Apa formatting for an essay

APA reference format of the most common source types or generate APA citations for free with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator. Write the section label “References” at the top of a new page (bold and centered). Place the reference entries directly under the label in alphabetical order.

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, or brief summary of your paper that immediately follows your title page, is not required for student papers, according to APA style.

Date published February 22, 2018 by Date updated: November 19, 2019. In addition to guidelines for APA citations, there are format guidelines for academic papers and essays. They’re widely used by professionals, researchers and students.

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.