Writing your thesis can be an empowering yet debilitating process. Mainly because you have to format it based on strict guidelines—which is a challenging feat on its own.

If you’re formatting your paper based on the APA style rules from the 7th edition issued by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, there are a few things you must keep in mind.

Let’s take a look at what some of these formatting rules are and how hiring a dissertation editor can help you.

Image text: A Workstation
Alt-text: A work station with a cup of coffee and a notebook

The Page Layout

Start by ensuring that every page in your document is US Letter size 8.5” x 11”. You’re also required to have margins of at least 1” on all sides.

The Text

The text should be aligned to the right, making the text take the form of an unjustified right edge. The first line of your paragraphs should be indented by 0.5”, but this doesn’t hold for the first paragraph of the abstract.

The text should be double spaced throughout—this includes block quotes, references, and footnotes. In addition to that, italics aren’t to be used for emphasis, and an Oxford comma is also required.

Headers

The header should be located within the margin, not below it. The APA guidelines also specify that the title page should have a running header that includes the title of the paper, and a page number.

The Quotations

If you have a direct quote of more than 40 words, it should be styled in block format, with a half an inch indentation to the left. If there’s an additional paragraph in the same quote, then the first line of that paragraph would be indented an extra half an inch. In addition to that, the quotes should end with a period before the citation.

References

The references section must start on a new page with the heading ‘References’ in the center. Each reference entry should be double spaced and should follow the hanging indent format—which means that the first line of each reference is flush left, and the subsequent lines are indented.

The Figures

If you’re adding figures to your dissertation, they should have italicized captions that end with a period. The figures should also be labeled with consecutive figure numbers. Other than that, any figure in the thesis should only be referred to in the text by their number—this means you shouldn’t use phrases like “the figure above” or “the figure below.”

Need More Help?—Hire A Dissertation Editor

Since the APA formatting and stylistic guidelines are extensive, it can be difficult to keep track of all of them—that’s where a dissertation editor comes in.

Dissertation editors have a thorough knowledge of English grammar, punctuation, and spelling. They have expert writing skills, which gives them great command over sentence structure, word choice, paragraph organization and transitions, and the overall tone of the paper.

They’re also familiar with the most updated formatting styles, which allows them to convey the content clearly and in accordance with the dissertation structure required.

Image title: A Notebook
Alt-text: A student researching for their dissertation

If you’re looking for a dissertation editor who’s well-versed in APA guidelines, get in touch with Panther Academic Editing.

We offer premier academic copy editing services and APA editing services to ensure your academic paper follows all APA 7th edition style guidelines. Get in touch with us today to find out more about our APA dissertation and PhD thesis editing services.