Practical Advice On How To Write An Essay Using The APA Style

If you are searching for practical advice on how to write an essay using the APA style, then look over the tips below:

This style of writing does not actually alter the writing you do, but rather, has an influence on the format of the final piece you write. If the piece you are writing is something scientifically based, something that is research heavy, then you will need the following sections:

Abstract

This is a short, 200 to 300 word paragraph that serves as a complete summary of the entire piece you wrote, with approximately one sentence for each of the main sections.

Introduction

Background/Literature Review

This is where you provide the background to your subject and any literature that is relevant and that you reviewed ahead of time.

Methodology

This is where you explain what you did in your research and how. You want this part of the work to be so detailed that someone reading it could recreate what you did exactly and find the same results.

Findings/Results

This is where you present your findings or the results of your work to the reader and explain how it fits into the bigger picture.

Conclusion

References

The final section, which starts on a new page, is your reference page with all of the sources you used in accordance with the American Psychological Association layout.

If your content is not research based, and is merely a creative writing piece, then you do not need any of these headings or subheadings and instead can just format the title page and references in accordance with the requirements. That means you need your title, your name, and your university in the middle of the title page, centered in the page. You need a running header at the top left hand side and your page numbers and the first few words of your title at the upper right hand side. On the start of the next page you can include the title, centered again, at the top of the page, followed by the content. For citations inside of your text, you will want the last name of the author, followed by the year of publication, and the page number if applicable. At the end you need your reference page with all of the sources you used in accordance with the American Psychological Association layout.