{"id":5986,"date":"2025-11-28T09:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/example-of-apa-format\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:56:13","slug":"example-of-apa-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/example-of-apa-format\/","title":{"rendered":"Example of Apa Format"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me take you back to my sophomore year of college \u2014 red Solo cups everywhere, 3 a.m. pizza runs, and the first time I heard the words \u201cAPA format\u201d in my Psych 101 class. I stared at the syllabus like it was written in ancient hieroglyphics. What even is a running head? Why does the font matter? And don\u2019t get me started on those cryptic citations.<\/em> (Spoiler: I spent 45 minutes that night Googling \u201chow to not fail APA formatting\u201d while my roommate blasted Drake in the background.)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker: I still<\/em> messed up my first paper. Got points docked because I used \u201cp.p.\u201d instead of \u201cpp.\u201d for multiple pages in a citation. Facepalm.<\/em> But hey, that\u2019s how we learn, right? After burning through roughly 87 cups of Dunkin\u2019 coffee and one minor meltdown in the library, I finally cracked the code. Let me save you the caffeine jitters with what actually works:<\/p>\n

\n

The Stuff They Don\u2019t Tell You in the Lecture Hall<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    Your Title Page Isn\u2019t a Creative Writing Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Centered title, your name, school \u2014 that\u2019s it. No neon fonts or emojis (yes, someone actually tried that).<\/li>\n
    • Pro tip: Word\u2019s \u201cReferences\u201d tab has an APA template. Lifesaver when you\u2019re running on 2 hours of sleep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n

      In-Text Citations Are Sneakier Than You Think<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      • I used to toss in \u201c(Smith, 2020)\u201d randomly like confetti. Nope. If you\u2019re quoting directly, add the page number: (Smith, 2020, p. 15). Paraphrasing? Skip the page.<\/li>\n
      • Nightmare fuel:<\/em> Forgetting to alphabetize your References page. Microsoft Word can sort it for you \u2014 right-click and thank me later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • \n

        The Hanging Indent Apocalypse<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        • Highlight your References list, go to Paragraph Settings > Special > Hanging. Took me 3 semesters to figure that out.<\/li>\n
        • Bonus hack: CitationMachine.net. Paste the DOI or ISBN, and it spits out APA-ready references. (Just double-check \u2014 bots aren\u2019t perfect.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n

          Why This Actually Matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n

          Remember that group project where Karen insisted she\u2019d \u201chandle the formatting\u201d? Yeah, we got a B- because she used MLA. APA isn\u2019t just about rules \u2014 it\u2019s about credibility. Professors want to know you can communicate clearly in their academic \u201clanguage.\u201d Think of it like showing up to a job interview in pajamas vs. a suit.<\/p>\n

          Funny story: Last year, I volunteered at my kid\u2019s school science fair. A 7th grader cited Wikipedia in Comic Sans. Bless.<\/em> I pulled him aside and whispered, \u201cGoogle \u2018Purdue OWL APA\u2019 \u2014 you\u2019ll thank me in college.\u201d<\/p>\n

          \n

          Your Cheat Sheet for Survival<\/strong><\/h3>\n
            \n
          • APA Manual 7th Edition<\/strong>: Buy it used on Amazon or split it with classmates. Worth its weight in gold.<\/li>\n
          • Double-Check the Little Stuff<\/strong>: Running head, page numbers, Times New Roman 12pt. It\u2019s the academic version of tying your shoes.<\/li>\n
          • Embrace the Robot Helpers<\/strong>: Grammarly\u2019s APA setting, Zotero for organizing sources \u2014 use \u2018em like training wheels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n

            Look, I get it \u2014 formatting feels like folding fitted sheets. Annoying, but doable with practice. Next time you\u2019re knee-deep in references, just remember: Even that one TA who grades like a drill sergeant had to learn this once. (And hey, if all else fails, there\u2019s always the campus writing center and their industrial-sized coffee pot.)<\/p>\n

            You\u2019ve got this. Now go forth and conquer that paper \u2014 preferably before the Starbucks closes. \u2615<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Let me take you back to my sophomore year of college \u2014 red Solo cups everywhere, 3 a.m. pizza runs, and the first time I heard the words \u201cAPA format\u201d in my Psych 101 class. I stared at the syllabus like it was written in ancient hieroglyphics. What even is a running head? Why does…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}