How To Get A Good Example Of An APA Format Essay
APA format is the official style of the American Psychological Association. Not only is it used for Psychology, it is often used for Education and Social Sciences. It dictates elements of presentation for your work.
Elements of Presentation
- - There should be a uniform 1 inch margin at the top, sides, and bottom of your paper.
- - The work should be double-spaced throughout.
- - Every page must have a running head at the top left of the page which is a shortened version of your title.
Where to find examples
- - Online writing labs often keep the work of previous students.
- - University libraries hold samples of past papers that you might not find online. Ask your librarian if you can see them.
- - Writing companies often showcase the types of writing work they provide on their websites. It is worth a look to see if they have any of this style on display. Those will be perfect examples because potential customers would be put off by blatant errors.
- - Has your University department posted a model version of a paper on its website? This would show you exactly what your department is expecting.
- - The website of the American Psychological Association has samples of corrected papers available for download.
- - Ask a student who has already taken your course for advice on a source for great examples. Or maybe they will allow you to read one of their essays. In this instance beware plagiarism creeping into your work. It is easy to accidentally phrase similar sentences in the same way. Your tutor will recognize the work of previous students.
- - If all else fails you can ask your tutor. This is the option if you are completely stuck but tutors often keep copies of the best work they have received so they can remember that there are great students out there.
There are many helpful apps on the internet to help you with the style – there is even an automatic citation generator into which you can feed your bibliography and then copy and paste the text it produces at the end of your paper. There is even a video tutorial on the style posted on the web.
Writing in this strictly formal style can be off-putting but once the basic rules are internalized many people find it as easy to follow as the MLA or Chicago styles of formatting.