You’ve probably spent the last three hours staring at a blinking cursor, wondering why on earth the American Psychological Association cares so much about the gaps between your sentences. It feels like a prank. Honestly, who decided that APA format double spaced was the gold standard for academic integrity? If you’re trying to squeeze a ten-page paper out of a five-page idea, you love it. If you’re trying to keep a complex dissertation concise, you probably hate it.
The truth is, APA style isn’t just some arbitrary torture device invented by librarians to make you buy more printer paper. It’s about readability. Back in the day, when people actually graded papers with red pens on physical stacks of wood pulp, those wide gaps were literal "white space" for feedback. Even now, in our digital-first world of Canvas and Blackboard, that 2.0 line spacing remains the law of the land for the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual.
The Actual Rules for APA Format Double Spaced Layouts
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. You can’t just hit the "double space" button and call it a day. APA 7th Edition is picky. You need to double-space almost everything. This includes the title page, the abstract (if you’re unlucky enough to have to write one), the body of the text, and even the reference list.
Don’t add extra space before or after paragraphs. That’s a common trap. Microsoft Word loves to sneak in an extra 8pt or 10pt "after" spacing, but you’ve gotta kill that. Your paper should look like a consistent ladder of text from top to bottom.
Wait. There are exceptions.
Tables and figures are the wild west of the APA world. Inside a table, you can actually use single spacing, 1.5 spacing, or double spacing—whatever makes the data look less like a giant mess. The goal is clarity. If double-spacing a massive data set makes the table span three pages, just single-space it. Your professor will thank you.
What about block quotes?
If you’re quoting more than 40 words, you have to indent the whole chunk half an inch from the left margin. It looks like a little island of text. Even though it's indented, it stays APA format double spaced. Do not—I repeat, do not—revert to single spacing just because it’s a quote. It’s a rookie mistake that screams "I didn't read the manual."
Why the Gap Matters for Peer Review
Think about the last time you tried to read a dense scientific paper on a screen. If the lines are packed together like sardines, your eyes start to skip. You lose your place. You get a headache.
APA style originated in 1929 with a simple seven-page document published in Psychological Bulletin. The authors weren't trying to be difficult. They were trying to create a "standard of procedure." When every paper looks the same, the reader can focus on the ideas instead of the formatting. It’s like a uniform for your thoughts.
Researchers use that double-spaced layout to scribble notes during the peer-review process. Even in 2026, most serious editors at journals like Nature or the Journal of Applied Psychology want that space. It gives them room to think. It gives the text room to breathe.
Setting Up Your Document Without Losing Your Mind
If you’re using Google Docs or Word, the setup is slightly different but the goal is the same.
- Select all text (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A).
- Go to the Line Spacing menu.
- Choose Double or 2.0.
- Crucially: Open the "Paragraph Settings" and ensure "Before" and "After" spacing are both set to 0. If you forget step four, your paper will look "off" to anyone who has spent years staring at APA documents. It’s the "uncanny valley" of academic formatting. It looks right, but it feels wrong.
The Reference List Headache
This is where people usually break down and cry. The reference list must be APA format double spaced, but it also needs a hanging indent. This means the first line of each citation is flush left, and every subsequent line is indented half an inch.
Why? Because it makes it incredibly easy to scan down the left side of the page for author names. If I’m reading your paper and see a citation for (Goleman, 1995), I want to flip to the back and find "Goleman" instantly. The hanging indent makes the name pop.
Common Misconceptions About Spacing
Some people think "double spacing" means hitting the enter key twice at the end of every line. Please, for the love of all things holy, do not do this. If you change your font size later, your entire paper will explode into a chaotic mess of half-lines and broken sentences. Use the software settings.
Another weird myth: "Double spacing means two spaces after a period."
Actually, no.
The APA 7th Edition finally settled this ancient debate. You only need one space after a period. The "two spaces" rule is a relic from the era of typewriters when every character had the same width (monospaced fonts). Since we now use proportional fonts like Times New Roman or Calibri, that extra space creates "rivers" of white space that distract the reader.
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Does the Title Page Need Special Treatment?
Yes. Your title should be centered, bolded, and positioned in the upper half of the page. Then, you skip a few lines—double spaced, of course—to put your name, the department, the course name, the instructor, and the date.
It’s a lot of empty space. It feels like a waste. But in the world of professional publishing, that space is used for metadata, stamps, and editorial notes.
The Nuance of Footnotes
Footnotes are rare in APA compared to MLA or Chicago style, but they do happen. Usually, they appear at the bottom of the page where they are referenced, or on a separate page after the references.
If you put them at the bottom of the page, they are usually single-spaced. But if you put them on their own page at the end? You guessed it: APA format double spaced. The inconsistency is maddening, I know. But following these specific quirks is what separates an "A" paper from a "B+" paper.
Actionable Steps to Perfect Your APA Layout
- Audit your paragraph settings. Check that "Add space after paragraph" is turned OFF. This is the #1 reason APA papers look weird.
- Fix your margins. Ensure you have a 1-inch margin on all sides. Sometimes Word defaults to 1.25 inches on the left and right.
- Check your font. While APA 7 is more flexible (allowing Arial 11, Calibri 11, or Times New Roman 12), the spacing must remain consistent regardless of the typeface.
- Automate your hanging indents. In Word, highlight your references, right-click "Paragraph," and under "Special," select "Hanging."
- Verify your page numbers. They go in the top right corner. They are part of the header, but they should be in the same font as your body text.
- Use a template once, then save it. Don't reinvent the wheel every time you have a midnight deadline. Create a "Perfect APA" file and just swap the text out for every new assignment.
Following the APA format double spaced requirements is less about following "rules" and more about joining a professional conversation. It shows you respect the reader's time and the conventions of the field. Once you get the hang of the settings, it becomes second nature—sort of like riding a bike, but with more citations and less wind in your hair.