APA 7 Paper Structure and Formatting – ENG Composition II
Source: APA 7 Professional Sample Paper (Purdue University)
Tags: APA 7, APA format, paper structure, running head, title page, abstract, heading levels, professional paper, APA style
Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate
Prerequisites: Basic familiarity with academic essay writing. No prior APA knowledge required.
APA 7 (the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual) is the formatting and citation standard used across most social sciences, education, and many health science programmes. If you are writing a research paper, literature review, or lab report for a psychology, education, nursing, or similar course, you are almost certainly expected to follow APA format. This set of notes covers the structural and formatting rules for a professional APA 7 paper, drawn from Purdue University's annotated sample paper. A companion set of notes covers in-text citations, reference lists, and a third covers tables, figures, and appendices.
APA 7 professional papers need a running head, a specific title page layout, an abstract with keywords, and a body that uses up to five heading levels. The running head is just the shortened title in capitals (no "Running head:" label). Page numbers start on page 1 and run without interruption. Headings follow a strict hierarchy from centred-bold (Level 1) down to indented-bold-italic (Level 5).
Running head
A shortened version of the paper's title, written in ALL CAPITALS, that appears flush left in the header on every page. In APA 7, you no longer include the label "Running head:" before it. If the full title is fewer than 50 characters, you can use the full title instead of shortening it.
In simple terms, it is the abbreviated title that sits at the top left of every page so readers always know which paper they are looking at.
Abstract
A brief summary of the paper's main points, placed on its own page immediately after the title page. Most abstracts should not exceed 250 words. It is not indented, and it should not contain citations unless your institution specifically allows them.
Think of it as the trailer for your paper: someone reads the abstract to decide whether the full paper is worth reading.
Keywords
A list of important terms that describe the paper's subject matter, placed on the line immediately after the abstract. The line is indented 0.5 inches, begins with the italicised label Keywords: followed by lowercase terms separated by commas (no full stop at the end).
In simple terms, these are the search terms someone would type to find your paper in a database.
Title case
A capitalisation style where the first letter of major words is capitalised but minor words (articles, short prepositions, conjunctions) are lowercase unless they start the title. Used for the paper title and for Level 1 through Level 4 headings.
Think of it as "capitalise everything except the small connecting words."
Heading levels (Levels 1 through 5)
APA 7 uses a five-level heading system to organise content hierarchically. Each level has a specific combination of alignment, boldness, italics, and indentation. You use only as many levels as your paper requires, starting from Level 1.
In simple terms, heading levels are APA's version of an outline, built directly into the paper's formatting.
Author note
An optional section on the title page that can include ORCID iDs, changes in author affiliation, disclosures or acknowledgements, and contact information. Each part is formatted as its own indented paragraph. Omit any parts that do not apply.
Think of it as the "about the authors" box, including any declarations of interest or how to get in touch.
Running head: flush left, ALL CAPITALS, in the document header on every page. APA 7 dropped the "Running head:" label that was required in APA 6. If the title is under 50 characters (including spaces and punctuation), you may use the full title.
Page numbers: begin on page 1 (the title page) and continue without interruption. Flush right in the header. No author names or other information in the header besides the running head and page number.
Paper title: centred, bold, title case. Positioned three or four lines below the top margin of the page.
Author names: one double-spaced line below the title. Format as First name, Middle initial(s), Last name. No professional titles or degrees (no Dr., PhD, MA).
Author affiliations: immediately after the names. If authors share one institution, list it once with no superscript numbers. If authors are at different institutions, use superscript numbers to link each author to their affiliation.
Author note (optional): appears in the bottom half of the title page. Contains (in this order): bold centred "Author Note" label, ORCID iDs, changes of affiliation, disclosures/acknowledgements, contact information. Each part is its own indented paragraph. Omit parts that do not apply.
The word "Abstract" is centred and bold at the top of page 2.
The abstract paragraph is not indented.
Keep it under 250 words.
By convention, abstracts do not contain citations. If you must refer to another work, mention the authors in the text rather than using a parenthetical citation. Check your institution's specific rules.
The keywords line follows immediately after the abstract. Indent the first line 0.5 inches. Begin with Keywords: (italicised, with a colon). List terms in lowercase (except proper nouns), separated by commas, with no full stop at the end.
The paper's title is repeated, centred and bold, at the top of the first body-text page (page 3 in a typical paper).
There is no "Introduction" heading. The opening section of the body simply begins under the repeated title.
All body paragraphs are indented 0.5 inches at the first line.
The running head and page numbers continue throughout.
APA 7 defines five heading levels. Use as many as your paper needs, always starting from Level 1.
Level 1: Centred, bold, title case. Text begins as a new paragraph on the next line.
Example: the "Literature Review" or "Materials and Methods" heading.
Level 2: Flush left, bold, title case. Text begins as a new paragraph on the next line.
Example: a subsection like "Effective Teaching: A Contextual Construct."
Level 3: Flush left, bold, italic, title case. Text begins as a new paragraph on the next line.
Example: a sub-subsection like "SETs: Imperfect Measures of Teaching."
Level 4: Indented 0.5 inches, bold, title case, ending with a full stop. Text continues on the same line.
Example: "Meta-analysis 1." followed by the paragraph text.
Level 5: Indented 0.5 inches, bold, italic, title case, ending with a full stop. Text continues on the same line.
Likert scale anchors: italicise the anchors of scales or responses to scale-like questions (e.g., strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, undecided). Do not put them in quotation marks. Do not italicise numbered scale points.
Abbreviations: spell out abbreviations the first time you use them, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. After the first use, you can use the abbreviation alone. Exception: very well-known abbreviations like CIA or NASA need not be spelled out.
Decimal fractions: place a zero before the decimal point when the quantity can exceed 1 (e.g., 0.34 standard deviations). Do not place a zero before the decimal when the quantity cannot exceed 1 (e.g., a proportion of .05).
Block quotations: quotations of 40 or more words are formatted as a block: indented 0.5 inches from the left margin, with no quotation marks. The page or paragraph number follows the closing punctuation in a parenthetical.
Students often think APA 7 still requires "Running head:" on the title page. It does not. That label was dropped in APA 7. The running head is simply the shortened title in capitals, with no label.
Students often indent the abstract paragraph. The abstract's main paragraph should not be indented. This is one of the few paragraphs in an APA paper that starts flush left.
Students often put a heading labelled "Introduction" above the opening body text. APA 7 does not use an "Introduction" heading. The paper's title, centred and bold, serves as the heading for the introduction.
Students sometimes confuse title case with sentence case. Title case capitalises the first letter of major words. Sentence case capitalises only the first word and proper nouns. APA 7 headings use title case; reference list titles use sentence case. Mixing them up is a common error.
⚠️ The five heading levels and their formatting are a favourite exam and assignment-rubric item. Know them cold: centred vs. flush left, bold vs. bold-italic, same-line vs. new-paragraph.
⚠️ Title page layout (running head, author names without degrees, affiliation numbering) is a common rubric deduction. Professors often check the title page first.
⚠️ The abstract word count (250 words max), no-indent rule, and keywords format are frequently tested.
⚠️ The zero-before-the-decimal rule trips students up on stats-heavy assignments: 0.34 standard deviations, but .05 for a p-value.
True or False: In APA 7, the title page should include the label "Running head:" before the shortened title. (False – that label was dropped in APA 7.)
True or False: The abstract paragraph should be indented. (False – the abstract is not indented.)
Fill in the blank: A Level 2 heading in APA 7 is ______, bold, and in title case. (Flush left.)
True or False: You should place a zero before the decimal when reporting a p-value of .03. (False – p-values cannot exceed 1, so no leading zero.)
Fill in the blank: The keywords line begins with the italicised label ______ and is indented 0.5 inches. (Keywords:)
Q: A student's paper title is 45 characters long. Do they need to shorten it for the running head?
A: No. If the title is fewer than 50 characters (including spaces and punctuation), the full title may be used as the running head in all capitals.
Q: Where does the author note appear, and what are its five possible components?
A: The author note appears on the title page. Its five components, in order, are: (1) bold centred "Author Note" label, (2) ORCID iDs, (3) changes of author affiliation, (4) disclosures/acknowledgements, (5) contact information. Each part is an indented paragraph. Omit any that do not apply.
Q: How should a Level 4 heading be formatted in APA 7?
A: Indented 0.5 inches from the left margin, bold, title case, ending with a full stop. The paragraph text continues on the same line immediately after the full stop.
Q: A paper's abstract is 280 words. Is this acceptable?
A: The APA 7 manual notes that most abstracts should not exceed 250 words. At 280 words, the abstract is likely too long and should be trimmed, unless the specific journal or institution sets a different limit.
Q: How do you format the Likert scale response options in the text of an APA 7 paper?
A: Italicise the scale anchors (e.g., strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree). Do not place them in quotation marks. If the scale uses numbered responses, do not italicise the numbers.
This material connects directly to APA 7 in-text citations and reference formatting, covered in the companion study notes. Heading levels matter for citations because block quotations (40+ words) follow their own indentation rules that sit outside the heading hierarchy.
The formatting rules here also connect to research methods courses more broadly: any time you write up an empirical study, the structure (title page, abstract, body with headings, references) is the skeleton your content fills. Understanding the structure first makes the writing process considerably faster.
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