Format & Style

Format & Style

  • APA formatting as outlined in the current (7th) Style Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) except where we outline differences (see below)
  • In principle, between 2,000 and 5,000 words (including references & appendices)
  • Verdana 12-point font, single-spacing throughout
  • Space following each paragraph (including before all headings), no indentation
  • No headers or footers, including page numbers
  • Justified formatting, A4 page with 2.54cm margins
  • Email your paper to the editors as a Google doc at the relevant internal email address
  • Regarding spelling and punctuation, we accept both US and British spelling and punctuation conventions (e.g. commas inside or outside quotation marks) so long as the document is internally consistent

Specific Formatting Guidelines

  • Submission Title: CAPITALS, 18 pt. font, bold, centered, line space after; combined title-subtitle is limited to 18 words. Title should be followed by author(s)’ name(s) in bold and institutional affiliation in regular text 
  • Abstract: 12 pt. font, italics, single-spaced, 1.27 cm (0.5 inches) indentation left & right (including standard 2.54 cm margins, this would be 3.81 cm). One line space before and after the abstract. Keywords are not necessary
  • Introduction: Use the heading INTRODUCTION for the introduction. An introduction heading is not consistent with APA but we are adopting one for our purposes here. 
  • Body: 12 pt. font, single-spaced, 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins all sides, full-justification, no indentation
  • Headings:
    • Primary Headings: CAPITALS, bold, left-aligned, line space after heading
    • Subheadings: Title Case, bold, no line space after headings
    • Supra-Subheadings: Title Case, bold, italics, no line space after headings
    • If you use subheadings, there should be at least two of them under a primary heading; the same goes for supra-subheadings under subheadings
  • Block quotes: Single-spaced (same as the rest of the paper), 1.27 cm (0.5 inches) indentation left & right (including standard 2.54 cm margins, this would be 3.81 cm). One line space before and after the abstract.
  • Endnotes: Use endnotes in lieu of footnotes. They should be placed at the end of the text, before any acknowledgements and the references
  • Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements should be placed at the end of the text, after any endnotes, and before the references 
  • References: 
    • The word REFERENCES itself needs to be in CAPITALS, bold, left-aligned, two lines of space before heading, one line after; 
    • The reference list should follow APA format, left-aligned, with no hanging indent and a line space between each reference
    • An en dash (–) should be used instead of a hyphen (-) for page ranges
    • DOIs should be included and hyper-linked, if available. If DOIs are not available, include hyperlinked URLs (tool for finding DOIs)
  • Appendices: 
    • The word APPENDIX itself needs to be in CAPITALS, bold, left-aligned 
    • Each appendix must be labelled with a letter (A, B, C, etc.) but if there is only 1, no letter is needed; in principle, each appendix should begin on a new page 
    • If the appendix has a title, the title should be Title Case, left aligned, and bold on a new line with one line space before and after
  • Citation: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition 
  • Figures & Tables: 
    • Titled as Figure/Table #.# ( in italics ), in numerical order (of mention within text). The title should be above figure/table, left aligned, Title Case, italics with one line space between the title and the figure/table. 
    • Inserted figure/table should be centered. No vertical lines or outer borders. Internal horizontal lines are fine. Some shading is acceptable for emphasizing key information if used sparingly. Limit shading to grayscale. One line space after the figure/table
  • Page numbers: No page numbers necessary; these will be added later, after editing
  • Footer: Please include the following information, in the footer at the bottom of the page: Author Name. (2024). Article title. Literacies and Language Education: Research and Practice, Autumn 2023, XX-XX. English Language Institute, KUIS. It should be left aligned, Verdana font, size 10.
  • Emphasis: No use of single or double quotes for emphasis. Instead, use italics in accordance with APA guidelines

Please use this sample paper to help you format your paper correctly. Please note, if there are enough errors regarding format, you may be asked to revise it before review.                                   

References

Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition, copies of which may be ordered online; however, there is a web-based reference available. There is also a copy available in the ELI Professional Library available for check out. Details concerning this referencing style can also be found at: http://www.apastyle.org/

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters “a”, “b”, “c”, etc., placed after the year of publication.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2000). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 16(1), 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372

Reference to a book:

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (3rd ed.). Macmillan.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (1994). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). E-Publishing Inc.

Reference to a website:

Dunleavy, P. (2016, September 26). Structuring and writing academic papers. Medium. https://medium.com/@write4research/structuring-and-
writing-academic-papers-5ccae16c33a4