Include the four major components required by APA style guides. These components are the title page, an abstract, the main body and references. In some cases, leaving out the abstract is acceptable. In college situations, your instructor will usually tell you whether or not to include the abstract. Your paper should be typed double spaced with a 12 point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins all the way around.
Type a running head on your title page flush left with a page number flush right. The running head should be formatted like this: Running head: TITLE OF PAPER. The running head is a shortened version of the full title and should also appear in all caps at the top of each page of your paper. The full title of your paper should be in the upper half (just above center) of your title page, typed in upper and lowercase and centered on the page. Drop down one double space and type your name; drop down one more double space and type the name of the school (if paper is for class). The recommended length for a title is 12 words or less.
Start a new page and center the word "Abstract." Drop down one double space and begin writing your abstract with no indents. The abstract is basically a summary of what appears in your article. The abstract should be between 150-200 words. Touch on the key points of your article in the abstract, including research topic and questions, participants, methods and results. You may find it helpful to write or revise your abstract when you've completed your paper.
Write the main body of your paper. Indent five spaces for paragraphs. When you use in-text citations, always capitalize proper nouns, including full names and initials and titles. Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon and underline or italicize long works such as movies, books or periodicals. If you quote from a work, include the author's name, year of publication and page number of reference. Quotations longer than 40 words should be indented five spaces from the left margin and written without quotation marks. The citation for the reference page should come after the quoted material, like so: (p.100).
Type your reference page after your article body, beginning a new section. General rules for all reference entries include: All of the lines of a reference should be indented a half inch from the left margin (hanging indent) after the first line of your entry; always write the author of a reference with his last name, first name, middle initial; alphabetize entries for your references by the author's last name; format entries in the same way you format in-text citations for the main body. For online references, always include the full URL at the end of the entry. Do not include personal contact references, such as interviews, in your works cited. Include this information in the appropriate location in your main article, formatted like this: (C. Hose, personal communication, February 10th, 2010).