APA stands for American Psychological association style is widely used for research papers published in the field of social sciences. Outlines are required when a publication from APA style research paper is rewritten for a college course. The main purpose of outline is to derive maximum information and presented in a clear and simple style to the student. The outline typically consists of headings and subheadings which have a consistent use of verb or noun. This is called as parallelism, which helps to maintain a uniform structure between heading and subheading.  The amount of information in each main heading should have equal importance. The information depicted by main heading is then explained in detail by the subheadings. There are certain formats for representing the heading and subheadings. Headings are mainly identified by Roman numerals and capital letters are used to show subheadings. The subheadings are further indicated by arab numerals or lower case letters.

A typical example of such an Apa Outline Sample for a college course will be as follows: Preparation for an annual sports competition in the college

I.                   Make a list of sports to be organized.

A.    Identify sports that have always been organised in the past years.

B.     Identify new sports that have been suggested.

II.                Make a list of students participation

A.    Identify past achievements and student participation in various sports

B.     Make a list of sports which fit for each grade of students.

III.             Make a list of facilities available
A. Look for facilities if need repair

1.      Identify the repair work needed.

2.      Identify people needed to do the work.

B.     Identify new facilities required for new sports introduced.

1.      Plan meeting to convey the authorities the need for new facilities.

2.      Visit places which have good new facilities.

3.      Make quotes for new facilities.

a.       Invite tender for the quotes.

b.      Decide on tender and generate a contract.

c.       Set a timeline for completion of the contract.

IV.             Make a list of funding sources

1.      List different funding sources of past.

a.       Inquire if the funding is currently available.

(1)   Suggest if funding can be increased.

2.      List sources of new funding

a.       Write application letters justifying the funding.

b.      Discuss replies with the committee members.

3.      Generate a budget.

a.       List items for sports equipments, infrastructure.

b.      List items for prizes, certificates.

c.       List expenses for miscellaneous items.

There are other kinds of outlines that are available for an APA outline namely decimal outline and full sentence outline. Both these outlines are also routinely used and depend entirely on the user or the requirement of the course. An outline helps to organize content of research paper effectively and brings out the weakness and arguments of the paper.