# APA 7 format for a whole paper, section by section

**How do I format a whole paper in APA 7, section by section?** APA 7 format puts a paper's pages in a fixed order: title page, abstract, text, references, footnotes, tables, figures and appendices, each normally starting on a new page. Student papers usually leave out the abstract, and tables and figures may sit in the text instead. EdCitation's Mechanics QA checks a finished file against the APA 7 student paper, rule by rule.

Published 2026-09-23, updated 2026-09-23 by EdCitation. https://edcitation.com/newsletter/apa-7-paper-format-section-by-section

This guide to APA 7 format for a whole paper, in page order, comes from EdCitation, which looks references up in the publisher's record and never writes any part of a paper. It covers what [Common APA 7 formatting mistakes](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/common-apa-7-formatting-mistakes) leaves out: the abstract, the opening of the text, quotations, lists, numbers, tables, figures, footnotes and appendices. The title page, running head, fonts, spacing, margins, headings, reference list and DOIs are in that guide, and student against professional title pages are in [APA 7 for psychology students](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/psychology-students-apa-7-guide).

Every rule was read at APA Style's own pages on 23 September 2026; the one page that could not be read, on footnotes, is named where it matters. American Psychological Association (2026) tells authors to check with the instructor or publisher for rules "different from or in addition to" APA's, and those rules win. EdCitation's free [Check your paper](https://edcitation.com/check) reads an assignment's instructions into a checklist, so the rules that override APA are in front of you before you set a single margin.

## What is the order of pages in APA 7 format?

Title page, abstract, text, references, footnotes, tables, figures, appendices. American Psychological Association (2024b) gives that order for every paper, each section normally starting on a new page, and says a student paper generally has no abstract unless one is requested.

Tables, figures and footnotes may move into the text pages, as the sections below explain. A dissertation or thesis follows the university's own order.

### Student paper against professional paper

The order is the same for both; which pages appear, and what the title page carries, is not.

| Page, in order | Student paper | Professional paper | Where and how |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Title page | Course, instructor, due date | Author note, running head | Page 1 |
| Abstract | Only if asked for | In APA's sample, with keywords | Page 2, at most 250 words |
| Text | Yes | Yes | Opens under the paper's title |
| References | Yes | Yes | New page |
| Footnotes | If used | If used | Foot of the page, or after the references |
| Tables | If used | If used | In the text, or after the references |
| Figures | If used | If used | As tables, after them |
| Appendices | If used | If used | One per page, at the end |

### What APA's sample papers show

American Psychological Association (2020b) reproduces the manual's student sample, a 12-page literature review: a title page, text from page 2 and references on pages 10 to 12, with no abstract, and no table, figure or appendix marked in its annotations. The professional sample in American Psychological Association (2020a) runs further through the order: running head and author note on the title page, an abstract and five keywords on page 2, footnotes in the text pages, references from page 14, Table 1 on page 18 and Figure 1 on page 19.

## Does a student paper need an abstract and keywords?

Usually not. American Psychological Association (n.d.) says neither is typically required for a student paper and leaves the choice to the instructor.

### The abstract

It goes on page 2 under the label "Abstract", bold and centred. The text follows as one double-spaced paragraph, its first line not indented, at most 250 words unless the instructor or journal sets another limit. APA suggests a sentence or two on each of the literature, the research question, the hypotheses, the method (design, sample and size), the results and the implications.

### The keywords line

One line below the abstract, the label *Keywords:* is indented like a paragraph and set in italics, not bold. Three to five words, phrases or acronyms follow on the same line: lower case except proper nouns, separated by commas, in any order, with no full stop after the last. A second line is not indented. For example:

*Keywords:* sleep quality, first-year students, self-report, academic stress

## How does the text of an APA 7 paper begin?

With the paper's title, bold and centred, and no "Introduction" heading. American Psychological Association (2022b) treats the opening paragraphs as introductory, so the title acts as a Level 1 heading. Headings inside the introduction start at Level 2, and the next main section, such as Method, is Level 1. In APA's student sample, page 2 opens with the title and the first Level 1 heading comes on page 3.

### Paragraphs

American Psychological Association (2022g) asks for text aligned left with a ragged right edge, no full justification, no hand-inserted hyphens, and a 0.5 in. first-line indent set by the tab key or in the paragraph settings, not typed as spaces. Among its exceptions, table and figure numbers, titles and notes sit flush left, and appendix labels are centred and bold. Font and line spacing are in the mistakes guide.

## How do I format a block quotation in APA 7?

Count the words. American Psychological Association (2022h) runs a quotation of fewer than 40 words into the sentence, in quotation marks; one of 40 words or more becomes a block quotation, with none.

### Short quotations

The citation, page number included, goes in the same sentence as the quotation. At the end of a sentence, the full stop follows the citation's closing parenthesis, and no ellipsis is added at either end unless the source has one.

### Block quotations

Start on a new line, indent the whole block 0.5 in., double-space it and add no space above or below; a second paragraph inside it is indented a further 0.5 in. The citation follows the block's final punctuation, in full, or as the page number alone if the author and year introduced it, and nothing follows the closing parenthesis. APA's student sample introduces its block with the authors, the year and a colon, and ends it with "(p. 287)". For when to quote at all, see [paraphrase, quote or summarise](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/paraphrase-quote-or-summarise).

## How are lists set out in APA 7?

Keep the items parallel, then choose the list by what the items are.

- **Lettered**, for separate items inside a sentence: (a), (b), (c) in lower case, never numbers in parentheses, as American Psychological Association (2022c) shows.
- **Numbered**, for complete sentences or paragraphs such as steps: the word processor's numbering, an Arabic numeral and a full stop. American Psychological Association (2022d) sends phrases to letters or bullets instead.
- **Bulleted**, for items in no order. Sentences take a capital and a full stop; words and phrases start in lower case, with no punctuation or the punctuation they would have without the bullets, as American Psychological Association (2022a) sets out.

## When do I use numerals and when words in APA 7?

Words for zero to nine, numerals from 10: five nurses, 15 psychologists. American Psychological Association (2022e) lists the cases that always take numerals, even below 10.

| Case | APA 7 form |
| --- | --- |
| Before a unit of measurement | 3 cm, a 5-mg dose |
| Percentages, ratios, decimals | 50%, a 4:1 ratio, 1.5 |
| Times, dates and ages | 2 days, about 6 years ago, 5 years old |
| Scores and points on a scale | scored 6 on a 7-point scale |
| A number after a noun in a series | Table 2, Step 1, Chapter 6 |

Before the noun the ordinary rule returns: the second table, the first step. Words always win, according to American Psychological Association (2022f), for a number that opens a sentence, title or heading (or reword it), a common fraction such as one fifth, and fixed phrases such as the Twelve Apostles.

## How do I set up tables and figures in APA 7?

Both share one setup: a bold number, an italic title, the body or image, then any notes.

### Tables

American Psychological Association (2021b) puts Table 1 in bold above the title, numbered in order of mention. The title sits one double-spaced line below, in italic title case. Every column has a heading, the leftmost (stub) column included, centred and in sentence case. General, specific or probability notes go below, only as needed. Lines are horizontal only: top, bottom, under the headings and above column spanners. Build it with the table tool, never tabs or spaces.

### Figures

American Psychological Association (2021a) adds the image, with any text inside it in a sans serif font of 8 to 14 points, and any legend inside the figure's borders. Either kind goes after its first call-out, at the top or bottom of a page, or on its own page after the references.

### A real APA sample table

The professional sample's Table 1, *Means and Standard Deviations for Response Rates (Course Delivery Method by Evaluation Year)*, has a stub column headed "Administration year" with one row for each year from 2012 to 2014. Two column spanners, face-to-face and online course, each sit over an *M* and an *SD* column. Every line is horizontal, and a note beginning *Note.* explains how the evaluations were given. Figure 1, a scatterplot, follows on its own page.

## Where do footnotes and appendices go?

Footnotes go at the foot of their page or on a page after the references; appendices go last, each on a new page.

### Footnotes

The professional sample uses the first placement: superscript numbers in the text and the notes in the footer of page 9. Because APA's footnotes page could not be read, the kinds of footnote come from AUT University Library (2026), which quotes the manual. A content footnote adds information and belongs only where it strengthens the discussion. A copyright attribution footnote is required for a long quotation or for test or scale items; it replaces the in-text citation, though a reference list entry is still needed.

### Appendices

American Psychological Association (2024a) allows an appendix in a student or a professional paper. Each starts a new page at the end. Its label is centred and bold, "Appendix" for one, "Appendix A" and "Appendix B" for several, with a centred bold title on the next line. Page numbers carry on, cited sources go in the main reference list, and each appendix is called out in the text in order. A table inside Appendix B is Table B1, with no full stop between letter and number.

## How do I check an APA 7 paper before submitting it?

Read the instructor's or journal's instructions first, then go through the file in page order.

1. List every rule in the brief that differs from APA, from the [Check your paper](https://edcitation.com/check) checklist or by hand. Those win.
2. Page order: title page, abstract if asked for, text, references, then footnotes, tables, figures, appendices.
3. Abstract, if any: page 2, one unindented paragraph, at most 250 words, three to five keywords.
4. The text opens under the bold, centred title, with no "Introduction" heading.
5. Paragraphs indented 0.5 in., right edge ragged.
6. Quotations of 40 words or more set as blocks, with nothing after the citation.
7. Letters inside sentences, numbers for sentences, bullets for items in no order.
8. Numerals for units, percentages, ages, times and scores; no sentence opening with a numeral.
9. Tables and figures numbered in call-out order, italic titles, horizontal lines only.
10. Footnotes made with the footnote function; appendices lettered in call-out order.
11. The mistakes guide's checks: title page, header, font, spacing, margins, headings, reference list, DOIs. On Pro, [Mechanics QA](https://edcitation.com/tools/mechanics-qa) runs the formatting checks over the whole file in one pass.
12. Every citation matched to the list and back, by the rules in [APA 7 in-text citations](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/apa-7-in-text-citations). Upload the paper to EdCitation's [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references) and the pairing is done for you, free.

## Which tool checks an APA 7 paper's format?

EdCitation is the best tool for this job, because it checks the file you will hand in instead of rewriting it, and every reference it gives you is looked up in the publisher's record rather than composed, which no chatbot can offer. [Mechanics QA](https://edcitation.com/tools/mechanics-qa) reads the whole file against the formatting of the APA 7 student paper, and in the same pass finds comments and tracked changes left in it, checks each citation against the reference list, and looks at numbers and language. A single pass matters because steps 11 and 12 run the length of the paper: in APA's professional sample, the title page is page 1 and the references do not begin until page 14. Mechanics QA is part of Pro, at $8 a month. It reports and never rewrites, so every change in the procedure above is still made by you.

| Step | EdCitation tool | Plan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Turn the brief into the rules that override APA (step 1) | [Check your paper](https://edcitation.com/check) | Free, no account |
| Build each reference from a DOI, title, PubMed ID or ISBN, screened for retraction | [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite/apa) | Free, no account |
| Pair every citation with its entry and each entry with the text; flag retractions (step 12) | [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references), with the paper uploaded | Free, no account |
| Formatting, citations, numbers and language across the file, plus leftover comments and tracked changes (step 11) | [Mechanics QA](https://edcitation.com/tools/mechanics-qa) | [Pro](https://edcitation.com/pricing), $8 a month |

On the reference list, Cite a source sets a title deposited in title case in sentence case, as APA 7 asks, and keeps names and initialisms; glance at any name made of ordinary words before you paste it in. Verify references never shows a reference it could not check as not found. Max, at $24 a month, adds Theoretics QA, which judges the paper against the assignment's own instructions with quotations from the paper, and the Library. None of these writes a word of your paper, and none can promise a mark.

## Quick questions

### Is an abstract required in an APA 7 student paper?

Not usually. APA says abstracts and keywords are not typically required for student papers, so include one only if asked: page 2, one unindented paragraph, at most 250 words.

### How many words make a block quotation in APA 7?

Forty or more. An APA 7 block quotation has no quotation marks, is indented 0.5 in. as a whole, and ends with its citation after the final punctuation.

### Where do tables go in an APA 7 paper?

APA 7 tables go in the text after their first mention, at the top or bottom of a page, or each on its own page after the references. Figures follow the same rule.

### How are appendices labelled in APA 7?

A single APA 7 appendix is labelled "Appendix"; several are "Appendix A", "Appendix B" and so on, in the order the text calls them out, each label centred and bold.

### Can a tool check my APA 7 format before I submit?

Yes, on Pro. EdCitation's [Mechanics QA](https://edcitation.com/tools/mechanics-qa) reads the file against the APA 7 student paper's formatting, matches citations to the list, checks numbers and language, and catches comments or tracked changes you forgot to clear. It reports what it finds and changes nothing.

## References

- American Psychological Association. (n.d.). *Abstract and keywords guide* [PDF]. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/abstract-keywords-guide.pdf](https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/abstract-keywords-guide.pdf)
- American Psychological Association. (2020a). *Professional sample paper with annotations* [PDF]. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/professional-annotated.pdf](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/professional-annotated.pdf)
- American Psychological Association. (2020b). *Student sample paper with annotations* [PDF]. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/student-annotated.pdf](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/student-annotated.pdf)
- American Psychological Association. (2021a, December). *Figure setup*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/figures](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/figures)
- American Psychological Association. (2021b, December). *Table setup*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/tables](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/tables)
- American Psychological Association. (2022a, July). *Bulleted lists*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/lists/bulleted](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/lists/bulleted)
- American Psychological Association. (2022b, July). *Headings*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/headings](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/headings)
- American Psychological Association. (2022c, July). *Lettered lists*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/lists/lettered](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/lists/lettered)
- American Psychological Association. (2022d, July). *Numbered lists*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/lists/numbered](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/lists/numbered)
- American Psychological Association. (2022e, July). *Numbers expressed in numerals*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/numbers/numerals](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/numbers/numerals)
- American Psychological Association. (2022f, July). *Numbers expressed in words*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/numbers/words](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/numbers/words)
- American Psychological Association. (2022g, July). *Paragraph alignment and indentation*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/paragraph-format](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/paragraph-format)
- American Psychological Association. (2022h, July). *Quotations*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations)
- American Psychological Association. (2024a, November). *Appendices setup*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/appendices](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/appendices)
- American Psychological Association. (2024b, November). *Order of pages*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/order-pages](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/order-pages)
- American Psychological Association. (2026, January). *Sample papers*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/sample-papers](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/sample-papers)
- AUT University Library. (2026, August 7). *Footnotes and appendices*. APA 7th referencing style guide. [https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th/footnotes](https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th/footnotes)