When you are writing a paper for school or college, there are a lot of things that you need to cover in the pretext of “writing”. The first thing is to do a little research and come up with a topic and a title. The next step requires more research to have the latest and ample information on the topic to create an outline and write the text on it. Even with all these things, both students and writers dread the process of formatting the text according to the requirements. APA formatting is among the most popular ones in the world but it seems quite tough that writers need an automated generator.
Do Format Generators Work?
Formatting a paper according to APA is nuanced work. For the uninitiated, it may seem like an impossible task for a tool. Yet, it is possible in the day and age of AI and ML for a piece of software to go through a piece of text and modify it according to the rules of a formatting style. These APA format generators go through the text and make the relevant changes in the appearance and the text to make it aligned with the rules.
Types of APA Format Generators
Based on the usage and scope, there are two types of APA formatting tools in the market. First, there are paid tools that require a monthly subscription or one-type payment from the users. In return, they get a sophisticated tool that can do all the work within a margin of error. Second, there are free APA formatting tools that offer all the great things of their paid counterparts but with a cap on how much you can do in one go. There are hardly any differences that you can see in the quality of output between these. Of course, the best value comes from those who deliver the goods for free!
What Makes A Successful APA Format Generator
Although we have distinguished between the major types of APA formatting software, there are characteristics that one should have to be considered a successful tool. In this section, we will go through the things that they must do to make it to the successful list.
Double-Spaced Text
The whole text in the APA papers and essays needs to be double-spaced. Your prospective generator has to achieve this feat during the processing to ensure that this base is covered.
One-Inched Margins on Both Sides
The size of margins on both sides is an important factor in APA formatting. They should be one-inch by default and the tool should make it happen in the processing.
Indented Paragraphs in Body
All the things that a tool should do can be done manually. But to save time and to make up for the lack of lack of knowledge, we use the tools that can indent the paragraph.
Centered Title & Writer Bio
One of the major differences between APA and other formatting styles is that you need to have a dedicated title page with the title of the paper and other relevant information. This is one of the things that anyone can get from a mere look at the paper.
Usage of 12-Point Font
The font size on all APA formatted papers should be 12-point and there should be no exception to that. Instead of doing all that manually, a successful tool can do it for you with a single click.
Proper Numbering of All Pages
The formatting of papers is all about making little changes in the elements that are in line with the rules. One of these things is the way pages are numbered. According to APA style, the page number should be mentioned in the upper right-hand corner.
Mentioning of Running Head
Since the page number is on the upper right-hand corner of the page, the upper left-hand corner is designated for the running head. It is often a shortened version of the title of the paper. Your APA format generator of choice should do that automatically.
Wrap-Up
That’s it for the successful APA format generator that you needed to know. We have shared the key things that the tool should be able to do without any input from the user. We have also shared some suggestions on the top APA format generators that you can get for free. It is time to get started and finish your paper using these tools!
