Welcome to the APA style workshop! This web text will cover important aspects of using American Psychological Association (APA) style to write and format papers. APA style is used as a guide by many different disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. (For more about what APA style is and why you'd use it, see our introduction to APA Style.)

If you are asked to use APA format for a paper, the book to consult is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition), which you can usually find at your local library or in many bookstores. The APA also has a website at http://www.apastyle.org that allows you to order the book online and read some of their frequently asked questions about APA style. We also have a list of helpful web sites and resources for using APA style.

Here are some of the questions answered in this workshop.

There are many ways to use this workshop. You can click on any of the links at the left to visit a specific section of the workshop, or you can start at the beginning of the workshop and use the navigation links at the bottom of each page to proceed forward or backwards through the workshop's content. We also have a sample APA literature review that you can browse in order to see APA style in action. (A sample experimental report is being developed.)

If you'd like to print or download a digital version of the workshop, we have a page of printer-friendly and downloadable versions available. If you'd like a handout that covers APA basics, we also have our APA basics handout available.

Workshop developed by Karen S. Mooney,
Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University
Markup and image creation by Erin Karper