APA Formatting in a Word Document

1. Everest Research Guides
Edited 3/6/2015Amanda Richards, MLIS
APA Formatting in a Word Document
Preparing your Word Document for APA format is fairly simple in Microsoft Word. Just follow these steps in
order and you have a great start to your paper.
Microsoft Office Terms you should know:
Ribbon: The tabbed toolbar that runs across the top of your screen when Office is open. (Home, Insert, Page
layout, References, etc.)
Curser: The blinking vertical line that shows you where you will be typing.

Setting the Margins (The white space at the top, bottom, left, and right, of your paper)
1. In the ribbon select Page Layout.
2. Click the Margins option. It will drop down and give you multiple choices.
3. Select “Normal.” You will notice that all margin options are set at one inch.
Setting the Font (The style and size that your text will be presented)
1. In the ribbon select Home.
2. In the box that says “Font” Use the drop down menu to find and select Times New Roman as your font.
3. In the same box use the drop down menu to change the font size to 12.
a. Note: If you have already written your paper and just need to change the font size or type, then
select ALL of the text (making sure it is highlighted in blue) and then follow the Setting the font
guide. This will change all the text to your new choices. If the text is not selected (highlighted)
then only the text that comes after what you have written will be in Times New Roman and 12
point.
Double Spacing (The extra space between your lines of text)
2. In the ribbon select Home.
3. In the “Paragraph” box there is an icon that has four lines and two
arrows; one pointing up and one pointing down.
4. Click this icon.
5. Select 2.0
a. Note: If you have already written your paper and just need to change to double spaced font, then
select ALL of the text (making sure it is highlighted in blue) and then follow the Double Spacing
guide. This will change all the text to double space. If the text is not selected (highlighted) then
only the text that comes after what you have written will be double spaced.
Title Page Header and Page Numbers (The text that appears at the extreme top of your paper denoting topic)
1. Double click quickly at the very top of the page (the top 1 inch).
2. A new tab in the ribbon will open called Design.
3. In the “Options” box select “Different first page”
4. On the left side of the ribbon select “Header”

2. Everest Research Guides
Edited 3/6/2015Amanda Richards, MLIS
5. In the Drop down select the first option “Blank”
6. You will see [Type text] appear. Click on this
7. Type in: Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER (The title of your paper should be in all caps)
8. Use the Tab key on your keyboard to move the curser to the right side of the page (you should only have
to hit the Tab key 1-2 times)
9. Select Page Number from the same “Header & Footer” box
10. Select “Current Position” from the options
11. Then the first option, Plain. This will start the page number where you had your curser placed.
12. Double click quickly outside of your Header area.
Page Header and Page numbers for page 2 and on
1. Go to your second page.
a. If you don’t yet have a page 2:
b. In the ribbon select the tab Insert
c. The first box is called “Pages” Select the Page Break option.
d. This will open a second page. It should not have any header information at this point (because
you selected the “Different first page option previously)
2. Double click quickly at the very top of the page (the top 1 inch).
3. A new tab in the ribbon will open called Design.
4. In the “Options” box leave “Different first page” selected
5. On the left side of the ribbon select “Header”
6. In the Drop down select the first option “Blank”
7. You will see [Type text] appear. Click on this
8. Type in: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER (The title of your paper should be in all caps, but do not type in
Running head this time.)
9. Use the Tab key on your keyboard to move the curser to the right side of the page (you should only have
to hit the Tab key 1-2 times)
10. Select Page Number from the same “Header & Footer” box
11. Select “Current Position” from the options
12. Then the first option, Plain. This will start the page number where you had your curser placed.
13. Double click quickly outside of your Header area.
Indenting the Beginning of the Paragraph (The space left at the very beginning of a paragraph)
1. When you start a new paragraph hit the Tab key one time. This should indent the text by half an inch.
Hanging Indent for Reference Page (The space left starting on the second, and following, lines of text)
1. After you have typed in your reference entry, click anywhere in the reference.
2. Right click on the reference entry
3. A pop up menu will appear, select Paragraph.
4. Under Indentation, there is a drop down option. Select “Hanging”
5. Next to that there is a By: drop down option. Select “0.5”
6. Select “OK”
7. You should now have a hanging indent