LESSON 78 - APA STYLE OF REFERENCING: FORMATTING THE MAIN SECTIONS /BODY OF THESIS & DISSERTATIONS-1

APA 7th edition formatting for theses and dissertations must stay consistent across the entire main body—down to font choice, spacing, heading style, and page layout—because small inconsistencies can undermine the document’s academic presentation. After finishing preliminary pages, the main text typically runs from Chapter One through Chapter Five, and the same APA standards should govern everything from margins and pagination to typography.

Font size and style are the first non-negotiables. The acceptable range is 10-point to 14-point, but the document should not mix sizes (for example, using 10-point in one section and 14-point in another) or mix font families (such as Times New Roman in one place and Georgia in another). Bold formatting is restricted: it should appear only in headings, table and figure numbers, and in appendices. Those bold headings must not be underlined and must not be italicized. Italics are limited to two specific cases—when referring to the title of a book in the reference list and when mentioning a new technology within the text. For tables and figures, a smaller font than 10 is allowed when the content is too dense to fit the space.

Spacing rules reinforce readability and uniformity. The entire document uses double spacing between lines. Exceptions include table titles, figure captions, and references, which can use single spacing, and block quotations, which can use either double or single spacing. APA also requires one space after a period at the end of a sentence. Abbreviations follow punctuation conventions: periods are used when abbreviating names, but periods are not used with acronyms (e.g., “APA,” “UNESCO,” “PhD”).

Heading placement and page flow matter as well. Hanging headings are discouraged—headings should not appear immediately followed by another heading without an introductory line that signals what comes next (e.g., after “2.1 Literature Review,” include an opening statement rather than jumping straight to “2.11…”). White space should be minimized, especially around tables and figures that sit far from the related text. The lesson also flags “orphans” and “windows”: an orphan is the first line of a paragraph stranded at the bottom of a page, while a window is a single line of a paragraph left at the top of the next page. Both should be avoided through careful page-breaking.

Finally, number formatting and layout alignment round out the checklist. Numerals are used for numbers greater than 10, while numbers below 10 are written in words. For plural decades like “1980s,” the lesson advises adding “s” without an apostrophe. Margins should be one inch on all sides, with left alignment (no full justification), though institutions may specify different top/bottom/right margins—so long as the left margin remains consistently one inch. The session ends by previewing further formatting considerations in the next lesson, but the core message is clear: APA 7th edition formatting is a system of consistent rules, not a set of optional styling choices.