How to Write a Table of Contents in APA Style

The American Psychological Association (APA) style of writing is a style commonly used in the social sciences. While the sixth edition of the APA style guide contains detailed rules for citations, manuscript formatting, abbreviations and the inclusion of numbers and tables, there are some items that are not included, such as rules for a table of contents.

Because APA style is primarily intended for individuals who are submitting articles to scholarly journals or other periodicals, many items related to the structure of a book are not included in the APA style guide. For example, the formatting for tables of contents are not included in APA style because they are not relevant to scholarly article writing. Instead, it is common to have an abstract of your paper directly after your title page in APA style. If you are writing a paper that requires a table of contents, the APA style guide editors recommend consulting with your professor or publisher on how to properly format your information to their specifications.