Module Four Introduction to APA Style

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Module FourIntroduction to APA Style

• EDU 691
• Troy State University
• Chan Roark, Ph.D.

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Mark your calendar

• This module and Module Three should be completed
  by the end of the second week of class.
• Dont forget the Internet retrieval assignment,
  the research proposal hypothesis and the midterm
  are scheduled for week three.

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Sources of Information

• American Psychological Association (1994).
  Publication Manual of the American Psychological
  Association (4th ed.). Washington, DC author.
• See the APA site listed on your Links to Links

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Skim through the manual

• Notice the detail of the contents and how it is
  arranged.
• The more familiar you are with the contents, the
  easier it will be to get information
• Familiarize yourself with the Checklists
• See page xix
• On page xviii of the Introduction, look at the
  tips for typing a manuscript

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More Skimming and Topics to be Discussed Later

• Evaluating Content - page 3
• Types of Articles - page 4
• Length, Heading and Tone - page 6
• More in depth discussion of heading on page 91
• Parts of a Research Paper - page 7
• Strategies to improve writing style - page 31

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Headings

• Page 91
• 5 levels
• CENTERED UPPERCASE
• Centered Uppercase and Lowercase
• Centered, Underlined Uppercase and Lowercase
• Flush left, Underlined, Uppercase and Lowercase
  Side heading
• Indented, underlined, lowercase paragraph
  heading with a period.

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More Skimming

• Quality of Presentation page 21
• Chapter Two - Expression of Ideas
• Writing Style
• Orderly presentation of ideas
• Smoothness of expression
• Economy of Expression
• Precision and clarity

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Some really important writing guidelines

• THIRD PERSON
• Verbs - page 32
• active voice
• past tense to express an action that occurred at
  specific time
• present perfect tense to express an on-going
  action
• agreement of subject and verb - page 34
• That versus which - page 41-42

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Additional important guidelines

• Parallel construction -- page 43
• Reducing bias in language -- page 46
• Tip Read through this section when you have
  completed a draft. Then reread critically just
  to check for bias.

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Editorial Style

• Uniform use of punctuation and abbreviations,
  tables, headings and references
• Note overuse of the dash weakens the flow of
  material. - page 65
• Some rules may be different from those your
  fourth grade teacher taught
• commas - page 62 and 63

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More to be familiar with

• Numbers -- page 99
• Quotations -- Page 95 - 98
• Reference Citations in Text -- page 168-174
• Reference List -- page 174 - 236
• Preparing the manuscript page 237 - 272

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Parts of a Manuscript
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Parts of a Manuscript

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
• Results

• Discussion
• Multiple Experiments
• References
• Appendix
• Author Note

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Whats a running head?

• Printed at the top of the pages of a PUBLISHED
  article to identify the articles for readers
• A maximum of 50 characters
• Flush left at the top of the title page
• Not a page header
• See pages 8 and 248
• See example page 258

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Title page

• Title
• Authors name and institutional affiliation
• Running head
• an abbreviated title
• maximum of 50 characters
• see APA manual page 248

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Page headers

• See page 241
• Number all pages in the upper right hand corner
• As Joe Friday would say, Just the numbers, mam.
• Also, page header --
• the first 2 or 3 words of the title
• upper right hand corner
• five spaces to the left of the page number
• Use the automatic function of the word processor

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Abstract

• brief, comprehensive summary
• like a resume -- Once printed in the journals,
  this is your introduction and is often the basis
  of deciding whether or not to read the article.
• accurate
• self-contained
• concise and specific
• nonevaluative
• coherent and readable
• about 100 words
• see APA manual page 250

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Introduction

• Statement of the problem
• Background/review of literature
• Purpose and rationale/ hypothesis

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Method and Results

• Method
• Subjects
• Apparatus or instrumentation
• Procedure
• Results
• Tables and figures
• Statistical presentation

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Final Parts

• Discussion
• Support or nonsupport of hypothesis
• Practical or theoretical implications
• Conclusions
• References
• Appendix

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Question 4aRewrite this entry in correct APA
style The Illuminated Life by Abe Arkoff. This
book was published by Allyn and Bacon in Boston,
London, Toronot, Sydney, Tokyo, and Singapore in
1995. It is the first edition. The book has 496
pages.
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Question 4bIdentify 7 tips for evaluating the
merit of a publication suggested in the APA
manual.