Apa Maker Free

APA formatting trips students up in the details: what goes on a student title page versus a professional one, how the five heading levels look, and how to order a reference list. This maker builds an APA 7 title page from your details, shows the heading levels, and alphabetises and formats a reference list you paste in — ready to copy into your paper.

Student vs professional title page (APA 7)

Instructors sometimes ask for variations, such as a running head on a student paper. Their instructions take precedence over the general rules.

Basic paper format

• Margins: 1 inch on all sides.
• Font: a readable font such as 12 pt Times New Roman, 11 pt Calibri or Arial, or 11 pt Georgia.
• Line spacing: double-spaced throughout, including the title page and references.
• Paragraphs: first line indented 0.5 in; text aligned left (not justified).
• Page order: title page, abstract (if required), main text, references, then tables and figures if not embedded, and appendices.
• Repeat the paper title in bold at the top of the first page of text.

Heading levels

Use headings in order — a Level 2 heading always sits under a Level 1 — and don’t label the introduction “Introduction”; the paper title at the top of the first page serves as its heading.

Reference list rules

1. Start the list on a new page with the bold, centred heading “References”.
2. Double-space all entries and use a 0.5 in hanging indent.
3. Order entries alphabetically by the first author’s surname; works by the same author go in date order, oldest first.
4. Group authors (e.g. American Psychological Association) are alphabetised by the first significant word of the name.
5. Italicise book titles and journal names with volume numbers; use sentence case for article and book titles.
6. Include DOIs as https://doi.org/… links, without a full stop at the end.

The sorter applies alphabetical order and hanging indents and flags common problems like a missing year, but it can’t check whether each entry’s content is correct — compare with the APA manual or your library’s guide.

Worked example

Alex’s student paper is titled “The effects of sleep duration on memory consolidation in undergraduate students”. The maker converts it to title case — The Effects of Sleep Duration on Memory Consolidation in Undergraduate Students — and centres it in bold a few lines down the page, followed by Alex’s name, the psychology department, “PSY 210: Research Methods”, Dr. Karen Holt and the due date, October 15, 2026. Four references pasted in random order come back sorted: American Psychological Association, Diekelmann and Born, Stickgold, Walker — each with a hanging indent.

In-text citations in brief

Student vs professional abstracts

Student papers usually don’t need an abstract unless the instructor asks for one. Professional papers include an abstract on page 2: the bold, centred word “Abstract”, then a single unindented paragraph of about 150–250 words, followed by an indented “Keywords:” line in italics with three to five keywords.

Tables and figures

• Number tables and figures in the order they are mentioned (Table 1, Figure 1).
• Put the number in bold above the table or figure, and the title in italic title case on the next line.
• Add notes below the table or figure where needed.
• Place them after the paragraph where they are first mentioned, or at the end after the references if your instructor prefers.

Common APA mistakes

• Using “et al.” for two authors — both names are always given.
• Title case on article titles in the reference list — they use sentence case.
• Forgetting the hanging indent or single-spacing the references.
• Listing a “Retrieved from” before DOIs.
• Mismatch between in-text citations and the reference list.

The APA template pack

The optional pack includes editable Word templates for APA 7 student and professional papers with styles for all five heading levels, the title page, abstract page and reference list preset; a formatting checklist; and a reference entry worksheet. The maker on this page is free.

AI-assisted content

This page was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by Kedop. It follows the APA Publication Manual (7th edition) as commonly taught; always follow your instructor’s or journal’s requirements.