APA style has special rules for expressing numbers within a research papers. For more detailed information on numbers, please see pages 178-181 in the APA 7th edition manual. When using numbers in APA, keep these two basic rules in mind.
• Use words instead of numerals when expressing numbers one through nine.
• Use numerals for numbers 10 and up.
Use words to express numbers in the following situations: (see page 179, Section 6.33 in the APA 7th edition manual)
When a number is the first word in a sentence, title, or heading. Reword a sentence whenever possible to avoid using numbers at the beginning of a sentence.
Twelve students completed the survey on depression.
Twenty percent of the sample showed an increase in stress levels.
Simple fractions
One half of the participants.
a two-thirds majority
Use the"universally accepted usage" for certain proper nouns
The Twelve Apostles
The Twelfth Imam
Use numbers in the following situations:
Numbers followed by a unit of measurement.
2 cm
500 mg of acetaminophen
98.6 F
Statistical or mathematical functions, decimal fractions, proportions, percentages.
dived by 3
5 times as many
a ratio of 5:1
Numbers that represent scores, points on a scale, numerals as numerals, and any numbers in a figure or graph.
a score of 5 on a 7 point Likert scale
Numbers indicating a specific point in a numbered series.
Chapter 2
Study 1
When the noun comes before the number, the noun is usually capitalized. If the number comes before the noun, the usual APA number rule still applys. See examples below.
| Numbers after a Noun | Numbers before a Noun |
| Year 1 | the 1st year |
| Grade 4, Grade 10 | the fourth grade, the 10th grade |
| Items 3 and 5 | the third and fifth items |
| Question 2 | the second question |
| Table 2, Figure 5 | the second table, the fifth table |
| Column 8, Row 7 | the eighth column, the seventh row |
| Chapter 1, Chapter 12 | the first chapter, the 12th chapter |
Use words for approximations of numbers of days, months, and years. The manual does not dictate anything for approximations of weeks, decades, or centuries. Use your own judgment when longer lengths of time.
Numerals and Words Together:
At times, numbers can end up back to back as modifiers to a noun. An example, 10 7-point scale can easliy be misread as 107 point scale. This would result in making your data confusing to the reader. It is recommended that you use a combination of words and numbers to define your numbers.
Example:
ten 7-point scales
3 two-way interactions
twenty 6-year-olds