Where Do Appendices Go In APA? | Get The Placement Right

Appendices feel simple until you’re staring at a finished paper and second-guessing the order. Do they go before references? After? What if you’ve got tables and figures? What if your instructor wants tables placed in the text?

This article gives you a clean, repeatable way to place appendices in APA Style, format them so they look right on the page, and avoid the slip-ups that cost points.

What An Appendix Does In APA Style

An appendix is for material that helps a reader understand your work, but would slow down the main text if you dropped it in-line. Think of it as “useful backup” that you still want your reader to see.

Common appendix items include:

• Survey or interview questions
• Extra tables that are too wide or detailed for the body
• Detailed calculations or coding notes
• Consent forms or recruitment text (when allowed)
• Extended data summaries that you refer to in the paper

If the material never gets mentioned in your paper, it usually doesn’t belong in an appendix. Appendices work best when you point to them in the text at the moment the reader would want the extra detail.

Where Do Appendices Go In APA? Placement Rules For Student Papers

In APA Style, appendices come at the end of the paper. In the “pages at the end” sequence, they sit after the reference list. If you’re putting tables and figures on their own pages at the end (a format some classes use), those pages come before the appendices. The official order list from APA Style spells this out. Order of pages in APA Style.

So the placement answer looks like this in plain words:

• References first
• Appendices last

If your instructor wants tables and figures embedded in the text (common for student papers), there may be no end-of-paper tables/figures section at all. In that case, your appendices still go after the reference list.

Two Common Layouts You Might Be Assigned

Classes tend to assign one of these layouts:

• Layout A: Tables/figures placed in the text near where they’re mentioned. Appendices go after references.
• Layout B: Tables/figures placed on separate pages at the end. Appendices go after those end pages.

Either way, the appendix section stays at the back of the paper. The difference is whether your tables/figures live inside the text or get parked on their own pages before the appendices.

How You Signal An Appendix In The Body Text

Don’t make the reader hunt. When you first bring up the extra material, point to it with a clear note in the sentence. Keep it plain:

• “See Appendix A for the full survey items.”
• “Participant prompts are listed in Appendix B.”

This is the “bridge” that makes your appendix feel like part of the paper, not a random add-on.

How To Format An Appendix Page So It Looks Like APA

Formatting is where many papers go off the rails. The good news: APA’s appendix setup rules are short and consistent.

Start each appendix on a new page. At the top, place the appendix label in bold. If you have one appendix, the label is “Appendix.” If you have more than one, use letters: “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on. Then add a clear title beneath the label. The APA Style appendix guidance lays out the label and title placement. Appendices setup in APA Style.

Single Appendix Versus Multiple Appendices

Use this simple rule:

• One appendix: Label it “Appendix” (no letter).
• More than one: Label them “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” “Appendix C,” in the order you first mention them in your paper.

Lettered appendices help readers match the in-text callout to the right page fast.

What Goes Under The Appendix Title

After the label and title, the appendix content follows normal formatting rules for your paper. Keep the same font, spacing, and margins you used in the body.

If the appendix contains paragraphs, write them like normal text. If it contains a list, use a clean list. If it contains tables or figures, label them in a way that ties them to the appendix letter, so a reader can tell where they are without guessing.

How Tables And Figures Work Inside Appendices

If you place a table or figure inside Appendix B, its label should include the appendix letter. That keeps numbering from colliding with tables in the main text and keeps the appendix self-contained.

One clean way to do this:

• Table B1, Table B2
• Figure B1, Figure B2

If you have just one appendix labeled “Appendix,” your appendix tables and figures can still use a letter-style tag to stay distinct from the main paper’s visuals. The goal is clarity when someone flips pages or uses a PDF search.

Appendix Placement And Formatting Decisions At A Glance

Once you know appendices go at the end, the next question is how your specific paper’s parts stack up. This table gives you a fast check for the common pieces students include.

Paper Element	Where It Goes	What To Watch
Reference list	After the main text	Appendices come after this section
Tables in text	Near first mention	Still cite them in text and keep titles consistent
Figures in text	Near first mention	Make captions readable without the body text
Tables on separate end pages	After references, before appendices	Used when an instructor wants “tables at the end”
Figures on separate end pages	After tables (if tables are at end), before appendices	Keep figure numbering consistent with the text callout
One appendix	Last section of the paper	Label it “Appendix” and start it on a new page
Multiple appendices	Last section of the paper	Use Appendix A, Appendix B, then match in-text callouts
Appendix tables/figures	Inside the appendix	Use the appendix letter in labels to avoid confusion
Appendix-only material	Inside the appendix	Make sure the body text points to it

When To Use An Appendix Versus A Footnote Or Extra Paragraph

Students sometimes toss anything “extra” into an appendix. That can backfire if the appendix becomes a second paper tacked onto the first.

Use an appendix when:

• The material is helpful for understanding your methods, measures, or results
• The material is too detailed to sit in the body without breaking the flow
• You refer to it from the text and expect some readers to check it

Skip an appendix when:

• The reader needs the information to follow your main argument
• You never mention the material in the paper
• The material is only “nice to have” and doesn’t add clarity

If a detail is short and the reader needs it right away, placing it in the body is often the cleaner move.

Common Appendix Mistakes That Cost Points

Most appendix errors come from small formatting misses and unclear labeling. Here are the trouble spots instructors flag most often.

Putting The Appendix Before The References

This is the classic mix-up. In APA Style, the reference list comes first, and appendices follow at the end of the paper.

Forgetting To Start Each Appendix On A New Page

If Appendix A ends mid-page and Appendix B starts right under it, it looks cramped and makes page navigation messy in a PDF. Give each appendix its own page.

Leaving Out The Appendix Title

“Appendix A” alone isn’t enough. The title tells the reader what they’re about to see. Keep it short and direct.

Not Matching In-Text Callouts To Labels

If your text says “see Appendix B” but your paper has only “Appendix” with no letters, the reader has to guess. Pick one system and keep it consistent.

Dumping Raw Data Without Context

Appendices can include data, but it still needs a quick label or note so the reader knows what it is. A page of numbers with no header feels like a copy-paste accident.

How To Build An Appendix That Feels Clean And Credible

Here’s a practical way to assemble an appendix so it supports your paper without turning into clutter.

Step 1: List The Extra Items You Think You Need

Write down everything you’re tempted to add: survey items, raw outputs, extra tables, stimulus text, and so on.

Step 2: Mark Which Items Get Mentioned In The Paper

Only items you point to from the body should make the final cut. If you can’t name the sentence where you’ll reference it, pause and rethink whether it belongs.

Step 3: Group Similar Items Together

Keep each appendix focused. One appendix for survey items. One for extra results tables. One for coding details. Mixing unrelated material inside one appendix is where readers get lost.

Step 4: Decide Your Appendix Labels

If you have one appendix, label it “Appendix.” If you have multiple, label them A, B, C in the order you first mention them in the text.

Step 5: Add Clear Titles

Good titles say what’s on the page without extra words. Think “Survey Items” or “Full Regression Output,” not a sentence-long heading.

Step 6: Clean The Formatting Before You Export

Before you save as PDF, check spacing, bold labels, and page breaks. This is where most “I swear I had it right” errors happen.

Appendix Setup Checklist You Can Run In Two Minutes

Use this as a quick final pass right before you submit.

Check	Pass Standard	Fix If Not
Placement	Appendices appear after references	Move appendix pages to the end
Page breaks	Each appendix starts on a new page	Insert a page break before each appendix
Labeling	Appendix or Appendix A/B/C is bold at top	Update labels so they match count and order
Titles	Each appendix has a clear title under the label	Add a short, specific title
In-text callouts	Body text points to each appendix you include	Add callouts or remove unused appendix items
Appendix visuals	Tables/figures inside appendices are labeled clearly	Add appendix-letter-based labels and consistent titles

Quick Placement Examples For Typical Student Assignments

Seeing the order in a real assignment setup helps the rules stick. Here are a few common cases.

Case A: One Appendix With Survey Questions

Your paper ends with references. After the references page, you add a new page labeled “Appendix” with the title “Survey Items.” In the methods section, you add a sentence pointing readers to the appendix.

Case B: Two Appendices With Extra Tables

You mention Appendix A in your results section for a detailed table, and Appendix B in your methods section for full prompts. Your paper ends with references, then Appendix A on a new page, then Appendix B on a new page.

Case C: Instructor Wants Tables At The End

You keep tables and figures on separate pages after the reference list. Then your appendices follow those pages, still at the end. This matches APA’s page ordering guidance when tables and figures are parked at the end rather than embedded in the text.

One Last Sanity Check Before You Submit

If you remember one rule, make it this: references come before appendices in APA Style. Once that’s in place, the rest is clean labeling and consistent formatting.

When your appendix pages are easy to scan and your in-text callouts match the labels, your reader doesn’t have to work. That’s the whole point.