APA Essay Examples, Meaning and How to Write a Great APA Essay

Filed in Education by TMLT Editorials on April 7, 2021

APA Essay Examples: If you are asked to write an APA essay, note. It might at first seem like a rather daunting task. Especially if you are accustomed to using another style such as MLA or Chicago. However, it is something you can do. Before you begin your essay, familiarize yourself with some of the basics.

In this article, you shall learn about some tips that are useful in writing a great APA essay. Also, some APA essay examples will be given to guide you. However, before then let’s know what APA is all about.

What is APA?

Before looking at some APA essay examples, note. APA is the style of documentation of sources used by the American Psychological Association.

Also, this form of writing research papers is used mainly in the social sciences. Like psychology, anthropology, sociology, as well as education and other fields.

How Does APA Style Work?

Before looking at some APA essay examples, note. When working with APA there are two things to keep in mind. They are In-text citations and the reference page.

In-text citations will use the author’s name and the date within your research paper. Also, these citations will refer back to the reference page at the end. Which lists all the sources that you may have used in your research paper.

Basic APA Essay Components

Before looking at some APA essay examples, note. An APA paper has three parts:

There is the title page.
Furthermore, there is an abstract.
Also, there is the essay.
Additionally, there is a reference list.

Other Important Information about APA Essay

Before looking at some APA essay examples, take note of the following information:

Font

You have some options when it comes to choosing a font. Here are some acceptable choices: Sans-Serif font: Calibri (size 11), Arial (size 11). Also, there is Serif font: Times New Roman (size 12). And Georgia (size 11).

However, whichever one you choose, make sure you use it throughout your entire essay. Also, footnotes are typically in size 10 font, and for captions to tables and figures please use a font size between 8 and 14.

Margins

Since 2007, the default margin for any Word document has been 1 inch all around. Fortunately, APA format has the same requirement. Thus, if for some reason you need to fix the margins, go to Page Layout > Margins > Normal.

Spacing

All the text in your essay should be double-spaced. However, to make this change quickly, note. First press Ctrl + A to highlight all text. And then press Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing (symbol) > 2.0.

Make sure you also click on “Remove Space After Paragraph”. There’s no need to provide extra spaces between paragraphs or around headings.

Section Headings for APA Essay Writing

Before looking at some APA essay examples, note. APA papers are often divided into sections. However, if you’d like to organize your material with headings, note. You can choose from a number of different headings.

Also, you can start by using first-level headings and use the others for sub-headings:

First Level Heading (Bold, Centered)

Second Level Heading (Bold, Left Aligned)

Third Level Heading (Bold Italic, Left Aligned)

Fourth Level Heading (Bold, Indented, Ending with a Period).

Fifth Level Heading (Bold Italic, Indented, Ending with a Period).

Thus, from the above, as you can see, you don’t have to use some complex numbering system (e.g., 3.2.1b) to organize your ideas. The formatting of the heading does the trick.

Finally, don’t add a sub-heading (e.g., Introduction) between the essay title and the first paragraph. Also, don’t forget to capitalize important words in each heading (what’s called title case).