Dr. Abel Scribe's Guides to APA Style and Documentation

Guides to APA Style Research Papers

APA Style is followed by over a thousand research journals, in psychology and in many other fields. The style is documented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.; 2001). The APA Publication Manual is focused on just that, preparing papers for publication. If you are writing a research paper for a class, the rules change a bit, and the APA Manual has special instructions for you too (see chapter 6). The guides at www.docstyles.com all follow the APA guidelines for preparing papers for class use, what the APA Manual calls final manuscripts (link to amazon.com).

Light Reading? The APA Manual is 467 pages long. Where do you start? You have many options. APA101 is an introductory course in APA style. If you must master the style this is a great place to start (it's basic, but not easy). The "APA Crib Sheet" was developed by a psychology professor in the 1990s and updated by Doc Scribe in the 2000s. It is the best brief guide to APA style found anywhere. The comprehensive Writer's Guide to APA Style is for more advanced users. The Quick Reference uses a graphical interface to highlight the essential feature of APA style for class papers.

Read Me! APA Quick Study. This is the short course to using APA style, just the basics! [PDF version].

APA Warning! "The Publication Manual is not intended to cover scientific writing at an undergraduate level. . . Instructions to students to 'use the Publication Manual' should be accompanied by specific guidelines for its use" (APA, 2001, sec. 6.01). Never fear, Doc Scribe has you covered if your prof does not! Read APA Style Final Manuscripts (PDF) for the details!

APA Style Guides for Final Manuscripts

APA Style Guides for Research Papers. The current edition of the APA Publication Manual (2001) is the first to give instructions for preparing research papers for presentation to classes, seminars, and conferences, as distinct from copy editing and publication. The Manual calls these final manuscripts, and these are the instructions followed in preparing the following guides. The differences are all in the page formatting (details are explained in this three-page PDF file).

	APA Quick Reference. How hard can it be? How hard should it be? The APA Style Quick Reference seeks to answer that question by placing the essential features of APA style a click away (free).
	The APA Crib Sheet dates to 1996, the work of a college professor who wanted a basic guide for students. Doc Scribe began updating the Crib Sheet in 2003, and added a PDF version soon after (APA Crib Sheet Story).

APA101: Introduction to APA Style (Advanced Study)

The APA Publication Manual (2001) is over 450 pages long. Where do you start? Reading a style guide is about as much fun as reading a software manual or a phone book. The challenge is to distill the essential features from the thousands of words of verbiage. An introductory course is available online. If you are too impatient for the work required (it's not an easy course), the APA Quick Study gives an overview.

APA101 Open Enrollment! There are basic rules to using APA style. Once learned, the details tend to fall into place. APA101 is an extensive free course in mastering APA style (APA101 Syllabus).

APA Style Resources by Doc Scribe - Contributions Welcome

APA Hit List & Writer's Guide. The APA Manual insists that datum is the singular form of data (2001, p. 89). It also has firm instructions for using since when you mean because, and uses non-standard symbols for some common statistics. How do you even know what questions to ask? The Writer's Guide has a Hit List of 32 of these obscure features you must attend to if you wish to use the style with authority (Hit List screen shot).

	APA Writer's Guide & Doc Set. The Writer's Guide is an comprehensive guide to APA style which includes the APA Quick Reference and the linked APA Hit List. It is part of the APA Doc Set (information).
	AScribe Reference Manager 6.0. This website got its start in the 1990s with this reference manager. The software then available was crude and expensive (it still is!) so we made our own (information).

APA Document Set ($2.00). The Writer's Guide with the APA Hit List is part of the APA Document Set. The Writer's Guide includes the APA Quick Reference, a guide to punctuation with APA preferences noted, and extensive style notes explaining APA style and usage, about 40 pages in all. The Doc Set also includes the APA Hit List Study Guide (PDF), and the APA Web Sheet, a guide to web references.

Amazon.com

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological

Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Links to Amazon.com: (Spiral Bound $33.95)
(Paperback $26.95 ). Free shipping, no taxes. (Paperback on sale $23.41 Fall 2007)

Fifth Edition! The APA Publication Manual is the commanding guide in psychology, and found in other fields ranging from education to literature. The new edition shows how to format papers (40 pp., 15 with diagrams), expands coverage of tables and figures (50 pp.), adds Web sources to the 95 references sources covered (75 pp.), and refines the best section on avoiding bias found anywhere (15 pp.). The spiral bound edition lies open to the page you select, not a trivial convenience!

Warning! If you are interested in a used copy at amazon.com be sure it is the 5th edition.

Amazon.com

Houghton, P. M., Houghton, T. J., & Peters, M. F. (2005). APA: The Easy Way!. Port Huron, MI:

Baker College. Link to Amazon.com: (Paperback $10.95).

APA Easy? This handbook is a quick and simplified guide to the APA writing style. It was developed as a condensed version of the official APA Publication Manual and designed to be utilized as a supplement to the actual guide. One reviewer at Amazon.com writes: "APA The Easy Way is a godsend. It takes the pain of dealing with the APA Manual, cuts through the BS and tells you the 'meat' of what you really need to know to conform to this style of writing. All-in-all a very simple and easy-to-use guide that helps take the sting out of writing APA style" (Fronckowiak, 2005).

Taylor, B. N. (1995). Guide for the use of the International System of Units (SI) (Special Publication 811).

Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Link to NIST: (http://physics.nist.gov/Document/sp811.pdf). Free, PDF.

The Metric System (SI) is required in APA Style. The NIST is the official representative of the United States before the Convention du Metre which in turn is the body that defines the International System of Units (SI) for the world scientific community. This is also known as the metric system. A free 80 page style guide is available from their website. The link is directly to the document which is in Adobe PDF format. To download rather than display the document click the right mouse button on the link and select "Save Target As" (400 KB - Free).

amazon.com

Endnote (Bibliographies Made Easy?). Version XI. 2007. ISI Research Soft. Windows and Mac.

Amazon Student Versions $95: [Windows] [Mac].

Endnote automatically formats references for you--in standard AMA, APA, CBE, Chicago, ICMJE, and MLA styles, as well as a vast number of journal styles (over 1000). It is the standard of bibliographic software, required at many top universities. Surf for sources online; download bibliographic material from any online database or library catalog. The program comes with templates (for MSWord) that will set up your word processor for you! Endnote is your personal research assistant.

Warning! Reviews of recent versions are poor! Older editions, versions 6 or 7, may be a better buy. These may be available at amazon, used.

A free 30-day trial version is available at the Endnote website.

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