Higher Education Administration

The guidelines below are APA guidelines for professional paper formatting. For information about formatting student papers, see the UAB Libraries APA research guide. The UAB Graduate School has particular formatting guidelines for thesis and dissertation submissions that are quite different from APA guidelines. In addition, publications may have their own guidelines that differ from these formatting guidelines. Always double check formatting guidelines before submitting.

Fonts

In order to make your paper as readable and accessible as possible, follow these guidelines:

• If you are publishing online, choose an 11-point sans serif font, such as Calibri or Arial.
• If you are publishing in print, choose an 11-point serif font, such as Times New Roman or Georgia.
• Within figure images, choose a sans serif font between 8-14 point size.
• For footnotes in the footer, use single-spaced 10-point font that matches the text of your paper.

Spacing

Follow double spacing throughout your paper except in the following places:

• Title Page: Add additional lines before and after the author byline and affiliations (but not between them).
• Tables: Within tables, you may use single, 1.5x, or 2x spacing. In addition, if a table/figure is on the same page as text, add an extra space before and after the table/figure.
• Footnotes: If adding footnotes in the footer of your pages, use single spacing.
• Equations: If equations are displayed in the text of the paper, it is acceptable to use 3x or 4x spacing before and after for readability.

Other Formatting Guidelines

• Use 1" margins on all four sides.
• Use 0.5" paragraph indentations throughout and 0.5" hanging indentations on your references page.
• Use left alignment, not full justification. See the APA Style website for exceptions to left alignment.
• Do not divide words manually or use the hyphenation function in your word processor. Click here to learn how to prevent hyphenation in Microsoft Word.
• Do not insert line breaks into DOIs and URLs. Instead, use the automatic line breaks in your word processor.

Order of Pages

Arrange your paper in the following order, beginning each section on a new page.

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Text
• References
• Footnotes (here or in the page footers, not both)
• Tables (here or embedded within the text)
• Figures (here or embedded within the text)
• Appendices (begin each on a new page)

Guidelines for formatting each section are below.

Title Page

A professional title page consists of six elements: running head, page number, paper title, author byline, author affiliations, and author note. See a sample professional title page with annotations here.

• Running Head: This is a shortened title that appears in the upper left corner of each page of your paper in all caps, flush left. It should be no more than 50 characters. Avoid abbreviations. Be sure the font is consistent with the rest of your paper.
• Page Number: Use Arabic numerals in the upper right of each page, beginning with the title page. Be sure the font is consistent with the rest of your paper.
• Paper Title: Center and use bold case in the upper half of your page (3-4 lines from top margin), double spacing if it is longer than one line. Your title should simultaneously summarize your ideas and engage your potential audience. Studies show that simple, concise titles translate to higher numbers of downloads and citations. Avoid words that don't add anything to the clarity of your research, such as a study of, an experimental investigation of, method, or results. Avoid abbreviations. Use title case.
• Author Byline: Center and use standard font (no bold or italics), including all authors on one line if possible. Follow Oxford comma format (e.g. Red, White, and Blue) for three or more authors. It is standard to use first name, middle initial(s), and last name for each author. Be consistent: Use the same name for each of your publications so that your audience can more easily find your work. Omit professional and academic titles.
• Author Affiliation(s): It is standard to use no more than two affiliations. Include affiliations only if they have provided substantial support or contributions to that particular paper. For academic affiliations, include department/division. For non-academic affiliations, provide the location as well (city, state, country with no abbreviations). Formatting of this element will depend on both the number of authors as well as whether or not they share or have separate affiliations.
• Author Note: Written in paragraph format, including indentations, and includes 4 sections. Omit a paragraph if it doesn't apply. Label is centered and bold. Requirements often vary for publications, so check journal requirements before submission.
  • Paragraph 1: ORCID iDs - include author's name, ORCID iD symbol, the full URL, with each author on a separate line
  • Paragraph 2: Any changes of affiliation since research was completed or other special circumstances, such as author death prior to publication
  • Paragraph 3: Disclosures and Acknowledgements, such as study registration, open practices and data sharing, related reports, conflicts of interest (real or perceived), institutional disclaimers, thanks/acknowledgements for support, financial or otherwise
  • Paragraph 4: Contact info of the corresponding author - full name, complete mailing address, and email address. Do not include a period after email address.

Abstract

The abstract may be the most important part of your paper. Most readers will interact with the abstract first or find your paper through keyword searches based on what you have written in your abstract. An effective abstract will be dense with information and embedded with essential terms yet coherent and readable, using active voice and verbs in place of noun equivalents. It must be nonevaluative and accurate to what appears in your article, not adding information that your reader will not find there.

• Abstracts are usually no more than 250 words long. However, guidelines for different publications may vary.
• The abstract appears on its own page with a section label centered, bold, at the top of the page, with no extra space before the text.
• Most abstracts appear as a single paragraph without indentation. However, some journals may want a more structured abstract with labeled sections.
• The information to include in an abstract will depend on the type of article you are writing: empirical, replication, meta-analysis, lit review, theoretical, methodological).
• Keywords: Provide 3-5 keywords below your abstract in its own paragraph, ending without a period. Italicize the word Keywords.

Text

APA uses headings to help organize the text of a paper. Follow these guidelines for use of headings:

• Be concise yet descriptive of the section that follows.
• Pay attention to formatting that can be found at the bottom of this page of the APA guide as well as on the APA Style website. This formatting helps distinguish your headings from the text that precedes and follows.
• All topics of equal importance should have the same level heading.
• Use at least two subsection headings within a section, or don't break the section up into subsections at all.
• Your introduction does not need a heading, but you can have subsections within it.