APA-Formatted Systematic Literature Review on FCT for ASD
The content is done. Assignment 11 is about formatting — taking your completed systematic review on Functional Communication Training and making every element conform to APA 7th edition standards. Title page, abstract structure, heading levels, in-text citations, reference list, and the PRISMA appendix. Each one has specific rules that the rubric checks independently. Here’s how to approach each piece.
You’ve done the substantive work across Assignments 1 through 10. The PRISMA checklist is complete. The literature is synthesized. The Discussion, Limitations, and Future Research sections are written. Assignment 11 is not asking you to generate new content — it’s asking you to dress everything in APA’s formal structure and verify that every citation, heading, and formatting detail meets the standard the rubric grades on three distinct criteria.
What This Guide Covers
What the Rubric Is Actually Grading
Three criteria. Each weighted differently. Knowing the weight helps you decide where to spend the most time.
Excellent Means “Thoroughly Adheres to All APA Guidelines” — No Exceptions Carve-Out
The Excellent descriptor for criterion one says the paper “thoroughly adheres to all APA style guidelines, including formatting, in-text citations, references, headings, and overall structure.” That’s a complete list. Every one of those five elements — formatting, citations, references, headings, structure — is checked. Missing one element cleanly drops you from Excellent (4) to Proficient (3) at minimum.
Criterion 2 — Quality of Writing and Clarity: The Excellent descriptor includes “adherence to APA guidelines for language and tone.” APA has specific language standards: avoid first person in most academic contexts (unless describing methodological procedures), use bias-free language for describing populations (people with ASD, not “autistic patients” in most academic APA contexts), use active voice where possible, and write at a consistently academic register. A well-cited paper with writing that’s disorganized or inconsistent in tone will not score Excellent on criterion 2.Criterion 3 — Citation and Referencing Accuracy: “All citations and references are accurately formatted with no errors or omissions.” No errors means no errors — not “mostly right.” The reference list for this paper includes a mix of single-subject studies, meta-analyses, and secondary reviews. Each citation type has slightly different APA formatting requirements. Check each one individually.
Title Page Requirements — APA 7th Edition Student Format
The APA 7th edition student title page is different from the professional title page. Since this is a capstone paper — not a journal submission — the student format applies unless your program explicitly requires the professional format.
Title, Author, Institution, Course, Instructor, Due Date — All Centered, No Running Head on Student Papers
APA 7th edition removed the running head requirement for student papers. If your instructor hasn’t specified otherwise, you don’t need a running head. The page number still appears in the top right header on every page, including the title page.
Title: Centered, bold, in the upper half of the page. Title case. Should be specific and descriptive — for a systematic review on FCT for SIB in ASD, something like: Functional Communication Training for Self-Injurious Behavior in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review. Keep it under 12 words if possible, though systematic review titles often run longer.Author name: Centered, one double-spaced line below the title. First name, middle initial (if used), last name. No credentials or degrees.
Institutional affiliation: Centered, one double-spaced line below author name. Department and institution. For example: Department of Applied Behavior Analysis, Martinsburg College.
Course name and number: Centered. For example: ABA515: ABA Capstone.
Instructor name: Centered. Use their full name and title as your program expects.
Due date: Centered. Spell out the month: May 28, 2026.
In APA 7th edition, the page number appears in the top right corner of the header on every page, starting with the title page as page 1. Insert it using Word’s header function so it auto-numbers. Don’t manually type page numbers — if you insert or delete content later, manual numbers become wrong. The Abstract is page 2. The Introduction starts on page 3.
Structuring the Abstract for a Systematic Review
Your existing abstract already uses a structured format — Background, Purposes (or Objectives), Methods, Findings, Conclusions. That’s the right approach for a systematic review. The APA formatting question is about how those labels appear and how the abstract is laid out on the page.
Its Own Page, Labeled “Abstract” as a Level 1 Heading, 150–250 Words
The abstract appears on its own page, immediately after the title page. The word “Abstract” is centered and bold at the top of the page — this is an APA Level 1 heading. The abstract text begins on the next line, not indented. The abstract is not indented at all — it’s the one paragraph in APA format that starts flush left without a paragraph indent.
Structured abstract label formatting: For systematic reviews, each labeled section (Background, Objectives, Methods, Findings, Conclusions) typically appears in italic at the start of each sentence, immediately followed by the text. Example: Background. Self-injurious behavior (SIB) presents a severe risk…Keywords line: APA requires a Keywords line directly below the abstract, indented 0.5 inches, with the label Keywords: in italics followed by three to five lowercase keywords separated by commas. Example: Keywords: functional communication training, self-injurious behavior, autism spectrum disorder, differential reinforcement, single-subject experimental design
Word count: Check your existing abstract — if it exceeds 250 words, trim it. If it’s under 150, expand it. The word count in the rubric feedback matters at the committee review stage (Assignment 11b).
APA Heading Levels for a Systematic Review
This is where most systematic reviews have formatting problems. The paper has multiple layers of organization — major sections, subsections within Methods, subsections within Results, sub-subsections within Discussion. Each layer needs the right heading level. Using the wrong level, or using bold inconsistently, drops you on criterion 1.
| APA Level | Format | Used For | Examples in This Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Centered, Bold, Title Case | Major sections | Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Appendix A |
| Level 2 | Flush Left, Bold, Title Case | Subsections within major sections | Search Strategy, Data Collection Process, Study Selection, Study Characteristics, General Interpretation, Research Limitations |
| Level 3 | Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case | Sub-subsections within Level 2 | Effect Measures, Synthesis Methods, Reporting Bias Assessment, Certainty Assessment, Future Research Opportunities |
| Level 4 | Indented, Bold, Title Case, Period | Rarely needed — fourth layer of hierarchy | Unlikely to be needed in this paper’s structure |
The word “References” at the start of the reference list is a Level 1 APA heading — centered and bold. “Appendix A” is also a Level 1 heading, with the appendix title on the next line (also centered and bold, not italicized). These are standard, and they need to match the same format as Introduction, Methods, and Results — not be formatted differently because they appear at the end of the document.
Walk Through the Paper Systematically — Don’t Rely on Visual Spot-Check
Open your document and use Word’s Navigation Pane (View → Navigation Pane → Headings) to see every heading in the document. If a heading doesn’t appear there, it’s not formatted as a heading style — it might just be manually bolded text, which Word won’t recognize as a structural heading. For APA papers, apply the correct Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 style from Word’s Styles panel, then modify those styles to match APA formatting exactly.
How to set up Word heading styles for APA: Right-click Heading 1 in the Styles panel → Modify → set font to Times New Roman 12pt, centered, bold, no extra spacing before or after → OK. Repeat for Heading 2 (flush left, bold, no indent) and Heading 3 (flush left, bold italic). Applying these styles to your headings ensures consistent formatting throughout and makes the Navigation Pane functional for review.In-Text Citation Rules for This Paper
Your paper cites five primary sources repeatedly. Each one has specific citation requirements depending on its author count, and you’ll cite several of them multiple times across different sections. Consistency matters — the same source must be cited the same way every single time.
Citation Format by Author Count (APA 7th Edition)
- 1 author: (Tiger, 2008) — or Tiger (2008) if author is named in text
- 2 authors: (Carr & Durand, 1985) — ampersand inside parentheses, “and” in running text
- 3+ authors: (Alakhzami & Chitiyo, 2022) — only two authors here, so always both; (Blair et al., 2025) for three or more from first citation
- Multiple sources together: List alphabetically, separated by semicolons: (Alakhzami & Chitiyo, 2022; Blair et al., 2025; Tiger et al., 2008)
Sources in This Paper and Their Citation Form
- Alakhzami & Chitiyo (2022) — two authors, always both named
- Blair et al. (2025) — three or more authors, et al. from first use
- Carr & Durand (1985) — two authors, always both; foundational FCT citation
- Corr et al. (2025) — three or more authors, et al. from first use
- Houck et al. (2022) — three or more authors, et al. from first use
- Rivera et al. (2023) — three or more authors, et al. from first use
- Tiger et al. (2008) — three or more authors, et al. from first use
Parenthetical citation at end of sentence: The citation goes inside the period for a standalone sentence. Example: FCT was developed as a non-aversive differential reinforcement paradigm (Carr & Durand, 1985).
Narrative citation (author in text): When the author is named as part of the sentence, only the year goes in parentheses. Example: Carr and Durand (1985) first described FCT as a method of… Note: “and” is spelled out in running text; “&” is used only inside parentheses.
Block quotes: For direct quotes over 40 words. Indented 0.5 inches from left margin, no quotation marks, citation after the final punctuation with page number: (Tiger et al., 2008, p. 12). Minimize direct quotes in scientific writing — paraphrase instead.
Statistics and data: Cite the source immediately after any specific statistic. PND scores of 95%–100% (Alakhzami & Chitiyo, 2022) — not at the end of a paragraph that contains multiple statistics from multiple sources.
Reference List Formatting — Entry by Entry
The reference list gets its own page after the paper ends, before any appendices. “References” is centered and bold (Level 1 heading). Entries are alphabetical by first author’s last name. Double-spaced throughout. Hanging indent: first line flush left, all subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches.
Author, Year, Title, Journal, Volume(Issue), Pages, DOI — Every Element in That Order
The template for a journal article reference entry: Last, F. M., & Last, F. M. (Year). Title of article in sentence case only. Journal Name in Title Case, Volume(Issue), first page–last page. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Sentence case for article titles: Only the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon are capitalized. “Functional Communication Training for Severe Self-Injurious Behavior” becomes “Functional communication training for severe self-injurious behavior.” This is one of the most common citation errors in student papers.Title case for journal names: The journal name and volume are italicized. Every major word in the journal name is capitalized: Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 55(3), 812–830. The issue number is in parentheses immediately after the volume, not italicized.
DOI format: APA 7th edition uses the DOI as a hyperlink in the format https://doi.org/xxxxx — not “doi:” or “DOI:”. No period after the DOI. If an article has no DOI but has a stable URL, use the URL. If there is no DOI and no stable URL, omit that element — don’t write “no DOI available.”
et al. in references: In the reference list, unlike in-text citations, you list all authors up to 20. For 21 or more, list the first 19, then an ellipsis (…), then the last author. Don’t use et al. in the reference list for papers with 3–20 authors.
Run a cross-check before submitting. List every author-year combination that appears in the text. Then check that each one has a matching entry in the reference list. Then check the reference list — every entry should have at least one in-text citation somewhere in the paper. Tiger et al. (2008) appears many times throughout this review; that entry needs to be in the reference list. Carr and Durand (1985) appears in the Introduction; that needs a reference entry. Orphaned citations or references are immediate deductions on criterion 3.
Formatting the PRISMA Table and Any Data Tables
Your paper has at least one major table — the PRISMA 2020 Checklist in Appendix A. It may also include a data extraction summary table in the Results section. APA 7th edition has specific formatting rules for tables that are distinct from the rules for the rest of the text.
Number Every Table Sequentially
Tables are numbered in the order they appear in the paper: Table 1, Table 2, etc. The word “Table” and the number are bold, flush left, above the table. On the next line directly below, the table title appears in italics, flush left, title case. Example: Table 1 (bold, flush left, then line break) PRISMA 2020 Checklist Items and Reporting Locations (italic, flush left). No period after the title.
Column Headings Are Bold, Body Text Is Not
In APA tables, column headers (the top row) are bold. Stub column entries (first column, if it contains category labels) are also typically bold. Body cells are regular weight. Horizontal lines appear above and below the header row and at the bottom of the table — no vertical lines, no internal cell borders. APA tables use a three-line format: top line, line below headers, bottom line.
Add a Note Below the Table If Abbreviations Are Used
If your PRISMA table or any data table uses abbreviations (SIB, FCT, FCR, SSEDs, PND, CEC, IOA), add a table note below the bottom line. The note label is italic and flush left: Note. Then the note text in regular weight. Example: Note. FCT = functional communication training; SIB = self-injurious behavior; PND = percentage of non-overlapping data; CEC = Council for Exceptional Children; IOA = interobserver agreement.
Format the Appendix A Page Correctly
Appendix A starts on its own page after the reference list. “Appendix A” is a Level 1 heading — centered and bold. The title of the appendix goes on the next line, also centered and bold. Example: Appendix A (Level 1) then PRISMA 2020 Checklist (title, also centered and bold per APA 7th edition appendix format). The table within the appendix follows the table formatting rules above, numbered as Table A1 (tables in appendices get the appendix letter prefix).
Global Formatting Checks — Before You Export
APA 7th edition has document-wide formatting requirements that apply from the first page to the last. These are easy to overlook when you’re focused on headings and citations.
The Revision and Resubmission Workflow
Assignment 11 is structured in two stages. The first submission (11a) goes to your instructor for review and feedback. After feedback, you revise and resubmit for approval and a grade. Once approved, you submit the final version as Assignment 11b, which goes to your second committee member. That second review is another feedback loop before the capstone is finalized.
Track Every Comment — Don’t Rely on Memory
When instructor feedback arrives on your 11a submission, make a systematic list of every comment before you start revising. Some programs use a Change Matrix document for this — a table tracking each comment and the change made in response. Even if your program doesn’t require it formally, the practice prevents you from accidentally overlooking a comment in the revision pass.
Common instructor feedback categories on APA formatting drafts:— Heading level inconsistency (a subsection formatted as Level 1 when it should be Level 2)
— Missing DOIs or broken DOI hyperlinks in the reference list
— In-text citations not matching reference entries (year discrepancy, et al. used incorrectly)
— Sentence case not applied to article titles in references
— Article title not italicized when it should be, or journal name not italicized
— Abstract over 250 words or Keywords line missing
— Paragraph spacing set to “after paragraph” adding extra white space
— Statistics written as words instead of numerals or vice versa
Mistakes That Drop Your Rubric Score
Using Title Case for Article Titles in the Reference List
“Functional Communication Training for Severe Self-Injurious Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder” — this is title case. APA 7th edition requires sentence case for article titles in references. Only the first word, proper nouns, and the word after a colon are capitalized. This is one of the most frequently missed formatting rules.
Apply Sentence Case to Article Titles — Then Double-Check
“Functional communication training for severe self-injurious behavior in autism spectrum disorder” — sentence case. Note that “Autism Spectrum Disorder” keeps its capitals because it’s a proper clinical name. Go through every reference entry title individually. Autocorrect in Word will sometimes capitalize randomly — turn it off for the reference list.
Writing “et al.” in the Reference List for 3–20 Authors
In-text citations use “et al.” for three or more authors. Reference list entries do not — you list all authors up to 20. Tiger et al. (2008) in the text becomes a full reference entry listing all authors: Tiger, J. H., Hanley, G. P., & Bruzek, J. (2008). Writing et al. in the reference list is an APA error that drops criterion 3.
List All Authors in Reference Entries (Up to 20)
Look up each reference and count the authors. For all papers in your review that have three to twenty authors, list all of them in the reference entry. Use et al. only for the rare case of 21 or more authors. This is a rules difference many students don’t realize exists between in-text and reference list format.
Inconsistent Heading Levels Throughout the Paper
Formatting “Search Strategy” as Level 1 (centered, bold) when it’s a subsection of Methods — which is already Level 1 — creates a structural inconsistency. A subsection of a Level 1 section must be Level 2. Evaluators reviewing a systematic review paper know the standard structure and notice hierarchy errors immediately.
Map Your Full Heading Structure Before Formatting
Write out every heading in the paper with its intended level before you apply formatting. Verify the hierarchy is logical: Level 1 contains Level 2 subsections; Level 2 contains Level 3 sub-subsections. Then apply Word Heading styles systematically. Using styles (not manual bold) ensures consistent appearance throughout.
No Keywords Line Below the Abstract
APA 7th edition requires a Keywords line directly below the abstract paragraph, indented, with the label in italics. Many students complete a well-structured abstract and then forget this element entirely. It’s a small detail but it’s one of the explicit APA elements criterion 1 checks for.
Add the Keywords Line as the Last Step on the Abstract Page
After finalizing the abstract text, add a new line indented 0.5 inches with Keywords: in italics, followed by three to five lowercase keywords separated by commas. For this paper, good keywords include: functional communication training, self-injurious behavior, autism spectrum disorder, differential reinforcement, single-subject experimental design.
Using “doi:” Instead of the https://doi.org/ Format
APA 6th edition used “doi:” followed by the DOI string. APA 7th edition changed this — DOIs are now formatted as hyperlinks in the form https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx. Using the old format is a citation accuracy error under criterion 3 for papers explicitly required to use APA 7th edition.
Format Every DOI as a Full URL Hyperlink
Go to each reference entry and replace any “doi:” format with https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI string. Hyperlink it in Word (Ctrl+K or right-click → Link) so it appears as a blue underlined link. Verify the link resolves to the correct article before submitting — broken DOI links are also flagged.
APA Formatting Pre-Submission Checklist
Frequently Asked Questions
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Dissertation Writing Service Get StartedOne Pass Is Not Enough
APA formatting errors are almost never caught in a single read-through. The reference list needs its own dedicated pass. The heading structure needs its own pass. The in-text citations — especially the ones citing multiple sources together or using narrative form — need their own pass. Trying to catch all of it simultaneously means something gets missed every time.
A practical approach: export the document to PDF after formatting and read it in a different view. Errors that blend into the editing environment become visible in the read-only PDF format. Also run a search for common errors — search for “doi:” to catch any old-format DOIs that need to be updated to the https://doi.org/ format. Search for “& et al.” which would indicate an incorrect combination of author formats.
The rubric’s Excellent threshold is “thoroughly adheres to all APA guidelines with no errors.” That’s a high bar. The way to reach it is systematic checking, not a holistic impression. Treat the pre-submission checklist above as a literal sequence — check each item, mark it complete, then move to the next.