EDUC 502 Elements of APA Style

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EDUC 502Elements of APA Style

• October 17, 2005
• Class session 7

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What is APA style and why use it?

• The APA (American Psychological Association)
  publishes a manual that sets forth uniform
  standards for writing that encompass grammar,
  punctuation, format, citations, etc.
• APA style has been gradually developed and
  refined since 1928.
• APA style provides a way for professionals to
  communicate with each other in a coherent manner.

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Some elements of APA style A sample manuscript

• Title page (see p. 1 of sample manuscript)
• Abstract (see p. 2)
• In-text citation of a work by a single author
  (see p. 3, yellow)
• Short quote drawn from another paper (p. 3,
  bright green)
• First in-text citation of a paper by several
  authors (p. 3, pink). Subsequent citations would
  be abbreviated (Putnam et al., 1992)

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Some elements of APA style A sample manuscript

• Lengthy quote from another paper (more than 40
  words) (p. 3, red).
• Several references that support a single point
  (p. 3, dark green).
• Various levels/types of headings (pp. 4-13
  17-21, gray). Check with me if you feel the need
  to go beyond three levels.
• Tables and figures (pp. 22, 43, turquoise)

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Some elements of APA style A sample manuscript

• End-of-text reference list (pp. 37-42)
• Reference to a book by with an organization as an
  author (p. 37, yellow)
• Article by several authors in an edited book (p.
  37, bright green)
• Book by a single author (p. 37, turquoise)
• Book by two authors (p. 37, pink)
• Journal article by two authors (p. 37, red)
• Journal article by one author (p. 37, teal)

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Some elements of APA style A sample manuscript

• A few conventions to note about the end-of-text
  reference list
• Alphabetical order by lead authors last name.
• Hanging indent.
• Journal and book titles italicized.
• Each significant word in a journal title is
  capitalized.
• Each significant word in a book title is NOT
  capitalized.

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Some elements of APA style A sample manuscript

• Disclaimer This has been a very brief, cursory
  overview of APA style. You may encounter
  situations not addressed in the sample
  manuscript.
• The entire APA manual is available for purchase
  online or at bookstores (e.g., Barnes Noble).
• Products, style updates, and refinements are
  available online at www.apastyle.org.

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APA style Beyond references

• Lynn Truss book entitled Eats, Shoots and Leaves
  gives an amusing (although not exhaustive)
  introduction to some of the punctuation errors
  APA style was designed to help eliminate.
• In your spare time, you can play a punctuation
  game http//www.eatsshootsandleaves.com/ESLquiz.h
  tml

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Some sample apostrophe errors

• Sign Giant Kids Playground (p. 41)
• Sign Good food at its best (p. 44)
• MPs and 1980s (p. 46). (superfluous).
• Sign Prudential were here to help you (p.
  47).
• Title League of signwriters (p. 47).
• Sign Lemons for sale

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Some sample comma issues

• No dogs please vs. No dogs, please (p. 80).
• Fruits are lemon, strawberry, orange and lime (no
  Oxford comma) (p. 83).
• Jim woke up in an unfamiliar bed, he felt lousy
  (p. 88). (splice)
• Jim woke up in his own bed, however, he felt
  great (p. 89) (period or semicolon).
• The people in the queue, who managed to get
  tickets, were very satisfied (p. 92). (remove
  commas, change meaning).

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A sample of other APA-style issues

• i.e. vs. e.g. (i.e. is an abbreviation for
  the phrase that is, while e.g. is an
  abbreviation for the phrase for example)
• Placement of period A period is never placed
  inside a set of parentheses even for
  references. The reference is considered part of
  the sentence.
• Special conventions exist for reporting
  statistics tables, abbreviations, etc. Check
  with me if calculating statistics