|
APA QUICK STUDY Dr. Abel Scribe PhD - Fall 2007 |
|
The APA Quick Study is a concise guide to the basic features and essential rules of APA (American
Psychological Association) style. Based on the current fifth edition of the APA Publication Manual (2001),
it is a companion guide to the APA Research Style Crib Sheet. While the Crib Sheet focuses on the
details, the Quick Study highlights those features that are trademarks of APA style. Warning! APA style is plagued by exasperating nuances that are easy to trip over, even at a basic level. Nor is the APA Manual much help if you don't know what questions to ask. The APA Crib Sheet and Quick Study are focused on the basic college research paper, and note those nuances you are likely to encounter in its preparation. Precise use of APA style calls for a wary predisposition. APA Warning! This is from the APA Publication Manual: "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). Doc Scribe does this for you if your prof does not! Read APA Style Final Manuscripts (PDF) for the details! Quick Study: Introduction Doc gets a kick-back when you buy books through this Web site. What is style? Draw the line! What's a final manuscript? Quick Study: APA Documentation A research paper threads its way into a dialogue among researchers. This conversation is documented by citations and references. If the documentation is poor or incomplete the dialogue sputters and fails, becoming little more than noise. You must get this right. Quick Study: Page Format There are separate instructions for preparing a paper for publication, a copy manuscript (the main focus of the Publication Manual), and for presentation in its final form for a class, or seminar, a final manuscript. Quick Study: APA Editorial Style APA style merges into common English usage, but what is unique to APA style, and what is common usage? There are five sets of rules that merit particular attention: (a) abbreviations, (b) capitalization, (c) emphasis, (d) numbers, and (e) quotations. APA Style Resources: APA Guide Home Page | APA Crib Sheet | APA Quick Study PDF. The APA Style Quick Reference and online course--APA101--are available from the APA Guide Home Page. Page optimized for viewing at 800x600 resolution. |
![]() |
APA style is widely used in the fields of psychology and education, and by others. In the early 1990s a study identified over a thousand journals using the style. The best explanation for this popularity is the quality of its documentation. If you are working on a serious project—a thesis, dissertation, or paper for publication—the APA Manual is an essential acquisition (free shipping, no taxes at amazon.com). The style is detailed, nuanced, and comprehensive, so don’t handicap your work by guessing if you must get it right. American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Links to APA Manual at Amazon.com: (Paperback $26.95) (Spiral Bound $33.95). |
|
APA Easy? This handbook is a quick and simplified guide to the APA writing style, intended to be used as a supplement to the official APA Publication Manual. 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). Houghton, P. M., Houghton, T. J., & Peters, M. F. (2005). APA: The Easy Way!. Port Huron, MI: Link to APA: The Easy Way at Amazon.com: (Paperback $10.95). |
|
|
Contents | APA Crib Sheet
There are three basic styles of references: (a) author-date, (b) bibliography, and (c) note, as in endnotes or footnotes. APA style uses the author-date style, with text citations placed in parentheses (parenthetical citations) in author-date format. References and citations must correspond, that is, everything cited in the text must be referenced, and only the works cited are included in the reference list. There are two practices to keep in mind when formatting APA references:
References are composed of elements. These are: (a) author, (b) date, (c) title, (d) publication information, and (e) Internet access information. Each element is followed by a period. APA style follows these rules: Publication Information (Periodicals). By convention (shared with other styles) no publisher is given for journals and other periodicals, the title or name of the journal (in italics) is sufficient. This is followed by the publication information in the form: volume(issue), pages.
|
| Book: | Author, F. M. (2006). The title of the book or volume (Xth ed.). City, ST: Publisher. |
| Chapter: |
|
| Journal: |
|
| Magazine: | Author, F. M. (2006, April). Title of the magazine article. Name of the Magazine, 10, 123-156. |
| Newspaper: | Author, F. M. (2006, April 1). Title of the newspaper article. Name of the Newspaper, pp. 123-156. |
| Report: | Writer, F. M. (2006). Title of a published report (Report Number 123). City, ST: Publisher. |
|
References to Journals: Print, Facsimile, Online APA style has three ways of referencing journal articles depending on the medium in which they are published. Facsimiles in Portable Document Format (PDF) are commonly available for print articles. These references are formatted like references to print sources with the note [Electronic version] in brackets added after the title. Online versions add a retrieval statement. Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort) in major Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort) in major Text Citations Ideas and direct quotes are cited in the text using parenthetical citations in the form: (Author, date). Only last names are used in the citation. When a direct quote is cited the page number is added: (Author, 2006, p. 123). When there are two or more coauthors, the last author is preceded by an ampersand: (Author, Author, & Author, 2006). An ampersand is only used in references, and inside parentheses in the text. Write "Smith and Jones (2006) claimed . . ." or "It was claimed (Smith & Jones, 2006) . . . " Remember: APA documentation has a passion for parentheses, and follows conventional punctuation. Contents | APA Crib Sheet Chapter 6 in the APA Manual, “Material Other Than Journal Articles,” gives instructions for formatting papers in their final form for a class, thesis, or dissertation, a final manuscript. Three changes are called for: (a) block paragraph spacing, (b) tables and figures embedded in the text (not on separate pages at the end of a paper), and (c) the consolidation of the title and abstract pages on a single page. (A separate title-author page is required for review. This is torn off to preserve anonymity.) Margins are 1 inch around the page. Headings are conventional (with nasty nuances), described in the APA Crib Sheet. ![]() Block paragraph spacing single spaces blocks of text, double spacing before and after. Titles (and other headings), the abstract, author information, block quotes, table headings and notes, and references are all block paragraph spaced. In copy manuscripts for publication everything is double spaced. Number every page! The title page is page one. ![]() APA style requires the use of a serif font, such as Times Roman or Courier. A serif font has small cross bars on the letters. The APA Manual also expresses a preference for a fairly large, 12-point, font, but accepts a smaller (10-point) elite typewriter-sized font as well. Tables and figures are placed on separate pages and added to the end of a manuscript when preparing a paper for publication (a copy manuscript). But when preparing a final manuscript---a class paper, thesis, or dissertation---they are inserted at the appropriate place in the text. Do not break tables or figures across separate pages. Contents | APA Crib Sheet Standard American English usage is sometimes ambiguous, and some conventions may not be familiar to those new to research writing. There are five topics that merit special attention: some practices shared by other styles, some unique to APA style. 1. Abbreviations There are two rules to note, both standard usage in research writing: (a) define acronyms, and (b) never use lowercase or Latin abbreviations in plain text. Acronyms are letters representing words.
2. Capitalization Rule
3. Emphasis: Italics or Quotes?
“Use figures to express numbers 10 and above and words to express numbers below 10” as long as the numbers below 10 do not express precise measurements and are not grouped with numbers above 10 (APA, 2001, p. 122).
5. Quotations: Block Quotes? |
|
APA style is fraught with nuances. The APA Manual insists that datum is the singular form of data, though dictionaries disagree (p. 89). This level of detail is unproductive. It is far more worthwhile to get the basics right and focus on content. Flawless documentation is essential (see APA101.2). Every reference must lead to a valid source, every URL must work (APA101.3). Numbers and statistics must be presented with precision (APA101.7). Page formatting has a distinctive APA look and feel (APA101.4). Don't improvise, especially in presenting tables (APA101.5)! Beyond these cautions, most of what you need know of APA style has been covered in just these few pages. Now turn your attention to content. Quick Study: Gopen and Swan (1990), "The Science of Scientific Writing." |
![]()
![]()
APA Quick Study - Fall 2007
www.docstyles.com