APA 7th Edition Standard¶

Overview¶

The APA 7th Edition standard in NormaDocs applies automatic formatting and strict structural validation for academic writing. For a deterministic person-or-agent workflow, see the AI agent guide.

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

Student papers¶

Use apa7estudiante for essays, assignments, and other student papers. It is the CLI default (--style apa7estudiante, alias apa7):

normadocs paper.md --format docx

This profile keeps the APA 7 student-paper requirements: 1-inch margins, letter-size pages, double spacing, Times New Roman 12-point text, a centered bold title page, page number 1 on the cover, page numbers on later pages, and no optional running-head text (running_head.enabled: false). A short_title in the front matter does not enable a running head in this profile. The generic apa profile remains available for professional-style work and can use short_title for a running head.

Allowed font profiles (0.3.0+): Times New Roman 12, Arial 11, Calibri 11, Georgia 11.

Strict validation¶

PDF and all conversions run the APA verifier in strict mode by default. A single detectable violation is reported as an error; the verifier does not accept a document merely because most paragraphs comply. Strict validation checks every section's margins and page size, inherited font and spacing styles, body indentation and alignment, all five heading levels, cover metadata when supplied, page headers/footers, reference hanging indents and ordering, and table/figure caption rules.

For the general academic-report profile, the structural validator requires a cover, a repeated title, Introduction, a development section, Conclusions, and References in that order. Abstracts and keywords are optional; when included, the abstract must be at most 250 words and keywords must remain inside its block. Only appendices may follow References.

Use --no-verify-apa only when validation is not applicable. The Python API also defaults to strict verification; pass strict=False to APAVerifier only for a compatibility report that keeps warnings separate from errors.

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 (allowed profiles: TNR 12, Arial 11, Calibri 11, Georgia 11)
Headings: same family (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 (professional `apa` profile only)¶

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. The student profile apa7estudiante never renders a running head (running_head.enabled: false).

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):

Title (bold, centered in upper half of page)
Author name (centered, after exactly one blank double-spaced line)
Program / department (centered)
Institution (centered)
Subject + code (centered, e.g. Análisis y Diseño de Sistemas (ADSO-2026))
Instructor name (centered, no prefix)
Date (centered)

No blank lines between items 2–7. The verifier warns (never rewrites) when the title is not in Title Case.

Example Frontmatter (YAML)¶

---
title: "The Effects of Machine Learning on Higher Education Outcomes"
author: "Sarah M. Johnson"
program: "Computer Science"
institution: "State University"
subject: "Research Methods"
subject_code: "RES-2026"
instructor: "Dr. Smith"
date: "2026-04-10"
---

Abstract¶

Starts on page 2 in its own page (after cover page); when the document has no abstract, the body opens page 2 with the repeated title instead
Heading "Resumen"/"Abstract" centered, bold
Maximum 250 words (student papers) / 150 words (professional journals)
Single block, no first-line indent
Keywords stay inside the block (Palabras clave: / Keywords:)
When an abstract exists and the title heading precedes it, NormaDocs moves the repeated title to open the body so the title never sits alone on page 2

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

Page and line breaks¶

The whole document is double-spaced and continuous. NormaDocs enforces:

Cover: exactly one blank double-spaced line between title and author; all other cover items on consecutive lines.
Page breaks: only before the repeated title opening the body, before Referencias/References, and before each appendix. Internal sections (Marco teórico, Metodología, Resultados…) never open a new page.
Line breaks: none extra — no blank lines between paragraphs, around headings, between table label/title/table/Nota., or between list items. Ordered-list numbers share the line with their text (0.5-inch hanging).
A dedicated blank_lines verifier check fails documents that break these rules (error in strict mode).

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¶

"Tabla 1"/"Table 1" in bold, followed by title in italics on the next line
Caption appears ABOVE the table
Table number increments sequentially
The student profile uses Spanish labels (Tabla, Elaboración propia)

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¶

Quotes over 40 words are formatted automatically as a freestanding block:

Indented 0.5 inch on the left, no first-line indent
Double spaced (same as body text)
No quotation marks; period before the parenthetical citation
No blank lines before or after beyond standard double spacing

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 7-field title block and Title Case warning
1-inch margins on all sides
Allowed font profiles (TNR 12, Arial 11, Calibri 11, Georgia 11)
Double line spacing, continuous body text
Page numbers (top right)
Running head in the professional apa profile only (short title left)
Heading styles (5 levels)
First-line indent (0.5 inch) for body paragraphs
Abstract/Keywords block on its own page
Ordered lists keep native numbering; no blank lines between items
Table captions ("Tabla 1"/"Table 1" + italic title)
Table formatting (horizontal borders only, header repeats on split)
Table notes ("Nota.")
Figure captions ("Figura 1"/"Figure 1")
Hanging indent for references; journal-vs-book italics
blank_lines check: no stray blank lines in the body
Bidirectional citation↔reference cross-checks
Foreign word italics (e.g., ad hoc, in vitro)
Page breaks only before the body title, References, and appendices

Missing Features¶

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

Author notes (footnotes on cover page)
DOI formatting in references

Example Document¶

A complete example APA 7th Edition student document is available at examples/informe_apa7_ejemplo.md (also examples/example_apa.md for the professional profile).

Example Usage¶

# Convert APA document
normadocs examples/example_apa.md -s apa7estudiante -o ./output

# With PDF output and strict validation
normadocs examples/example_apa.md -s apa7estudiante -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")

APA 7th Edition Standard¶

Overview¶

Configuration¶

Default Settings¶

Student papers¶

Strict validation¶

Customization¶

Formatting Rules¶

Font¶

Line Spacing¶

Margins¶

Page Numbers¶

Running Head (professional apa profile only)¶

Heading Levels (APA 7th Edition)¶

Cover Page¶

Example Frontmatter (YAML)¶

Abstract¶

Keywords¶

Page and line breaks¶

Body Text¶

First-Line Indent¶

Alignment¶

Paragraph Spacing¶

References¶

Example Entry¶

Tables¶

Caption Format¶

Formatting¶

Note Example¶

Figures¶

Caption Format¶

Formatting¶

Block Quotes¶

Implemented Features¶

Missing Features¶

Example Document¶

Example Usage¶

Python Library Usage¶

Running Head (professional `apa` profile only)¶