APA Guidelines Times New Roman…Not Required

There seems to be a great deal of confusion and discussion about Times New Roman as the only acceptable font by those who follow APA Style® guidelines.  In short,  this is not true.

Yes, the sample papers provided by APA on their webpages are in Times New Roman.  Yes, the APA Publication Manual says Times New Roman is the “preferred typeface of APA publications” (APA, 2009, pp. 228-229).

However,   in the words of the text, ” A serif typeface . . . is preferred for text because it improves readability and reduces eye fatigue”  (APA, 2009, pp. 228-229).  (To hear a definition of serif font, listen to Slide 5 from the Basics of APA Style tutorial on the APAStyle.org  website.)

It is all about readability. The APA Publication Manual does not even use Times New Roman as its primary font.  On page 7 of the introduction, it says the APA Publication Manual has chosen different fonts to enhance understanding and readability.  Additionally, different fonts are recommended for tables and figures.