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APA style research paper writing is a professional style of writing. It may also be referred to as a particular standard format that is followed for writing academic and research papers. This is already suggested in its name, along with 'APA', which stands for American Psychological Association. An APA style research paper is one that follows strict guidelines. The different rules in this particular format allow you to trace information back to their sources easily. This is why it is mainly used for research purposes.

APA style research paper writing refers to two basic aspects. One is the paper layout, and the other is the referencing. Both these points are followed closely in order to prevent confusion. Researchers, professors, students, etc. tend to recommend a particular format for their papers to be written in. The APA style research paper format is one particular style that they ask for. This is because it is quite simple to follow, and is a widely recognized format.

An APA style research paper has a particular format for each page. In general, you will have 1-inch margins on each side of a page. Each page is usually 8.5 by 11 inches, and the text is double-spaced. With a 12 point Times New Roman font, each page should contain around 250 words. An APA style research paper format will also have a running head on each page, with the page number mentioned in the top right corner.

Your APA style research paper will have different headings for each section of your paper. You will have an 'Abstract', an 'Introduction', 'Objectives', 'Hypothesis', 'Methodology', 'Literature Review', 'Analysis', 'Conclusion', and 'Recommendations'. In addition these headings, there can be others. In an APA style research paper, you may also have a 'Table of Contents' too. This can be an automatically generated one if you produce your research essay on computer. A table of contents produced in Microsoft Word will help you to reach the desired section of your paper by just clicking the section name in the table of contents.

Besides the layout of an APA style research paper with its relevant sections, referencing is important too. The 'References' section of the paper follows the 'Conclusion' and 'Recommendations'. It provides bibliographic detail of the sources used for writing the paper. While bibliographic entries are made in the 'References' section, corresponding in-text citations are placed within the text. These citations link the sources of information to the places in the text where you have used them. In an APA style research paper, in-text citations will carry typically the surname of an author, the year of publication, and the page numbers of the source used.

Writing an APA style research paper takes some practice. The sooner you learn how to use this standard research paper-writing format, the more professional your work will look. To improve your APA style research paper writing skills, you can use any online source that provides relevant information. However, try to use a source that provides as much detail as possible.