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SAMPLE APA PAPER

Sample APA Paper Title That Is Descriptive but Less Than Twelve Words
Your Name
Southern New Hampshire University

SAMPLE APA PAPER

Abstract
Some instructors will require you to write an abstract for your APA formatted papers. An abstract
comes after the title page and includes a running head like the one above. Running heads are
explained in the paper that follows. You will also want to center the word Abstract as it
appears at the top of this page. Your abstract should be a concise summary of the paper that
follows. It should be double-spaced and not indented at the start of the paragraph. The length of
your abstract will be determined by the length of your paper, but most do not exceed 130 words.
A special thanks to the SNHU Learning Center and Selina Souza for providing this document.

SAMPLE APA PAPER

Sample APA Paper Title That Is Descriptive but Less Than Twelve Words
The text of the paper should begin here. Hit the enter button one time after the title. The
title should be centered and capitalized with no extra space between the title and the first
sentence of your essay. The text should be Times New Roman, 12-pt font. The entire essay
should be double-spaced. Single-spacing should not be used in any areas, even when quoting
material. Be sure to set one inch margins on all sides of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right
margins). The introduction paragraph is where you will give context for your reader and where
you will include the thesis statement. The thesis statement will typically be the last sentence of
your paragraph.
When beginning each new paragraph be sure to indent by hitting the tab button one
time. This will keep your paper organized and make it clear to the reader when you are beginning
a new thought. At the top of every page in APA style, you should have a running head. The
running head is a shortened title of your paper in the upper left hand corner, and the page number
in the upper right hand corner. The running head is a shortened version of your main title, but not
the entire title.
Whenever you insert quotes into your paper, it is very important that you cite the
information both in the text and on the References page. There are several ways to do in-text
citations. According to Lester Faigley (2012), if you include the authors name in the text,
include the publication year in parentheses immediately after it. If necessary, include the page
number in parentheses with the abbreviation p. following the citation (p.311). For books with
several publication years, select the most recent. With quotes that are less than 40 words, the end
punctuation mark goes outside the parentheses, as indicated above. If the authors name is not

SAMPLE APA PAPER

included in the sentence, then the name, year, and page number (if applicable) should follow the
sentence in parentheses (Faigley, 2012, p.310).
If quotes are 40 words or less, they can be included in the same line as your text.
However, if a quote is more than 40 words, it should be presented as a block quote as seen here:
Quotations of more than 40 words should be indented from the margin. Arent block
quotes fun? Use them sparingly. You want to make sure you use as much of your original
work as possible. Sometimes it can be difficult to introduce and digest a block quote. For
block quotations, parenthetical citations go outside closing punctuation. (Faigley, 2012, p.
314)
You should not indent the next line after the block quote, but rather jump right into the analysis
of the quote.
In this last paragraph will be your conclusion. This paragraph will wrap up the paper by
summarizing your supporting points and the thesis they intend to prove. Your conclusion will
vary in length depending on your thesis statement and the amount of supporting points you have.
If your conclusion summarizes the facts in your paper and reiterates the thesis they support, then
you will have a well-crafted ending to your essay. The last page of your paper will be your
References page. This is where all the references you used will be listed alphabetically based on
the last name of the author. For a more in-depth walkthrough check out the Online Writing
Center under the tab entitled Citations. View the following page to see how to set up your
References page.

SAMPLE APA PAPER

References
Angeli, E. Wagner, J. Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson. (2010, May 5). General format.
Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Faigley, L. (2012). The brief penguin handbook. New York, NY: Longman

**If you are unsure about how to cite your sources (click here). This link will take you to EasyBib.
**The Online Writing Center also has some useful resources (click here).