The 10 APA Formatting Mistakes That Cost the Most Points, and the Fix for Each One
Every semester, professors across every discipline see the same APA formatting errors in final papers. Not obscure edge cases buried in the APA manual. The same ten mistakes, over and over, costing students points on papers where the actual writing and research are solid.
The frustrating part? Most of these errors take less than five minutes to fix once you know what to look for. The problem is that nobody teaches APA formatting as a standalone skill. You're expected to absorb it through osmosis from the Publication Manual, a 428-page reference book that most students open exactly once.
Here are the ten formatting mistakes that show up most often in student papers, ranked roughly by how frequently professors flag them. If you're submitting a final paper this semester, run through this list before you hit "Submit."
1. Heading Levels Are Inconsistent or Skipped
APA 7th edition has five heading levels, each with a specific format: Level 1 is centered and bold, Level 2 is flush left and bold, Level 3 is flush left, bold, and italic, and so on. The most common mistake isn't getting the format wrong on any single heading. It's skipping levels. Students jump from a Level 1 heading straight to a Level 3, or use Level 2 formatting on what should be a Level 1.
Think of heading levels like an outline. You wouldn't go from a Roman numeral I directly to a lowercase "a" without a capital "A" in between. The same logic applies. If your paper has Level 1 and Level 3 headings but no Level 2 anywhere, your structure is broken.
How to fix it: Print your paper and circle every heading. Write the level number next to each one. Read them in order. If any level is skipped, either promote the lower heading or add the missing intermediate level.
Deep dive: Why Your Headings Look Wrong (Even When You Think You Followed the Rules)
2. The Reference List Has Wrong Hanging Indents (or None at All)
Every entry in your APA reference list should use a hanging indent: the first line sits flush left, and every subsequent line is indented 0.5 inches. This is the opposite of a normal paragraph indent.
The mistake happens in two ways. Either students don't apply hanging indents at all (so the reference list looks like a regular block of text), or they fake it by pressing Tab or the spacebar on the second line. Faked hanging indents look close on screen but break when the document is printed or when line lengths change.
How to fix it: Select all your references. In Word, go to Paragraph settings, find "Special," and select "Hanging" with a value of 0.5 inches. In Google Docs, use the ruler to drag the left indent marker. Never use Tab or spacebar to create the visual effect.
3. In-Text Citations Are Punctuated Wrong
The two most frequent citation errors: putting the period before the parenthetical citation instead of after, and using the wrong format for multiple authors.
Wrong: "The results were significant." (Smith, 2024)
Right: "The results were significant" (Smith, 2024).
The period goes after the closing parenthesis, not before it. The only exception is block quotes, where the period goes before the parenthetical citation.
For works with three or more authors, APA 7 simplified the rule: use "et al." from the very first citation. If you're still writing out all three names the first time and then switching to "et al.," you're following the old APA 6 rule.
Deep dive: The In-Text Citation Mistakes That Cost You Points Every Time
4. Margins Are Off (And You Didn't Notice)
APA 7 requires 1-inch margins on all four sides. This sounds simple until you realize that Word's default margins are 1 inch, but many university templates override them. If you started from a template, downloaded a file from your LMS, or copy-pasted content from another document, your margins may have silently changed.
The sneaky version: margins that are 1.25 inches or 0.75 inches. Close enough that you won't notice visually, but wrong enough that your professor (or your graduate school's format reviewer) will catch it.
How to fix it: In Word, go to Layout, then Margins, then Custom Margins. Set all four to exactly 1 inch. Don't just eyeball it.
5. The Title Page Is Missing Required Elements
APA 7 changed the title page requirements, and many students are still following the old format. For student papers, the title page should include: the paper title (bold, centered, in the upper half of the page), your name, your institutional affiliation, the course number and name, the instructor's name, and the assignment due date. No running head is required for student papers.
The most common errors: including a running head when it's not needed, omitting the course information, or placing the title in the wrong position on the page.
How to fix it: Check APA 7 Section 2.3 for the student paper title page template. Compare yours element by element. Better yet, start from the APA's official student paper template and customize it.
6. Double-Spacing Isn't Actually Double
"Double-spaced throughout" means throughout. No extra space before or after paragraphs, no single-spacing in block quotes or the reference list, no 1.5 spacing because it "looks cleaner." APA 7 is explicit: double-spacing everywhere, with very few exceptions (inside table cells and in some figure notes).
The hidden culprit: Word's default "Normal" style adds 8pt of space after each paragraph. This makes your document look like it has extra spacing between paragraphs even though the line spacing is set to double. Your professor sees it immediately.
How to fix it: Select all text (Ctrl+A). Go to Paragraph settings. Set "Before" and "After" spacing to 0pt. Set line spacing to "Double." Make sure "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style" is unchecked.
7. The Running Head Is Wrong (or Present When It Shouldn't Be)
APA 7 made running heads optional for student papers. If your professor hasn't specifically required one, leave it off. If your professor or graduate school requires one, it should be a shortened version of your title in ALL CAPS, flush left in the header, with the page number flush right. It should not include the label "Running head:" before it. That was an APA 6 requirement that APA 7 eliminated.
How to fix it: Check your assignment guidelines. If no running head is required, delete everything in the header except the page number (top right). If one is required, make sure it's all caps, flush left, no more than 50 characters, and doesn't say "Running head:" in front of it.
8. Numbers Under 10 Are Written as Digits
APA 7 has a general rule: use words for numbers zero through nine, and use numerals for 10 and above. But there are exceptions that trip students up. Use numerals (regardless of size) for numbers that represent time, dates, ages, scores, points on a scale, exact sums of money, and numerals used as numerals.
The most common mistake: writing "3 participants" instead of "three participants" in body text. The second most common: inconsistently mixing words and numerals in the same sentence.
Deep dive: How to Format Numbers in APA 7th Edition
9. Block Quotes Are Formatted Like Regular Paragraphs
Any direct quote of 40 words or more must be set as a block quote: start on a new line, indent the entire block 0.5 inches from the left margin (the same distance as a paragraph indent), double-space it, and don't use quotation marks. The parenthetical citation goes after the final period, not before.
Common errors: using quotation marks around a block quote (they're not needed and shouldn't be there), not indenting the block, or putting the citation before the period. That last one is the opposite of normal in-text citation rules, which is why it catches people off guard.
Deep dive: 3 Block Quote Formatting Errors That Scream 'Copy-Paste'
10. The Reference List Has Inconsistent Capitalization
APA uses two capitalization styles, and mixing them up is one of the most visible errors in a reference list. Article titles and book titles use sentence case (only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized). Journal names use title case (major words are capitalized). Periodical titles are also italicized; article and book chapter titles are not.
Wrong: "The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Academic Performance" (this is title case applied to an article title).
Right: "The effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance" (sentence case).
Deep dive: APA Capitalization Rules Every Grad Student Gets Wrong
Before You Submit
If you found even one of these errors in your paper, there are likely others you haven't caught yet. APA 7th edition has hundreds of formatting rules, and the ten listed here are just the ones that show up most frequently. The interactions between them (a heading level error that cascades into a table of contents error, for example) can multiply small mistakes into significant point deductions.
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