citations are the same for both, as they contain the version name and the year(s) of publication. If you are using a different version, you will format it by following the examples given below (be sure to include a hanging indent, which this webpage cannot feature).
• Scripture should be cited from one of the mainstream Bible versions (see list of some below). Study Bibles are generally NOT considered scholarly, as the notes within can be quite biased depending on the author of those notes, and thus Study Bibles should only be used sparingly by Divinity students as to exegetical projects.
• When including a verse, place it in the locator position after the year (in place of the page number). For example, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” ( New American Standard Bible , 1971/1995, John 3:16). You can also introduce it in the text of the sentence itself: John 3:16 proclaims that “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” ( New American Standard Bible , 1971/1995).

Liberty University Class Lectures

Since the purpose and function of APA references is to ensure the reader has sufficient information to be able to locate the original source if necessary, include course details and credit Liberty University when referencing class lectures and PowerPoint presentations since the URL does not provide sufficient locator details itself. Italicize the name of the lecture itself. If the course has multiple lectures per week, you can include the week and lecture numbers; otherwise omit those elements.

If you have a direct URL, use that (see the Peters reference below); otherwise use the URL to Liberty University’s Canvas homepage (the reference on the left below). If the date is provided (see the Peters reference below), use that; otherwise use the year and semester that you took the course in (the reference on the left below):

When no presenter is named in the video itself, name Liberty University in the author’s position : Liberty University. (2021, Spring). BIOL 102: Human biology. Week one, lecture two:  Name of class lecture . https://canvas.liberty.edu

When a presenter is provided, name that person in the author’s position and include Liberty University in the publisher’s position after the name of the lecture:  Peters, C. (2012). COUN 506, Week one, lecture two:  Defining integration: Key concepts . Liberty University. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/definingintegration-keyconcepts/id427907777?i=1000092371727

 References

• Center the word “ References ” (in bold font but without quotation marks) on the top line of a new page following your conclusion.  This term is also now regarded as a Level 1 heading.  If you have only one resource to cite in the entire paper, APA authorizes the use of singular “ Reference .”
• Use hanging indents (the first line of each entry should be left-justified, with lines two+ indented ½” from the left margin).
• Alphabetize all entries by the first word in each (usually the first author’s last name for each).
• Note that you must include a comma after the author’s name that precedes the ampersand in the reference list, even when there are only two authors.  This does not apply to citations in the body of the paper.
• There should only be one space after periods in the reference list entries, just as in the body of the paper.
• If a work has more than 20 authors, list the first 19 followed by an ellipsis (…).  Include the last author’s name immediately after the ellipsis as the final author mentioned.   Do not include an ampersand (&) in references with 20 or more authors .
• Note that APA-7 allows writers to superscript the suffixes of ordinal numbers, as long as the writer is consistent throughout (see section 6.35 of the APA-7 manual).  The examples included in the resources in this Quick Guide include superscripted suffixes for all book edition numbers, in accordance with APA-7’s option to do so.
• Do include reference entries for classical works including the Bible.
• Do not include reference entries for personal communication.
• Do not include a period after a URL or DOI.
• Note that the issue number of a journal article should be connected/attached to the volume number — e.g.,  12 (8).  The volume number should be italicized, but the attached parentheses and issue number should not.
• Check  Google Scholar or Crossref  for DOIs of all articles published since 2007, if one is not readily denoted on the article itself.
• Format all DOI entries in URL format (https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxx).
• Omit the publisher city and state in most cases (exception: conferences and symposiums).
• Only include the access date for online content that is likely to change (such as wikis).

• See the links at the top of this page for expansive reference entry examples.

Discussion Board Posts

The formatting in a discussion board post should be the same as that for a paper except that you will not have a title page or pagination, and the reference list will fall immediately under the body of the text (not on a separate page). A basic template is provided at the link below, with the background formatting elements already programmed in (e.g., line-spacing, font, and hanging indent as applicable). I recommend that students use the template and save their file in case of a glitch when uploading, then click Control-A to select all and Control-C to copy all, then go to Canvas and click Control-V to paste. Some of your formatting may not transfer properly to Canvas, but professors should be aware of the inherent formatting issues within Canvas when copying and pasting content.

Discussion Board template  (basic)

Video Tutorials

There are a number of video tutorials available in the  Online Writing Center channel

• Top 10 APA Errors and Highlights of OWC APA Resources
• Using the APA Template (short)
• Using the APA Template (long)
• Using the Sample APA Paper to Master APA Format
• Using the Comprehensive APA-7 Reference Examples
• Populating the Table of Contents
• Plagiarism series – Video #1 of 4: Introduction: How often can students quote other sources?
• Plagiarism series – Video #2 of 4: How and when to cite your sources
• Plagiarism series – Video #3 of 4: The three kinds of plagiarism
• Plagiarism series – Video #4 of 4: Proactive and foolproof steps to avoid plagiarism

Material on this page and related links adapted from the Seventh Edition of the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association .