American Psychological Association (APA) Paper Checklist for

College Writers
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, provides
specific guidelines for formatting papers in the sciences and social sciences. This checklist
serves as a guide for self-editing to confirm that papers meet the requirements of APA
formatting.

Basic Formatting
Have you used 12 point Times New Roman for the entire document, including the title page
and References page?
Are the margins one inch on the sides, top, and bottom of the paper?
Are all lines double spaced (2.0)?
Is there only one double space between the title and the first paragraph and only one double
space between each of the body paragraphs?
Does continuous pagination begin on the title page and continue through the references page?
Did your verbs stay in past tense?

Header
Does the designator Running head: appear on the title page only?
Is the running head left-aligned in the header box?
Is the page number right-aligned in the header box?
Is the Running head no more than 50 spaces in length and typed in All Caps?

Title Page
Are the title, your name, course name, course section, and date listed on the title page?
Is this content centered between the left and right page margins and in the center of the page?
Is the text double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, with no bold, italics, or underlining?

Body
Is the title of the paper repeated before the introductory paragraph?
Is the title centered and is it typed in initial caps?
Are the first lines of all the body paragraphs indented?
First names are not used.

In-text Citations
Is every use of source material fully cited, including each direct quote and paraphrase?
Do citations include both parenthetical references and signal phrases?
Are all quotations integrated so they do not float?

References
Does the References section start at the top of a separate page?
Is the heading References centered at the top of the page?
Are all of the sources used in the paper included on the References page?
Are all of the references listed in alphabetical order?
Is each reference double spaced?
Is each reference correctly formatted in APA style according to the reference type?
Only initials are used for first and/or second names of authors. There is a space between
initials.
Titles of books and journals are written in italics.
Titles of articles are sentence cap and are not italicized or put in quotation marks.
URL hyperlinks are removed.

Formal Academic Writing Conventions

No first person or second person pronouns (I, me, we, us, our, your)
No contractions - No slang No spelling and grammar errors
 Adapted from: APA Style Checklist by Library Services, Indiana Wesleyan
University and
APA Paper Checklist for College Writers by Tutoring Services, Germanna
Community College