Then the title of the paper. Not every word is capitalized: “How to format references” Then the journal in Italics “Harvard Educational Review” While not specific to writing APA papers in MS Word, this books is super clear and provides a.
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If you write a lot of academic papers in the social sciences (like my wife does) you’re likely going to have to manually format some references at one time or another.
If you’re like my wife, you’ll likely start inserting tabs and newlines all over the place, but then if you ever have to edit your references you’ll end up with a mess you’ll have to fix manually, which can be frustrating.
Seeing as I’m usually the dogs-body who ends up fixing APA reference formatting on an almost weekly basis, I thought I’d document it so maybe my wife will learn how (hint hint).
So here is my guide:
1) Get the basics in order.
- Authors are listed Surname, Initials: “Rathbone, M.A.”. Comma separate multiple authors.
- Then you put the year of the paper in parens (1994)
- Then the title of the paper. Not every word is capitalized: “How to format references”
- Then the journal in Italics “Harvard Educational Review”
- Then the issue, and the page number.
Here’s the complete example:
Rathbone, M.A. (1994). How to format references. Harvard Educational Review, 33(1) 1-20.
![How To Create A Booklet In Word For Mac 2011 How To Create A Booklet In Word For Mac 2011](/uploads/1/2/5/1/125130711/546285433.jpg)
2) Tricky line formatting stuff
APA requires that all lines other than the first be ‘hanging’, that means indenting them by 1/2 inch. And unlike the rest of your paper they should be single spaced.
Do NOT add tabs to do this, there’s a better way:
A) Select all your references by dragging over them with your mouse.
B) Navigate to Format -> Paragraph
C) In indentation, select Hanging
D) In Spacing ensure line-spacing is ‘Single’, and enter ‘16pt’ in the field labelled ‘after’. This is the amount of space to leave between paragraph blocks. Click ok.
E) Set your font to Times New Roman, size 12.
That’s it! Your references should be in good shape.
Bonus tip:
You’ll likely add / remove references in the process of editing, so it’s best to save the reference style for quick application in the future. Thankfully this is pretty easy:
![How to create a booklet in word for mac 2011 pdf How to create a booklet in word for mac 2011 pdf](/uploads/1/2/5/1/125130711/872215055.png)
select a reference that you just formatted by dragging over it with your mouse
Go to Format -> Style
Now select ‘New’
The selection will default to the format of the text you have selected (your reference), which is correct. Name this something like ‘APA Reference’, ensuring ‘Add to Quick style list’ is also selected, and click ok.
Now you can select unformatted references and simply select the style from the Home Ribbon:
Enjoy.
APA Formatting Book
APA: The Easy Way
While not specific to writing APA papers in MS Word, this books is super clear and provides a great guideline to the APA style.
While I recommend 'The easy way', The official APA publication manual is also worth a buy.
With Office 2011 for Mac, your guide to mail merging in Word is Mail Merge Manager. You can invoke Mail Merge Manager by choosing Tools→Mail Merge Manager from the menu bar. It’s designed to be used starting at the top in Step 1, and you work your way down to Step 6.
The steps in the Mail Merge Manager are as follows:
- Select a Document Type.Choose from four types of mail merge:* Form Letters: Customize a letter with personal information or data.* Labels: Make mailing labels, tent cards, book labels, and DVD labels.* Envelopes: Print envelopes of any size.* Catalog: Choose this option to build custom, personalized catalogs, brochures, and price sheets. For example, you could pull pictures from a database to create individualized custom catalogs based on customer purchases, category, or some other criteria.
- Select Recipients List.Choose a data source for the mail merge.
- Insert Placeholders.Choose the field names (for example, column names, headers, and column headers) and position them in your document.
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- Preview Results.See exactly how your document looks with data before running the mail merge.
- Complete Merge.Run the merge. You can merge to a printer, a single Word document, personalized Word documents, or e-mail messages.