What You Should Know About APA Style

One of the more common writing styles is APA style. This style is common for scientific work, term papers, essays, and case studies.

APA Style Sections

• Title Page
• Abstract (a summary of the work)
• Introduction to the paper
• Method (how the study was undertaken
• Results of the study
• Discussion of the results
• References and citations
• Appendix (supporting pieces)

Specifics of APA Style

APA style uses the following specific characteristics:

• Running head
• Page numbers begin from the title page
• In-text citation/references
• Times New Roman or similar font
• Double spaces
• Paragraph indents
• Very specific headings and subheadings style

How APA Style is Different

One hallmark of APA style is its reduction of biased words in a text. As the style referred by academic and research industries, APA papers must present themselves in as neutral a language as possible. In addition, the APA style uses a very specific framework of citation and reference page styles. Lastly, it has very specific instructions on syle pieces such as running heads and headings and subheadings.

APA Style and Freelance Writers

Freelance writers will need to use the APA style when working with certain industries such as sciences and particularly behavioral sciences such as sociology and psychology. Writers who offer editing services will likely need to learn APA style. Two main areas this writer has run into APA style requests has been in editing academic papers, and in writing white papers, some of which are requested to be in APA style.

The best place to learn APA style is from the source, the American Psychological Association. They provide a slideshow, sample documents, and a book about the style.