Introduction to APA Style & Formatting

Introduction to APA Style & Formatting

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An Introduction to the APA Style of Writing Papers

• The APA style for writing research papers is the format described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 6th Edition.

• The Purdue OWL section on APA Style is a good reference: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

• Many students have learned the MLA (Modern Language Association) style in their composition classes and are more familiar with this style than the APA one.

• The Web site, http://www.apastyle.org should be consulted on a frequent basis to see the latest changes with respect to this style of writing.

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http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/


http://www.apastyle.org/


Some General APA Style, Research Writing Guidelines

Double-space the entire manuscript.

Make the margins 1 to 1.5 inches on all sides.

Use the following font: 12-pt Times New Roman only.

Write in the third person and past tense throughout.

Use gender-fair language (try to avoid his/her by using plurals).

When reviewing the literature, avoid long quotations (i.e., paragraphs); paraphrase wherever possible and cite with appropriate APA referencing (author or authors’ last name[s], followed by year); use short quotes for phrases and sentences and include page #s.

The Title Page should be numbered page 1, have a Running head, title, your name, and affiliation’s name. See Week 2 APA Paper Example

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Some General APA Style, Research Writing Guidelines

Main headers should be centered on the page (Abstract, Method, Results, Discussion, References).

Any side-headers are offset from the text, up against the left margin, and italicized (Participants, Instruments, Procedure, Research Design).

Paragraphs are a minimum of three sentences.

When listing items in a series, a comma goes before “and” of the last item (i.e., town, cities, and states).

Do not use contractions, but instead, write out words (i.e., don’t > do not)

Write out acronyms the first they are used (i.e., APA > American Psychological Association).

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APA Style Rules/Tips for Writing

• This is how to use a colon between two grammatically complete clauses if related (i.e., similar results have been found when examining eye-tracking patterns: Older adults looked at positive images longer than younger adults did).

• This demonstrates using a semicolon to separate two independent clauses not joined by a conjunction (i.e., the authors hypothesized that on the whole, older adults would be slower to detect information than younger adults would be; the critical question was whether the two age groups would show similar or divergent facilitation effects).

• Sometimes placing “the” before a subject can make it sound very particular when it is meant generally (i.e., after completing an assignment, the students will submit for review). Since there are not any specific students who will do this, but rather all, “the” should be deleted.

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APA Style Rules/Tips for Writing

• Transitional and prepositional words and phrases are great for fluidity/segue into a new sentence or paragraph (i.e., “however”, “meanwhile”,” during”, “additionally/in addition”, “for example”, “consistent with”, “henceforth”, and various others). It reduces repetitiveness and increases professionalism and readability.

• A comma goes after such phrases (i.e. during the interview process, it was evident that she would get the job; or however, she lacked the confidence).

• Apostrophes can show singular or plural possession (i.e., an employee’s behavior is singular possessive; employees’ behavior is plural possessive). It is the matter of apostrophe placement in the context of a sentence.

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More APA Rules/Tips

• It is best to write from a reader’s perspective (i.e., be sure everything is clear, cohesive, detailed, and focused). A reader needs to be able to follow along, even if unfamiliar with a topic, without difficulty and replicate a study if desired.

• Language is important (i.e., avoid generalizations, bias, dehumanizing terms/labels, cause-effect words such as “prove” or “cause”, and watch the tone of writing). The bias in language document is a great resource for further details.

• Keep consistency with syntax and structure (i.e., the island was beautiful, I relaxed and was warm > the island was beautiful, relaxing, and warm).

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More APA Rules/Tips

• Numbers and subjects should match (i.e., the two social worker was subpoenaed > the two social workers were subpoenaed). In this sentence, “two” and “workers” are plural and “were” is the grammatically appropriate term.

• Homonyms can be tricky, yet fun with similar sounds, but have different spellings and meanings (i.e., their [people], there [location], and they’re [they are]; to [in direction of], too [a lot of or in addition to], and two [number]).

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Sections of an APA Research Paper

• The most common examples of References will now be discussed with respect to APA formatting: journal articles, books, and chapters in an edited book.

• With respect to journal articles, the order of information is:Author(s). (Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume #, page #(s).ex. Rogers, M. & Kermit, F. (2002). Not all sweaters have zippers. Children’s Television Review, 14, 12-30. (Use hanging indents for subsequent lines)

• With respect to authored books, the order is:Author(s). (Year). Book title. Place of Publication: Publisher. ex. Smart, I. M. (1995). Fun with psychology. Green Hill, IL: Green Co.

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Sections of an APA Research Paper

• Finally, a chapter in an edited book follows this format:Chapter author(s). (Year). Chapter title. In Book Author(s) (Ed[s].),

Book title (pp. #s of chapter). Place of publication: Publisher.ex. Smith, T. J. & Jones, R. N. (1971). Relationship between grades and dental cavities.

In J. Lennon & P. McCartney (Eds.), A big book of interesting stuff (pp. 22-125). London: British Publishing Co.

• The next slides present examples of the sections of an APA research paper obtained from the very useful Purdue University Web site: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

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Example of the Title Page of an APA Research Paper

Page header:(use Insert Page Header)title flush left + page number flush right.

Title:(in the upper half of the page, centered)name (no title or degree) + affiliation (university, etc.)

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Example of the Abstract Page of an APA Research Paper

Page header: do NOT include “Running head:”

Abstract (centered, at the top of the page)

Write a brief (between 150 and 250 words) summary of your paper in an accurate, concise, and specific manner. Should contain: a research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. May also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. May also include keywords.

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Example of the Introduction of an APA Research Paper

Page three is the beginning of the body of the paper (if there is no abstract page). The title of the paper is (centered). The first line of the body of the paper appears one double-space below the title.

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Example of the References Page of an APA Research Paper

• Center the header • References-- at the top of the page.

• Double-space reference entries

• Flush left the first line of the entry and indent subsequent lines

• Order entries alphabetically by the authors’ surnames.

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Documents

Introduction to APA Style & Formatting