Top 5 Mistakes in APA Formatting

Most college and university level essays require APA or MLA formatting. Learning these formatting, and keeping up with their periodic changes, can be overwhelming. Even after mastering the basics, mistakes are still frequent. A 2010 report examined the top mistakes in APA formatting. Avoid these mistakes to avoid consequences ranging from grade deductions to publication rejection.

1. Numbers: APA formatting requires that all numbers under ten be written out instead of displayed numerically. Even when numbers under ten are grouped with numbers greater than ten, they must be spelled out in full. More than 55% of scholarly articles submitted for publication make this mistake!

2. Hyphenation: Two adjectives that combine to make a noun must be hyphenated. Examples include “city-level” and “upper-management”.

3. Use of et al.: The use of the abbreviation et al. is another common APA formatting error. This abbreviation should only be used once the entire list of authors has been cited for its first appearance in the document. The period follows al and the abbreviation should not be italicized.

4. Capitalization: Words in the title with four or more letters should always be capitalized. While this is one of several longstanding standards of APA formatting, it remains confusing for many authors and students. More than half make errors when submitting their journals for publication.

5. Abbreviations: No matter how common the abbreviation, APA formatting requires abbreviations to be spelled out upon their first use in a paper. Students sometimes forget to spell out abbreviations because they may refer to a term or concept that is commonly understood. It’s also generally good practice to explain jargon that may be specific to a profession.

APA formatting has a number of pitfalls. Learn to avoid common mistakes to improve the clarity of your writing. If you’re having trouble writing (or editing) your work to comply with APA standards, let us help! Allow our writers to polish your draft with a customized edit for formatting errors. Our writers are highly trained in several formatting styles.