After building a tool that checks papers for APA formatting compliance, I started collecting data on which errors appeared most frequently. The results were revealing. The same dozen mistakes showed up over and over, across undergraduate papers, graduate theses, and even manuscripts submitted for publication. Most of these errors aren't obscure edge cases -- they're fundamental formatting rules that people either never learned correctly or constantly forget.
Here are the 12 most common APA format errors, in order of frequency, with the exact rule from the APA 7th edition Publication Manual.
1. Incorrect running head
APA 7th edition simplified the running head. For student papers, a running head is no longer required (unless your instructor requests it). For professional papers, the running head is just the paper title in all caps, flush left, on every page. No more "Running head:" label on the first page -- that was an APA 6th rule that many people still follow.
APA 6th (old): Running head: EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION (page 1)
EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION (subsequent pages)
APA 7th: EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION (all pages, professional only)
If your paper starts with "Running head:" in 2024, it's following an obsolete standard.
2. Wrong heading levels
APA defines five heading levels with specific formatting:
- Level 1: Centered, Bold, Title Case
- Level 2: Flush Left, Bold, Title Case
- Level 3: Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case
- Level 4: Indented, Bold, Title Case, Ending With a Period. Text continues on the same line.
- Level 5: Indented, Bold Italic, Title Case, Ending With a Period. Text continues on the same line.
The most common error is using Level 1 formatting (centered, bold) for all headings regardless of hierarchy. The second most common is using Level 4 or 5 formatting incorrectly -- those are paragraph-style headings where the text begins on the same line after the heading, which is unintuitive.
3. Reference list formatting
The reference list has specific requirements that are easy to get wrong:
- Title the page "References" (centered, bold), not "Bibliography" or "Works Cited"
- Double-space all entries with no extra space between entries
- Use a hanging indent (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches)
- Alphabetize by the first author's last name
- For multiple works by the same author, order by year (earliest first)
The hanging indent is consistently the most visually misformatted element. Many word processors don't apply it by default, and manually indenting with spaces or tabs produces inconsistent results.
4. Incorrect in-text citation punctuation
The period goes after the parenthetical citation, not before it:
Wrong: Participants showed improved performance. (Smith, 2023)
Right: Participants showed improved performance (Smith, 2023).
For block quotes (40+ words), the rule reverses -- the period goes before the citation:
Right:
The researchers concluded that the treatment was effective across
all age groups and showed no significant side effects in the
longitudinal follow-up. (Smith, 2023, p. 45)
This inconsistency is a major source of errors.
5. Title page formatting
APA 7th edition has different title page requirements for student and professional papers. Student papers include:
- Paper title (bold, centered, upper half of page)
- Author name
- Department and institution
- Course number and name
- Instructor name
- Assignment due date
Professional papers include:
- Paper title (bold, centered)
- Author name(s)
- Affiliation(s)
- Author note (with ORCID, disclosures, correspondence info)
The student paper format was new in APA 7th edition. Many students use the professional format because that's what they find in older guides.
6. Margins and spacing
One-inch margins on all sides. Double-spaced throughout, including the abstract, block quotes, and reference list. 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode.
APA 7th edition expanded the acceptable fonts beyond just Times New Roman. But many instructors still specify Times New Roman. Check your assignment requirements.
The double-spacing rule applies everywhere. A common error is single-spacing block quotes or the reference list to "save space." APA doesn't allow this.
7. Abstract formatting
The abstract is a single paragraph, not indented, between 150-250 words. The word "Abstract" appears centered and bold at the top. Keywords appear on the next line after the abstract, indented, with the label "Keywords:" in italics.
Abstract
This study examined the effects of...
Keywords: sleep deprivation, cognitive performance, working memory
Common errors: indenting the abstract paragraph, exceeding the word limit, omitting keywords, or formatting keywords without the italic label.
8. Numbers
Spell out numbers below 10. Use numerals for 10 and above. Exceptions: always use numerals for measurements, statistical values, ages, dates, times, scores, and money. Always spell out numbers that begin a sentence.
Wrong: The study included 9 participants across 3 conditions.
Right: The study included nine participants across three conditions.
Wrong: Twelve percent of participants dropped out.
Right: Twelve percent of participants dropped out. (Correct -- starts a sentence)
Also right: Of the participants, 12% dropped out. (Numeral because it's a statistical value)
This rule has enough exceptions that errors are nearly universal.
9. Passive voice overuse
APA explicitly recommends active voice: "We analyzed the data" rather than "The data were analyzed." The Publication Manual acknowledges that passive voice is sometimes appropriate (when the actor is unknown or deliberately de-emphasized), but it should not be the default.
This is a style issue, not a formatting issue, but format checkers increasingly flag it because it's so prevalent in academic writing. Many students were taught that scientific writing "should" be passive. APA disagrees.
10. Incorrect table and figure formatting
Tables and figures each have specific formatting requirements:
- Numbered sequentially (Table 1, Table 2; Figure 1, Figure 2)
- Title in italics on the line below the number
- Notes below the table/figure, starting with "Note."
- Referenced in the text before they appear
Table 1
Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Test Scores
[table content here]
Note. Scores are measured on a 100-point scale. Adapted from...
The most common error is placing tables and figures in the middle of text rather than at the top or bottom of a page (or at the end of the manuscript, depending on submission requirements).
11. Bias-free language
APA 7th edition significantly expanded its guidelines on bias-free language. Use person-first language ("participants with depression" not "depressed participants"). Use specific age ranges rather than vague terms ("participants aged 65-80" not "elderly participants"). Use "they" as a singular pronoun when gender is unknown or nonbinary.
12. Incorrect URL and DOI formatting
The current APA format for DOIs is a live hyperlink: https://doi.org/10.1037/example. Not "doi: 10.1037/example" and not "Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/example." Just the bare hyperlink. No period after it.
For URLs without DOIs, include the URL at the end of the reference. Include "Retrieved [date] from [URL]" only for content that changes over time (wikis, social media, undated web pages).
Automating the check
Manually checking a 20-page paper against all of these rules takes at least 30-45 minutes and still misses errors because human attention fades. I built a format checker at zovo.one/free-tools/apa-format-checker that scans your paper for the common errors described above and flags them with specific references to the relevant APA 7th edition rules.
The frustrating truth about APA formatting is that the rules exist to serve clarity and consistency, and they largely succeed at that goal. But the cognitive overhead of memorizing hundreds of specific formatting decisions means that even experienced writers make errors. The solution isn't to memorize the entire manual. It's to know the high-level principles, use a checker for the details, and save your mental energy for the actual writing.
I'm Michael Lip. I build free developer tools at zovo.one. 350+ tools, all private, all free.
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