5 Common APA Formatting Mistakes and How to Fix Them

APA formatting mistakes are among the most common reasons students lose points on papers. Here are the five most frequent errors and how to fix them — or better yet, how Formatly fixes them automatically. ## Mistake 1: Incorrect Title Page Formatting ### The Problem Student papers using running heads (not required in APA 7th), missing course information, or incorrect title capitalization. ### The Fix APA 7th edition student papers don't need a running head. Your title page should include the paper title, name, institution, course, instructor, and date. ## Mistake 2: Wrong In-Text Citation Format ### The Problem Incorrect parenthetical formatting — missing commas, wrong placement of page numbers, or mixing author-page with author-date. ### The Fix APA uses author-date format: (Smith, 2020, p. 45). One author uses "and" in narrative, "&" in parenthetical. Three or more authors use "et al." after the first author. ## Mistake 3: Reference List Errors ### The Problem Mixed hanging indent, missing DOIs, incorrect author formatting, wrong date placement. ### The Fix APA 7th requires hanging indents, hyperlinked DOIs, up to 20 authors, and specific date placement. Each type of source has its own format. ## Mistake 4: Heading Hierarchy ### The Problem Using the wrong heading level, inconsistent formatting, skipping levels. ### The Fix APA 7th edition uses five levels of headings. Level 1 is centered and bold, Level 2 is left-aligned and bold, Level 3 is left-aligned bold italic, and so on. ## Mistake 5: Margin and Spacing Errors ### The Problem Inconsistent spacing between paragraphs, wrong margins, incorrect line spacing. ### The Fix APA requires 1-inch margins on all sides, double spacing throughout, and no extra spacing between paragraphs. ## How Formatly Prevents These Mistakes Formatly's rule-based engine scans your entire document against APA 7th edition rules and automatically corrects every violation. Tracked changes show you what was fixed, so you learn the rules while getting a perfect paper.