The reference format varies depending on the type of source, such as a book, journal article, or website. In addition to these elements, there are some general formatting guidelines to follow in an APA research paper: Point Times New Roman font. Double the spacing of your text · margins in inches on all sides. APA American Psychological Association style is most commonly used for citing sources in the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 2nd edition, second printing of the APA Handbook, provides examples for the general format of APA research articles, in-text citations, footnotes, and the page of reference. To learn more, this video guides you step-by-step through setting up a Word document in editing format.