What APA 101 is
APA 101 is a quick, practical course for getting an APA 7 student paper done without the guesswork. The lessons are short and focused. Each one gives you the exact rules and clear steps, the kind that help when the deadline is close.
PERRLA made and sponsors these lessons. We build software that does the formatting for you, so your time and energy can go into writing a solid paper. The videos and articles teach the rules of the APA format, 7th edition, so they make sense whether or not you use PERRLA.
How the course is laid out
Each lesson shows what matters in an APA 7 student paper and how to apply it. The lessons follow the order a paper gets built, from the first blank page to the final checks:
- Section 1, APA Foundations. What the APA format is, and why professors ask for it.
- Section 2, Formatting Basics. Page setup, the title page, the body pages, and the references page.
- Section 3, Elements of the Body. Headings, and what needs a citation.
- Section 4, References and Citations. Books, journal articles, webpages, in-text citations, and block quotes.
- Section 5, The Writing Process. Academic tone, structure, writing with sources without plagiarizing, and a final clean-up pass.
The advice stays practical, whether this is your first APA paper or your hundredth.
The paper you'll build
By the end of the course you'll know every part of a complete APA 7 student paper. It has three required parts: the title page, the body, and the references page. Lessons 4, 5, and 6 take them one at a time.
Bigfoot: The Truth Revealed
Serena Sparkles
Department of Anthropology, Northfield State University
ANTH 215: Science and Pseudoscience
Dr. Alana Whitfield
October 14, 2026
Bigfoot: The Truth Revealed
Bigfoot has been reported across western North America for decades, yet no body has ever been authenticated. Hair offered as proof keeps matching animals we already know (Sykes et al., 2014), and the pattern goes back to a 1977 test that traced one sample to the deer family (Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], n.d.).
Background
References
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.). Bigfoot. FBI Vault. https://vault.fbi.gov/bigfoot
Sykes, B. C., Mullis, R. A., Hagenmuller, C., Melton, T. W., & Sartori, M. (2014). Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1789), Article 20140161. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0161
A sample Bigfoot paper, used as the example throughout APA 101: the title page, the first body page, and the references page.
Two ways to take the course
Follow the lessons in order and you'll build a paper step by step. Or jump straight to the one topic that's giving you trouble tonight. Either way works.
Following along in your word processor while you watch is a good way to get your own paper formatted as you go.
If you'd rather not format by hand
We built this course for everyone, not only PERRLA users. But if you want the formatting right every time, PERRLA handles every part of the APA 7 guidelines for you. You write, and PERRLA sets the page, the title page, the headings, the citations, and the references page. You can try it free for 7 days, with no credit card.
Thanks for taking APA 101. Next up is What is APA?, a short look at where the format comes from. Already know that part? Skip ahead to Basic page setup.