The style guide of the American Psychological Association (APA) is most commonly the method used for writing reports and citing references in the social sciences.

To open a template report in Microsoft Word, launch Microsoft Word 2007 by either going to the Start menu, Programs, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word 2007 or by double clicking on the Word desktop icon. If when the program launches it does not display a box with templates in, go to the Office button (circular button in the top left corner) and click on New.

The New Document box will appear. Down the left side there should be a list of templates, scroll down and single click on Reports. The APA report template will not be overly visible so in the search panel at the top of the box type in the letters APA and click on the arrow pointing right to the side. The APA report template will appear in the search results.

Please note that the APA Report is extracted from Microsoft Office Online so an internet connection is required.

Double click to open the report. A 10 page document will appear with instructional text showing in the four specific sections (listed below) that need to be filled in. This text is also in the correct format and style (also summarised below) so it can easily be used as a guide.

NB: Remember to save the report as soon as it is launched.

Just for reference, the APA report format consists of four general sections:
1. Title page;
2. Abstract
3. Main body; and
4. References.

The information on the title page needs to be in double lined spacing, shown on the upper half of the page and centred. The actual structure should be the title of the report on the first line, the author’s name on the second line and then on the third line the institutional affiliation (e.g. the name of school, company etc.).

The abstract should have its own page, with the word "Abstract" as the title which again is centred with no bold face, underline or any other typographical effects. The abstract should be 150 to 250 words in length and should include the research topic, questions, results and conclusions.

The correct format for the body of a report according to APA standards is for it to be double lined spacing throughout, with 1 inch margins on all sides and a 10 to 12 point Times New Roman or similar font. There also needs to be a page header on each page containing the title of the report followed by the page number.

The last section is where the references are listed in alphabetical order showing the authors' only by surnames. All sources that are cited in the body of the report also need to be included in the references section.

For more comprehensive information or if in any doubt, consult the APA website which gives information about learning the APA styles and where to purchase the APA manual.

By Kelly Foxhall