Running head: YOUR BRIEF ESSAY TITLE
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Formatting your APA document: In Page Layout menu, set: Margins: 1” on all sides In Home menu, set: Font: 12 pt. & Times New Roman In Home menu, click on the small arrow in the lower right corner of the Paragraph section. Set: Alignment: Left (Center for title page and section titles) Line Spacing: Double Paragraph Before/After Spacing: 0 Though this guide is printed on both sides of the paper, your essay should be single‐sided. Formatting and typing your Title Page 1. ENTER five to seven times to center information vertically 2. In Home menu, set alignment to Center 3. Type your Full Essay Title & ENTER 4. Type your Full Name & ENTER 5. Type your Organization (e.g., DeVry University) & ENTER  Your instructor may ask you to include Assignment Name, Professor Name, Course Title, and date.  Use Title Case. Use no underline or bold.  Use italics only if your title includes the Title of Another Work. 6. In Insert menu, click on Page Break after last line of text Your Full Essay Title
Your Full Name
Your Organization
Formatting Headers: (Follow this procedure precisely!)
1. After typing your Title Page content, click: Insert New Page (do not Enter to get to the next page) 2. Click: Insert Header Blank 3. In Position section, confirm “Header from top” is set to .5” 4. Click: Different First Page 5. Click: Page Number Top of Page Plain Number 1 6. Verify that the header is in Times New Roman 12 point font 7. To the left of the number 2, type: YOUR BRIEF ESSAY TITLE (it should be ALL CAPS & limited to 50 characters or fewer) 8. TAB one or two times to move the page number to the right margin 9. Click in the left margin to select the line, then CTRL‐C to copy. 10. Scroll up to the first page and CTRL‐V to paste the header 11. To the left of YOUR BRIEF ESSAY TITLE, type: Running head: 12. Double click below the blue line to exit the header Ask your instructor whether an Author Note section is required or permitted. Author Note sections can provide additional
author information (e.g., author’s professional affiliation, necessary acknowledgements, sources of financial support and contact information). To include an Author Note, ENTER repeatedly to move to the bottom 1/3 of the page. Set alignment to Left. Author Note
Michael Dufresne, Assistant Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Academic Success
Center Writing Faculty Tutor, DeVry University, Addison, IL, prepared this document to assist
students, faculty and staff with formatting and writing APA documents in MSWord 2010.
Please defer to your instructor’s specific guidelines and requirements.
You can find additional APA resources in the DeVry library, your local ASC, eCollege, and The HUB. Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab provides a sample essay at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090212013008_560.pdf NOTE: Do not include a footer in your APA Document! Dufresne 2/2012 YOUR BRIEF ESSAY TITLE
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Abstract
An abstract is a one paragraph summary of your paper. It should include introductory or
overview information such as the project’s purpose, thesis, scope, procedure, and outcome. The
abstract, if required for your project, is on a page of its own and is titled as above in normal (no
bold) Times New Roman 12 point font. The paragraph is formatted in block style (no indentation
of the first line).
Your instructor will tell you if you need an abstract (a brief introduction and summary of your research project). The abstract is typically one block‐style paragraph with no first line indent. The title is centered and 12 point Times New Roman font. NOTE: Do not include a footer in your APA Document! Dufresne 2/2012 YOUR BRIEF ESSAY TITLE
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Your Full Essay Title
Working Thesis: Your one sentence thesis statement.
I.
Main Heading
A.
B.
II.
Do not include your Introduction or Conclusion in your Outline Sub-heading
1.
Minor heading
2.
Minor heading
Sub-heading
A.
Sub-heading
B.
Sub-heading
2.
Main Heading
Use the TAB key to indent (Do not SPACE except between words) Note that the outline is double spaced
Roman Number = Main Heading = Level 1 entry – at left margin
Capital Letter = Sub-heading = Level 2 entry – tab to .5”
Arabic Number = Minor Heading = Level 3 entry – tab to 1”
Lower Case Letter = Supporting Detail = Level 4 entry – tab to 1.5”
Main Heading
1.
III.
Final APA documents typically do not
require outlines. Ask your instructor whether you should include an outline. Write section topics/headings to indicate the content of that part of your individual paper. Section topics should be written as words or phrases, not complete sentences (unless instructed otherwise by your professor) . Use end punctuation only in sentence outlines. Minor heading
a.
Supporting detail
b.
Supporting detail
Minor heading
The COLL148 course project and ENGL112 position paper
require that your outline include in-text (parenthetical)
citations of the sources you will use in each section. Citations
should have author or title and year. Ex: (Dufresne, 2012)
Tips for Outlining  Identify the main topic in the title.  Divide the topic into main points, preferably three to five (depending on the length and complexity of the paper).  Break the component points into sub‐points.  All items with the same designation/level should have roughly the same importance.  Do not put a single item under a major component. (If you have only one sub‐point, integrate it with the main item above it or reorganize.)  Strive to make each component exclusive (no overlapping).  Use coordination and parallelism in points.  Go to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) for additional tips on outlining (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/1/) NOTE: Do not include a footer in your APA Document! Dufresne 2/2012 YOUR BRIEF ESSAY TITLE
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Your Full Essay Title
Essay Resources
Note: Check with your professor about whether you
should use section titles like the Essay Resources
subtitle used here. Major section titles are centered,
bold & Title Case. Second level section titles are
left-aligned, bold and Title Case.
Writing good essays in APA format is not as hard as it looks. This document provides
instructions and a model for basic essay content and format. There are also many other resources
available to help you develop professional-quality writing. You will find them in eCollege, in
the Hub, in the Academic Success Center, and on the Internet. Ultimately, you are responsible
for meeting your professor’s expectations for assignments in that professor’s class, so follow all
instructions and requirements expressed by the professor.
Essay Content and Organization
Your introduction should start with an attention-grabber or hook. Follow this with
appropriate background so the reader understands the situation. Then introduce your thesis and
overview the ideas that will support that main idea. Remember to use good topic sentences and
transitions between paragraphs and sections of your essay to help your reader follow the logical
organization and flow of your ideas.
The body of your essay supports your thesis by giving further explanation, elaboration
and evidence. Be sure to include research that backs your thoughts. Avoid dropping random
quotes into your paper. Rather, introduce research and then explain what it means and how it
supports your point. Don’t forget to cite the sources of all information, whether you use direct
quotes, paraphrases, or summaries of words, ideas, statistics, opinions, etc.
Your conclusion is the most important paragraph. Here you tie up all the points you
discussed and bring them back to the overall thesis. Having gone through all the evidence, the
reader will ask, “I get what you are saying; what should I do about it?” Now that you have
educated your reader, it is time for a bigger and better thesis that focuses on your main idea and
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message more precisely than you were able to in your introduction. Give the reader a closing
thought, an action to carry out, and perhaps a vision for the future, so the reader fully
understands the value of what he or she read and what to do about it.
APA Format
In addition to great content and organization, please use appropriate formatting. You
already set your margins to 1” on all four sides, your font to 12 point Times-New Roman, your
paragraphs with zero space before or after, and your lines to double spacing. All text should be
aligned to the left (not justified) except the title page, indented material on your outline, section
titles and page and section titles. When you begin a new paragraph, use your TAB key to indent
your first line; using the SPACE bar is unreliable. As you type, do not press ENTER at the end
of each line; instead, allow Word to wrap the lines automatically. Please leave two spaces
between sentences and after colons, but leave only one space after other internal punctuation.
You should not use bold, underline, or italics (though citations sometimes need italics).
Remember that quotation marks must be placed directly before and after quoted sections
and that what you quote must be exactly as it was in the source. End punctuation generally goes
before the closing quote marks, but because parenthetical citations are part of the sentence but
not part of the quote, end punctuation comes last. For example, “Quote-quote-quote-quote”
(Author, YYYY, p. ###). Remember to explain your quotes and connect them to your topic.
APA Citations and References
Citations can be a little tricky at first, but using them benefits you, your reader, and the
author. Citing sources gives you credibility (your reader will believe you because you have
consulted experts whose work supports your points), helps your reader know what information
you found from what sources and how to find those sources for more information, and provides
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acknowledgment to the source authors for their contributions. You may give credit or
acknowledgement to your source in the text of your sentence and/or in parentheses. For
example: According to Author Name in “Article Title” (YYYY), “Quote-quote-quote-quote” (p.
###). If you paraphrase (use your words for the original) or summarize (give the highlights), you
must still cite the source of the information you present. No page number is required. For
example: In “Article Title,” Author Name explains paraphrase-paraphrase-paraphrase (YYYY).
There are numerous sources of samples and guidelines linked in your course syllabus, in The
HUB, and in the Academic Success Center (ASC).
The References page must be on its own page following your last paragraph. Do not use
the ENTER key to “push” to the next page. Rather, place your cursor on the line below your
essay’s concluding sentence, then select Insert and Page Break. List proper citations for every
source used in your paper. Do not include sources not used in your paper. Alphabetize your
sources by the authors’ last names or the first key word in titles of sources without authors. You
may use online citation builders or the citations provided by the sources themselves, but be
aware that those citations often contain errors. You are responsible for making sure your
citations are complete and accurate. Tutors in the ASC or at the online Smarthinking tutor
service can check your work.
Conclusion
Ask your professor specific content and format expectations. Use the available print
resources and have ASC writing tutors and the Smarthinking online tutor source. By carefully
utilizing tutors and print resources, you can produce a well-written and easy-to-read essay that
meets APA requirements, avoids plagiarism, and shares your insights to make the world a better
place.
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References
Author’s Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial., Author’s Last Name, First Initial. Second
Initial., & Author’s Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year of publication). Title
of the article. Title of the Magazine/Journal, Volume number(Issue number if known),
page numbers. doi: 10.####/#####.#####
Author’s Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of
Journal, Volume(Issue, if known), page numbers.
Formatting the References page 1. Click on: Center (or CTRL+E) 2. Type: References (not References Page) Note that the References page title is centered and NOT bold or underlined. 3. ENTER one time 4. Click on: Align Left (or CTRL+L) 5. Click on the small arrow in the lower right corner of the Home menu’s Paragraph section. 6. Under Special, select Hanging 7. Allow Word to wrap your lines and automatically indent as you type your full bibliographic entries. This page provides citation models for only two of the many types of sources. Follow the models provided in your course shell, the Hub, and the ASC very carefully. Punctuation and spacing, capitalization and use of italics are a little tricky, but everything follows a logical pattern. Your citations should match the models’ content and format precisely. Remember that using online citation makers does not guarantee perfect citations. Check your work. NOTE: Do not include a footer in your APA Document! Dufresne 2/2012