Your essay should be typed, double-spaced, on standard-size paper (8 ½ x 11 inches) with margins of 1 inch on all sides. Your final essay should include the following pages (in this order), each of which should begin on a separate page:
- title page (includes title, author’s name, institutional affiliation, and running head for publication)
- text
- references
Generally, when you are asked to write a paper for a class, this is what your professor would like you to include. Please follow your professor’s instructions and guidelines for completing the paper. Other sections of the paper that may be included are the abstract, appendices, footnotes, tables, figure captions, and figures.
Each page of your manuscript should be numbered, consecutively, beginning with the title page. The page numbers should appear in the upper right corner of each page. Your references should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay, and the heading References (without quotation marks, underlining, etc.) should appear, centered, at the top of the page. Appendices should appear with a similar heading. In general, use italics infrequently. If you are using a typewriter instead of a word-processing program with an italics function, underline the text to be italicized.
If you have further questions on how to cite a specific source not listed in this handout, please visit the Hawley Academic Resource Center or call 961-1682. Information used in this handout was provided by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition and The Essential Handbook for Writers, 3rd edition.