apastyle.apa.org

APA Style papers follow a consistent structure: title page, abstract (for professional papers), main body, and references, with 1-inch margins, double spacing, and a page number in the top-right corner of every page. The official site, apastyle.apa.org, is the authoritative source for these rules and provides free tutorials, sample papers, and quick-reference guides. This guide covers the general format most instructors expect; always check your assignment or journal guidelines, since some requirements (like whether an abstract is needed) vary by course and publication type.

Paper structure

A standard APA Style paper has four parts, in this order:

1. Title page — page number, paper title, author name(s), affiliation, author note (professional papers), and running head (professional papers only).
2. Abstract — a single paragraph summary, typically 150–250 words. Required for professional papers; usually optional for student papers unless your instructor asks for one.
3. Main body — the text of your paper, starting on a new page with the title repeated at the top, centered and bold.
4. References — a new page listing every source cited in the text, formatted with hanging indents.

General formatting details

These settings apply to the whole document:

Headings

APA Style uses five heading levels. The level you use depends on how deeply your sections nest:

• Level 1: Centered, Bold, Title Case
• Level 2: Flush Left, Bold, Title Case
• Level 3: Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case
• Level 4: Indented, Bold, Title Case, Ending With a Period. Text begins on the same line.
• Level 5: Indented, Bold Italic, Title Case, Ending With a Period. Text begins on the same line.

You do not have to use all five levels — start with Level 1 for your main sections and move down only when you need subsections.

In-text citations

Every source you paraphrase or quote needs an in-text citation. The two common forms are:

• Parenthetical: The results supported this claim (Smith, 2020).
• Narrative: Smith (2020) found that the results supported this claim.

For a direct quotation, add the page or paragraph number: (Smith, 2020, p. 45). For works with three or more authors, use the first author's name plus "et al." from the first citation onward: (Smith et al., 2020).

Reference list

The reference list starts on a new page with the word References centered and bold at the top. Entries are:

• Alphabetized by the first author's last name.
• Formatted with a hanging indent (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 in.).
• Double-spaced, with no extra blank line between entries.

A journal article reference follows this pattern:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxx

A book reference follows this pattern:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the work. Publisher.

Where to verify details and get help

Because exact rules vary by source type (websites, reports, social media, datasets), confirm specifics on the official site rather than relying on memory:

• apastyle.apa.org hosts the style guidelines, a blog, and free tutorials.
• The site offers sample papers you can download and use as a formatting template.
• The APA Style Monthly newsletter and merchandise sections are also available on the site, though these are not needed for formatting a paper.

If your instructor's requirements conflict with the general guidelines above, follow your instructor — course and journal instructions take precedence over the default rules.

If you're new to Ahrefs and want to run your first SEO audit, the fastest path is: open Site Explorer, enter your target URL, review the Overview for a health snapshot, then dig into Organic Keywords, Top Pages, and Site Audit to find specific problems. From there, build a short prioritized to-do list instead of trying to fix everything at once.

This tutorial walks through that workflow using a realistic starting scenario, explains what the numbers mean, and shows how to turn findings into actions.

Before You Start: Pick a Narrow Scope

A common beginner mistake is auditing an entire large website on day one. The reports become overwhelming, and you can't tell which issues matter.

Instead, choose one of these starting points:

• A single important page (your homepage or a key product/service page)
• A small site (under ~50 pages, e.g., a personal blog or small business site)
• One section of a bigger site (e.g., /blog/)

For this tutorial, assume you're auditing a small business site with about 30 pages. The same steps scale up later.

You'll need an Ahrefs account to follow along. Ahrefs offers paid plans, and pricing and feature limits change over time, so check the current Pricing page for what's included in each tier before committing.

Step 1: Enter Your Target in Site Explorer

Site Explorer is Ahrefs' core tool for analyzing any website or URL.

1. Open Site Explorer from the top navigation.
2. In the search box, paste your domain (e.g., example.com).
3. Choose the Exact URL or Domain mode depending on scope. For a full-site view, use Domain or Prefix; for a single page, use Exact URL.
4. Press Enter.

You'll land on the Overview report. Don't try to absorb everything — focus on four numbers first.

Reading the Overview Snapshot

Important caveat: Ahrefs' traffic and keyword numbers are estimates based on its own data. They won't match Google Search Console or your analytics exactly. Treat them as directional, not absolute.

Step 2: See What You Already Rank For

Go to Organic Keywords in the left sidebar. This shows queries where your site appears in search results.

Sort by Traffic (descending) to see which pages bring the most estimated visitors. Then look for:

• Keywords ranking in positions 4–15 — these are often the easiest wins. A small content or on-page improvement can push them onto page one.
• Keywords with high volume but low position — potential opportunities if the topic is relevant.
• Irrelevant keywords — if you rank for something off-topic, it may signal thin or mismatched content.

Write down 5–10 of the position 4–15 keywords. These become your first optimization targets.

Step 3: Find Your Best and Weakest Pages

Open Top Pages. This ranks your URLs by estimated organic traffic.

Look for two things:

1. Your top performers — understand what topics and formats work. Can you create more content like this?
2. Pages with traffic but poor rankings — these may need on-page fixes (title, headings, internal links).

If a page gets zero traffic and targets a topic you care about, it's a candidate for a rewrite or consolidation.

Step 4: Run a Technical Site Audit

Now move to Site Audit. This crawls your site and flags technical and on-page issues.

1. Click Site Audit → New project.
2. Enter your domain and set crawl settings (default is usually fine for a small site).
3. Start the crawl and wait for it to finish.

Once complete, you'll see a Health Score and a list of issues grouped by category.

Which Issues to Fix First

Not all issues are equal. Prioritize in this order:

Ignore low-impact warnings (like minor meta description length) until the big items are handled.

Step 5: Turn Findings Into a To-Do List

You now have raw data. Convert it into a short, actionable list. Example:

1. Fix 3 broken links found in Site Audit.
2. Rewrite title tags on 5 pages with duplicate titles.
3. Improve 4 pages ranking in positions 6–12 by adding missing subtopics and internal links.
4. Remove or update 2 thin pages with no traffic.

Keep the list to 5–10 items max for your first audit. Finishing a short list beats starting a long one.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Chasing every red flag. Site Audit flags many minor issues. Fix what affects rankings and users first.
• Trusting estimates as exact numbers. Ahrefs data is modeled, not measured from your analytics.
• Auditing a huge site too early. Start small to learn the interface.
• Ignoring search intent. A page can be technically perfect but still fail if it doesn't match what searchers want.
• Forgetting to re-crawl. After fixes, run Site Audit again to confirm improvements.

Where to Go Next

Once your first audit is done:

• Compare with competitors using Site Explorer's Competing Domains and Content Gap reports.
• Track keyword rankings over time with Rank Tracker.
• Explore backlink opportunities in the Backlinks and Link Intersect reports.
• Set up recurring Site Audit crawls so new issues surface automatically.

Your first audit isn't about perfection — it's about building a repeatable habit: enter a target, read the key reports, pick the highest-impact fixes, and act. Do that once a month and your site's health compounds.

APA Style 7th edition replaced the 6th edition in October 2019, and the changes that affect most writers fall into four areas: in-text citations, the reference list, paper formatting, and inclusive language. If you are writing a student paper, submitting a manuscript, or updating a style guide, the 7th edition is the version to follow — the official site at apastyle.apa.org is the authority for the current rules. The summary below covers the differences from the 6th edition that come up most often.

In-Text Citations

The 7th edition simplified how sources are credited in the body of a paper.

• Three or more authors: Use "et al." from the first citation onward. The 6th edition required listing all authors the first time a work with three to five authors was cited, then shortening to "et al." afterward. That first-citation rule is gone.
• Multiple works in one parenthesis: List them alphabetically, separated by semicolons, as before — but the 7th edition clarifies ordering rules for works by the same author.
• Page numbers for quotations: Still required for direct quotations, and now recommended for paraphrased passages that refer to a specific location.

Example of the shortened form:

(Smith et al., 2020)

Reference List

The reference list saw several structural changes that reduce guesswork.

The removal of publisher location is the change writers notice first, because it shortens almost every book entry.

Paper Formatting

Formatting rules changed in ways that affect the title page and headings.

• Student and professional papers: The 7th edition separates the two. Student papers use a simpler title page (title, author, affiliation, course, instructor, due date) and do not require a running head.
• Running head: Required only for professional manuscripts, and it no longer includes the words "Running head:" before the shortened title.
• Fonts: The 6th edition specified Times New Roman 12 pt. The 7th edition accepts several options, including Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, and Georgia 11.
• Headings: Level 3 headings are now flush left, bold, and title case, rather than indented.

Bias-Free and Inclusive Language

This is the newest substantive addition. The 7th edition includes a dedicated chapter on bias-free language, with guidance for writing about age, disability, gender, racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.

Key principles:

• Be specific. Use the terms a group uses for itself rather than broad labels.
• Use person-first or identity-first language according to the preference of the group being described — for example, "people with disabilities" or "autistic person," depending on context and community preference.
• Avoid gendered generics such as "he" for an unknown person; use "they" or rephrase.
• Describe at the appropriate level of specificity rather than defaulting to a dominant group as the norm.

The site maintains a running set of style guidelines and a blog that addresses new questions as they arise, so the inclusive-language guidance continues to be updated.

What Did Not Change

• The basic structure of an APA paper (title page, abstract, body, references) remains.
• The author–date citation system is unchanged.
• The requirement to alphabetize the reference list by author surname is unchanged.

Where to Verify a Specific Rule

Because the 7th edition is the current standard, any rule you find online that references the 6th edition should be treated as outdated. The official site publishes the popular style guidelines, the full bias-free language guidance, and a monthly newsletter that announces clarifications. If you are working from a template or a journal's instructions, check whether it specifies 7th edition before applying the changes above — some publications still accept 6th edition submissions.

Bias-free and inclusive language in APA Style means choosing words that describe people accurately and respectfully, without implying that any group is inferior, abnormal, or less worthy of consideration. The APA Style website (apastyle.apa.org) treats this as a core writing guideline, not an optional courtesy: the goal is precision about who you studied and what you found, so readers can evaluate your claims without wading through stereotypes. It applies to any scholarly writing that mentions people or groups, including research papers, literature reviews, and classroom assignments.

Why APA Style Treats This as a Writing Rule

In scholarly writing, vague or loaded wording creates two problems at once. It can offend or exclude readers, and it can distort your findings by implying a cause or a norm that your data do not support. APA's guidance on bias-free and inclusive language is designed to fix both: describe people using the terms they use for themselves, and keep the focus on the research question rather than on group membership as a defining trait.

A useful test: if you can remove the reference to a group characteristic and your sentence still says what you mean, the reference was probably doing no analytical work.

Core Principles You Can Apply Immediately

• Be specific about the group you actually studied. "Participants" is more accurate than a broad label if your sample was narrow.
• Put people first, not labels. Describe the person or the condition rather than using a condition as a noun for the person.
• Avoid implying a default or a deviation. Wording that treats one group as the standard and others as variations introduces bias.
• Match the terms used in your source material and by the communities you write about. Terminology shifts over time, so check current usage rather than relying on older publications.

Applying It Across Common Categories

APA Style organizes its guidance by the kinds of characteristics authors most often write about. The categories below reflect the topics the site covers; the examples show the direction of the change rather than a fixed phrasebook.

Because terminology changes, treat this table as a set of questions to ask about your draft, not as a list of banned words.

A Worked Example

Suppose you are reporting a study of memory in adults aged 65 to 80.

• Biased framing: "The elderly performed worse than normal adults on the recall task."
• Bias-free framing: "Adults aged 65 to 80 recalled fewer items than adults aged 20 to 35."

The second version does three things: it names the actual age ranges, it avoids treating younger adults as the default, and it states the comparison without implying decline is a defining trait of the older group. The same rewrite pattern works for disability, gender, and other categories.

Common Pitfalls

• Overcorrecting into vagueness. Replacing a precise group label with a euphemism can hide who was studied and weaken your methods section.
• Assuming one community's preferred term fits another. Preferences differ across regions, generations, and individuals; when in doubt, follow your participants' own wording.
• Changing terminology mid-paper. Pick terms in your methods section and use them consistently.
• Treating the guideline as cosmetic. If a phrase implies a judgment your data do not support, the fix is analytical, not just stylistic.

Where to Go on apastyle.apa.org

The site lists bias-free and inclusive language among its popular style guidelines, alongside formatting and citation help. Start there for the category-by-category guidance, then check the APA Style Blog for discussions of terminology that has changed. If you are formatting a full paper, the same site covers the 7th edition rules you will need for the rest of the document. Note that the site uses cookies and offers a newsletter and merchandise; none of that affects access to the style guidance itself.

apastyle.apa.org is the official home of APA Style and the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual, and it functions as a self-service learning hub rather than a single reference page. If you need to cite a source, format a student paper, or check whether a term is considered bias-free, the site organizes that help into a few recurring resource types: style guidelines, tutorials, sample papers, a blog, a newsletter, and merchandise. The sections below describe what each one is for so you can go straight to the right one.

Style guidelines and quick answers

The homepage surfaces "Popular style guidelines" — the rules people look up most often, such as reference formatting and in-text citation. These are the fastest starting point when you have one specific question and do not want to read a full manual chapter.

For broader coverage, the site is organized around the Publication Manual (7th edition), which is the authority the site is built on. Use the guidelines pages when you need a direct rule; use the manual when you need the reasoning and the full set of related rules.

Bias-free and inclusive language

"Bias-free and inclusive language" is a named section on the site, which matters because this is one of the areas where APA Style has changed most visibly across editions. It covers how to describe people and groups without language that implies judgment or excludes readers.

Treat this section as a checking tool: before you submit a paper, scan your descriptions of participants, groups, and identities against it. It is guidance on scholarly writing conventions, not a substitute for your institution's or journal's own requirements.

Tutorials, webinars, and sample papers

The site's stated purpose includes "tutorials" and "how to format papers in APA Style," so these are the resources to use when you are learning the system rather than looking up one rule.

• Tutorials suit first-time learners who want the format explained in sequence.
• Sample papers are the most practical check: compare your title page, headings, citations, and reference list against a complete example rather than assembling the format from separate rules.
• Webinars fit people who prefer instruction over reading, though availability and scheduling are not something the site description commits to — check the site directly for current offerings.

A useful workflow: read the relevant guideline, then open a sample paper and confirm your document matches it section by section.

APA Style Blog and monthly newsletter

The APA Style Blog addresses questions that come up in real writing — the kind of edge cases that guidelines pages do not always spell out. Search the blog before assuming a rule is unclear.

The APA Style Monthly newsletter is the low-effort way to keep current. If your program or journal follows APA Style over multiple years, subscribing means you hear about clarifications and updates without re-reading the manual. Note that the site references subscribing; whether any individual resource requires an account or payment is not specified in the available information, so verify on the page itself.

Merchandise and supplementary materials

"APA Style merchandise" is listed on the site. It is not a learning resource — it exists for people who want branded items — so do not treat it as part of your study path. The substantive supplementary material is the blog, the newsletter, and the tutorials and sample papers described above.

How to choose

The site is the authority on APA Style and the 7th edition, so it is the right place to resolve disagreements about format. What it will not do is tell you which edition your course or journal requires — confirm that first, then use the matching resources.