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APA 7th Edition Standard

Overview

The APA 7th Edition standard in NormaDocs applies automatic formatting to produce documents that comply with the American Psychological Association's 7th Edition guidelines for academic writing.

Configuration

Default Settings

name: "APA 7th Edition"
version: "7.0"
citation_style: apa

fonts:
  body:
    name: "Times New Roman"
    size: 12
  headings:
    name: "Times New Roman"
    level1:
      alignment: center
      bold: true
    level2:
      alignment: left
      bold: true
    level3:
      alignment: left
      bold: true
      italic: true

margins:
  unit: inches
  top: 1
  bottom: 1
  left: 1
  right: 1

spacing:
  line: double
  paragraph_before: 0
  paragraph_after: 0

page_setup:
  page_numbers: true
  header: true
  first_page_number: 1

tables:
  borders: horizontal_only
  caption_prefix: "Table"
  caption_above: true
  note_suffix: "Author's elaboration."
  vertical_align: top

figures:
  caption_prefix: "Figure"
  title_above: true
  nota_prefix: "Nota."

running_head:
  enabled: true
  max_length: 50

Customization

Override defaults by passing a config dictionary to the formatter:

from normadocs.formatters import get_formatter

formatter = get_formatter("apa", "document.docx", config={
    "fonts": {"body": {"name": "Arial", "size": 11}},
    "margins": {"top": 1.5, "bottom": 1.5, "left": 1.25, "right": 1.25}
})

Formatting Rules

Font

  • Body text: Times New Roman, 12pt
  • Headings: Times New Roman (see Heading Levels below)
  • No other fonts are permitted in the main text

Line Spacing

  • Body text: Double spacing throughout
  • Tables: Single spacing within cells
  • References: Double spacing between entries, single spacing within entries
  • Block quotes: Double spacing (0.5 inch indent on left)

Margins

  • 1 inch on all sides (top, bottom, left, right)

Page Numbers

  • Position: Top right of every page
  • Format: Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3...)
  • First page number: 1
  • Font: Times New Roman 12pt

Running Head

  • Left header: Short title in ALL CAPS (maximum 50 characters)
  • Right header: Page number
  • Cover page: No running head appears
  • Pages 2+: Running head visible

The short title is extracted from the short_title field in YAML frontmatter metadata. If not provided, the running head is not added.

Configuration: To disable the running head, set running_head.enabled: false in the config:

running_head:
  enabled: false

Heading Levels (APA 7th Edition)

APA 7th Edition uses five levels of headings:

Level Format Example
Level 1 Centered, Bold, Title Case Introduction
Level 2 Left-aligned, Bold, Title Case Literature Review
Level 3 Left-aligned, Bold, Italic, Title Case Theoretical Framework
Level 4 Indented 0.5in, Bold, Title Case, ends with period Sample. The sample consisted of...
Level 5 Indented 0.5in, Bold, Italic, Title Case, ends with period Procedure. Data were collected...

Note: APA 7th Edition does not use numbered headings (1, 1.1, 1.1.1). Use only the five levels above.

Cover Page

The cover page includes (centered, in this order):

  1. Title (bold, centered in upper half of page)
  2. Author name (centered)
  3. Institutional affiliation (centered)
  4. Course number (if applicable)
  5. Instructor name (if applicable)
  6. Date (centered)

Example Frontmatter (YAML)

---
title: "The Effects of Machine Learning on Higher Education Outcomes"
short_title: "Machine Learning Effects on Education"
author: "Sarah M. Johnson"
affiliation: "Department of Computer Science, State University"
institution: "State University"
date: "2026-04-10"
---

Abstract

  • Starts on page 2 (after cover page)
  • Heading "Abstract" centered, bold
  • Maximum 250 words (student papers) / 150 words (professional journals)
  • No paragraph indent
  • Keywords section follows immediately after abstract

Keywords

  • Label "Keywords:" in italics
  • Keywords in regular text, left-indented 0.5 inches
  • Separated by commas

Example: 

Keywords: machine learning, higher education, adaptive learning, educational technology

Body Text

First-Line Indent

  • 0.5 inch first-line indent on all paragraphs
  • Exception: First paragraph after a heading has NO indent

Alignment

  • Left-aligned (default)
  • Do not justify text

Paragraph Spacing

  • Double spacing throughout
  • No additional space before or after paragraphs

References

  • Start on new page after body
  • Heading "References" centered, bold
  • Alphabetical order by author's last name
  • Hanging indent: 0.5 inch (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented)
  • Double spacing between entries, single spacing within entries
  • No heading styles within references section

Example Entry

Smith, A. B., & Jones, C. D. (2024). Title of the article. Journal Name, 45(2), 112-130. https://doi.org/10.0000/journal.2024.0001

Tables

Caption Format

  • "Table N" in bold, followed by title in italics
  • Caption appears ABOVE the table
  • Table number increments sequentially

Example: 

Table 1
*Student Performance Metrics by Intervention Type*

Formatting

  • Centered on page
  • Horizontal borders only (no vertical lines)
  • Header row in bold
  • Single spacing within cells
  • Notes below table in italics, starting with "Nota."

Note Example

Nota. Effect sizes represent Cohen's d values. CI = confidence interval.

Figures

Caption Format

  • Caption appears BELOW the figure
  • "Figure N" in bold, followed by title in italics
  • Notes in italics, starting with "Nota."

Example: 

Figure 1
*Student Engagement Trends Over Academic Year*

Nota. Data collected from Fall 2024 cohort (n = 245).

Formatting

  • Centered on page
  • Image scaled to fit page width (max 6.5 inches)
  • High resolution recommended

Block Quotes

  • Indented 0.5 inch on left
  • Double spaced (same as body text)
  • No quotation marks
  • Attribution on new line below quote

Example: 

Smith (2024) explained this phenomenon:

    The implementation of adaptive learning systems requires
    significant institutional investment in both technology
    and faculty development.

(Smith, 2024, p. 45)

Implemented Features

The following APA 7th Edition features are implemented in NormaDocs:

  • Cover page with title, author, institutional affiliation
  • 1-inch margins on all sides
  • Times New Roman 12pt font
  • Double line spacing
  • Page numbers (top right)
  • Running head (short title left, page number right)
  • Heading styles (5 levels)
  • First-line indent (0.5 inch) for body paragraphs
  • Abstract/Keywords formatting
  • Table captions ("Table N")
  • Table formatting (horizontal borders only)
  • Table notes ("Nota.")
  • Figure captions ("Figure N")
  • Hanging indent for references
  • Foreign word italics (e.g., ad hoc, in vitro)
  • Page breaks before Conclusions and References sections

Missing Features

The following APA 7th Edition features are NOT yet implemented:

  • Author notes (footnotes on cover page)
  • DOI formatting in references
  • Appendices formatting
  • Block quote formatting (indentation)
  • Seriation within text (APA bulleted lists)
  • Secondary temporal derivatives (e.g., "running heads are right-aligned" not implemented)

Example Document

A complete example APA 7th Edition document is available at examples/example_apa.md.

Example Usage

# Convert APA document
normadocs examples/example_apa.md -s apa -o ./output

# With PDF output
normadocs examples/example_apa.md -s apa -f all -o ./output

Python Library Usage

from normadocs.preprocessor import MarkdownPreprocessor
from normadocs.pandoc_client import PandocRunner
from normadocs.formatters import get_formatter

# Process markdown
processor = MarkdownPreprocessor()
clean_md, meta = processor.process(input_markdown)

# Convert to DOCX
PandocRunner().run(clean_md, "output.docx")

# Apply APA formatting
formatter = get_formatter("apa", "output.docx")
formatter.process(meta)
formatter.save("output_apa.docx")