APA formatted student essays typically contain the following elements in the order listed:
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Title Page (Required) |
A separate page containing the title of the essay, the author's name, the name of the university the assignment is being completed at, the class number and title, the instructor's name and the assignment's due date. |
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Abstract (Optional) |
A short summary of the content of your essay. APA Student essays do not require abstracts, but your instructor may require one. Check the assignment to be sure. |
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Table of Contents (Optional) |
A list of all of your essay's headings, including page numbers. If you properly assign headings to your essay, this list can be auto-generated in Word. APA Student essays do not require Tables of Contents, but your instructor may require one. Check the assignment to be sure. |
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Body (Required) |
The content of the essay. APA provides guidelines for formatting section headings, writing style, in-text citations and all other aspects of integrating sources into the body of your essay. |
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References Page (Required) |
A page containing bibliographic citations for all sources used in the essay. |
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Tables and Figures (Optional) |
Visual representations of data and images. Tables and figures may be inserted directly in the body of the essay when they are mentioned. If not, create a separate section for each at the end of the essay. |
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Appendices (Optional) |
Appendices might contain datasets, interview questions, simulation scripts, or any other element that is relevant to the essay, but not necessary to include directly in the body of the text. |
Note: Individual instructors may not require that you include all of these elements. If you are unsure of which elements to include in your essay, read your assignment's guidelines or ask your instructor.
VIDEO CONTENTS
0:00 Introduction
1:20 General Formatting and Paper Set-Up
3:23 Title Page
7:11 Writing the Main Text
9:08 Section Headings
12:42 End Matter: References, Footnotes, Tables, Figures, Appendices
15:56 Closing Thoughts
