APA format: complete guide to write thesis or essay or dissertation

APA format complete guide for thesis including title page,abstract,main body,references

APA format for thesis

Essay must be type in Times new Roman with font size 12, Page margin must be 1 inch from all side. Essay consists of following parts.

• Title page
• Abstract
• Main body
• References

Title page

Title page should contain

•  Running header
• Title of the paper
• Author name
• Institutional affiliation

Running header

Title page include page header called running header should be displayed at top right side and page number should be displayed on top left side of the page.

•  Running head must be in capital letters.
• Running head should be maximum of 50 letters including spacing and punctuation.

Title of the paper

• Title of the paper contains upper and lower case letters and must be centered in the upper half of the page.
• Title of the paper should not be more than 12 words in length and should not contain abbreviations or words no purpose.
• Title may take one or two lines.
• All text on title page must be double line spaced.

Author name

•  Author name must be typed beneath the title of the paper with double line spaced.
• Author name contains First name, middle initials and last name.
•  Do not use title Dr or any degree like Phd, Mphil or masters.

Institutional affiliation

• Institutional affiliation must be typed after the author name with double line spaced.
•  It indicates the location where the author conducted the research.

Abstract

• Start with new page.
• Abstract page should already have running header as described above.
• On the first line of the page type Abstract without any formatting.
• After the abstract, start with new line and write concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent)
• Abstract must contain your research topic, research questions, method, results, data analysis and conclusion
• You can also include implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings.
• Abstract must be single paragraph with double line spaced.
• Abstract should be between 150 to 250 words.
• If you want to show key words in your abstract then start a new paragraph and write keywords (italicized) and list down keywords after that. It will help researchers to find your work in database.

Main body format

• Research paper body includes running head with page number on every page as
• mentioned above.
• Centered the title at the beginning of the main body of the research paper.
• All text must be double line spaced.
• Pages must have 1inch margin from all sides.
• Font must be Times new Roman with size 12.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph with ½ inch.
• Heading must be bold and centered with capitalized words.
• Sub heading must be left justified and bold with capitalized words.

References

• Reference must be began after the ending of main body.
• Label the new page with “References” after main body end and centered it at the top of the page without any formatting
• All text must be double line spaced.
• All lines after the first line in your reference should be indented ½ inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
• Author name must be displayed in a prescribed format like last name first and initials for all authors of a particular work up to seven authors. If work has more than seven authors then list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth name and list the seventh name after ellipses.
• Reference list must be alphabetized bye the last name of the author 
• For multiple article of same author or authors listed in the same order, list it as chronological order from earliest to most recent.
• Present the journal title in full.
• Write as same as the punctuation and capitalization that is used by the journal in its title.
• Capitalize all major words in journal titles.
• Capitalize only the first letter of the  first word of a title and subtitle when referring the to the titles of books, articles, chapter or web-pages.
• Italicize the title of longer works such as books and journals.
• Do not italicize, underline or put quotes around the title or shorter work such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.