A How To
Running head: EFFECTIVE CITING AND FORMATTING 1
Effective Citing and Formatting in an APA Paper Basil Black
SWK 310
Professor Hammer
September 10, 2009
Note: The cover page is the first page of the document. It offers a full, descriptive title (preferably no more than 12 words), centered in the upper middle of the page, followed by the author’s name and any other required information. All items are double-spaced.
At the top of the cover page (justified left), a shortened version of the title must be provided as a header; this short version is known as a “Running head.” On the cover page itself, the phrase “Running head:” will appear, followed by the start of the title (no more than 50 characters) with all letters capitalized. In order to make the running head coherent, you may slightly modify the title words. Then, on subsequent pages in the paper, the running head continues to appear in the header area, but the phrase “Running head” is now dropped.
To insert the “Running head” in a Microsoft Word 2003 document, use the “Header and Footer” function under “View.” Separately you should use the “Page Numbers” function under “Insert” to place a page number in the upper right corner of the page, with page one being the cover page. However, for a Microsoft Word 2007 document, both functions are under “Insert.”
Not all professors will require a cover page. Many professors will also have specific expectations for how a cover page in their class should look – defer to them! The model here is generally consistent with the APA publication manual, though strictly speaking the manual only calls for a title, the author’s name, and the author’s institution (e.g., Aurora University) centered in the upper middle of the page, rather than including course code, professor’s name, and date. Those additional elements are included here because many professors expect to see this information on a cover page. The manual also calls for an “Author Note,” which is not applicable to
Effective Citing and Formatting in an APA Paper Basil Black
SWK 310
Professor Hammer
September 10, 2009
Note: The cover page is the first page of the document. It offers a full, descriptive title (preferably no more than 12 words), centered in the upper middle of the page, followed by the author’s name and any other required information. All items are double-spaced.
At the top of the cover page (justified left), a shortened version of the title must be provided as a header; this short version is known as a “Running head.” On the cover page itself, the phrase “Running head:” will appear, followed by the start of the title (no more than 50 characters) with all letters capitalized. In order to make the running head coherent, you may slightly modify the title words. Then, on subsequent pages in the paper, the running head continues to appear in the header area, but the phrase “Running head” is now dropped.
To insert the “Running head” in a Microsoft Word 2003 document, use the “Header and Footer” function under “View.” Separately you should use the “Page Numbers” function under “Insert” to place a page number in the upper right corner of the page, with page one being the cover page. However, for a Microsoft Word 2007 document, both functions are under “Insert.”
Not all professors will require a cover page. Many professors will also have specific expectations for how a cover page in their class should look – defer to them! The model here is generally consistent with the APA publication manual, though strictly speaking the manual only calls for a title, the author’s name, and the author’s institution (e.g., Aurora University) centered in the upper middle of the page, rather than including course code, professor’s name, and date. Those additional elements are included here because many professors expect to see this information on a cover page. The manual also calls for an “Author Note,” which is not applicable to