Margins & Spacing

Margins

APA Style (APA, 2020, p. 45) requires you to set left, right, top, and bottom margins at 2.54 cm. To do this, go to the page layout tab. Click on margins and select normal. This is a custom setting in Microsoft Word. If the normal setting is different you can click on customise margins and set to 2.54 cm manually.

Line spacing, paragraph alignment and Indentation

APA Style requires double-spacing the entire paper, including title page, abstract, headings, body of the essay and your reference list (APA, 2020, p. 45).

To set up double line-spacing, select the text, go to the home tab, then the paragraph tab, click on the dialog launcher box. On the new dialog box, select ‘double’ on the line spacing section.

APA Style also requires you to align your text to the left. To align your paragraph to the left, select “left” under the alignment section. You could also select the text and press [Ctrl + L].

You can also set indentation for your first line. Go to the indentation section and select ‘first line’.

Download a printable copy of these instructions here: Margins and Spacing.pdf