Plagiarism comes in many forms, some more severe than others—from rephrasing someone’s ideas without acknowledgement to stealing a whole essay. These are the five most common types of plagiarism:
Global plagiarism means passing off an entire text by someone else as your own work.
Verbatim plagiarism means directly copying someone else’s words.
Paraphrasing plagiarism means rephrasing someone else’s ideas to present them as your own.
Patchwork plagiarism means stitching together parts of different sources to create your text.
Except for global plagiarism, these types of plagiarism are often accidental, resulting from failure to understand how to properly quote, paraphrase, and cite your sources. If you’re concerned about accidental plagiarism, a plagiarism checker, like the one from Scribbr, can help.
NoteIt’s also important to avoid AI-assisted plagiarism. This occurs when you try to pass AI-generated text off as your own work. AI-assisted plagiarism can take various forms, including global plagiarism and patchwork plagiarism.
Generative AI outputs may be detected by your university’s AI detector.
This article reflects the APA 6th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 7th edition guidelines.
A paper is usually divided into chapters and subsections. Each chapter or section has its own heading, and these headings provide structure to a document. As well as many other APA format requirements, there are specific guidelines for formatting headings to ensure that all papers are uniform and easy to read.
Published on
November 7, 2020
by
Raimo Streefkerk.
Revised on
October 24, 2022.
This article reflects the APA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines.
Headings and subheadings provide structure to a document. They signal what each section
is about and allow for easy navigation of the document.
APA headings have five possible levels. Each heading level is formatted differently.
Note: Title case simply means that you should capitalize the first word, words with four or more letters, and all “major words” (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns).
This article reflects the APA 6th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 7th edition guidelines.
The apa running head (i.e. page header) consists of the title of your paper (maximum 50 characters, left-aligned, all capitals) and the page number (right-aligned). On the title page, your paper title is preceded by the words “Running head:”.
Published on
November 6, 2020
by
Raimo Streefkerk.
Revised on
September 4, 2023.
This article reflects the APA 6th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 7th edition guidelines.
In addition to guidelines for APA citations, there are format guidelines for academic papers and essays. They’re widely used by professionals, researchers and students.
Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr
The most important APA format guidelines in the 6th edition are:
Published on
November 6, 2020
by
Raimo Streefkerk.
Revised on
August 23, 2022.
This article reflects the APA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines.
The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual provides guidelines for clear communication, citing sources, and formatting documents. This article focuses on paper formatting.
Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr
Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines:
Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides.
Double-space all text, including headings.
Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches.
Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
Published on
November 6, 2020
by
Raimo Streefkerk.
Revised on
June 7, 2022.
This article reflects the APA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines.
APA provides different guidelines for student and professional papers. The student version of the APA title page should include the following information (double spaced and centered):
Paper title
Author name
Department and university name
Course number and name
Instructor name
Due date of the assignment
The professional title page also includes an author note (flushed left), but not a course name, instructor name, or due date.
This article reflects the APA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines.
A running head is an abbreviated version of your paper’s title. It’s placed in the page header of your document, together with a page number. The running head is only required for professional manuscripts intended for publication, not student papers (unless instructed otherwise).
An APA running head can be up to 50 characters (including spaces) and is written in all capital letters. It’s left-aligned and appears on all pages, including the title page. It’s not necessary to put the label “Running head” in front of the title (as was the case in APA 6).
