PPA 503 The Public PolicyMaking Process

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PPA 503 The Public Policy-Making Process

• Lecture 2c APA Editorial Style

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Punctuation

• Period.
• Use a period to end a complete sentence (also
  abbreviations, quotations, numbers, and
  references).
• Comma.
• Use a comma
• Between elements (including before and and or) in
  a series of three or more items.
• The height, width, or depth.
• To set off a nonessential or nonrestrictive
  clause, that is, a clause that embellishes a
  sentence but if removed would leave the
  grammatical structure and meaning of the sentence
  intact.
• Switch A, which was on a panel, controlled the
  recording device.

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Punctuation

• Comma (contd.)
• To separate two independent clauses joined by a
  conjunction.
• Cedar shavings covered the floor, and paper was
  available for shredding and nest building.
• To set of the year in exact dates.
• April 18, 1992, was the correct date.
• But, April 1992 was the correct date.
• To separate groups of three digits in most
  numbers of 1,000 or more.

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Punctuation

• Comma (contd.).
• Do not use a comma
• Before an essential or restrictive clause, that
  is, a clause that limits or defines the material
  it modifies. Removal of the clause would alter
  the meaning.
• The switch that stops the recording device also
  controls the light.
• Between the two parts of a compound predicate.
• The results contradicted Smiths hypothesis and
  indicated that the effect was nonsignificant.
• To separate parts of measurement.
• 8 years 2 months.

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Punctuation

• Semicolon.
• Use a semicolon
• To separate two independent clauses that are not
  joined by a conjunction.
• The participants in the first study were paid
  those in the second were unpaid.
• To separate elements in a series that already
  contains commas.
• The color order was red, yellow, blue blue,
  yellow, red or yellow, red, blue.

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Punctuation

• Colon.
• Use a colon
• Between a grammatically complete introductory
  clause (one that could stand as a sentence) and a
  final phrase or clause that illustrates, extends,
  or amplifies the preceding thought. If the
  clause following the colon is a complete
  sentence, it begins with a capital letter.
• For example, Freud (1930/1961) wrote of two
  urges an urge toward union with others and an
  egoistic urge toward happiness.
• They have agreed on the outcome Informed
  participants perform better than do uninformed
  participants.

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Punctuation

• Colon (contd.).
• Do not use a colon
• After an introduction that is not a complete
  sentence.
• The policy alternatives included
• The status quo, which reflected the current
  policy choices,
• Alternative A, which required direct
  intervention, and
• Alternative B, which required indirect
  intervention.

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Punctuation

• Dash
• Use a dash to indicate only a sudden interruption
  in the continuity of a sentence. Do not overuse.
• These two alternativesreducing benefits and
  disqualifying recipientssignificantly reduced
  the size of the program.
• Quotation marks
• Use double quotation marks
• To introduce a word or phrase used as an ironic
  comment, as slang, or as an invented or coined
  expression. Use only the first time cited.
• Considered normal behavior.
• The good-outcome variable . . . The
  good-outcome variable.

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Punctuation

• Quotation marks (contd.)
• To reproduce material from a test item or
  verbatim instructions to participants.
• The first question was what is your gender?
• Use italics and not double quotation marks
• Identify the anchors of a scale.
• To cite a letter, word, phrase, or sentence as a
  linguistic example.
• To introduce a technical or key term.

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Punctuation

• Parentheses
• Use parentheses
• To set off structurally independent elements
• The patterns were significant (see Figure 5).
• To set off reference citations in text.
• Kingdon (2003) suggests
• To introduce an abbreviation
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• To set off letters that identify items in a
  series within a sentence or paragraph.
• The policies include (a) welfare policy, (b)
  energy policy, and (c) defense policy.

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Punctuation

• Parentheses (contd.)
• Do not use parentheses
• To enclose material within other parentheses (use
  brackets to enclose material within parentheses).
• (the Department of Housing and Urban Development
  DHUD).
• Back to back.
• (e.g., policy learning May 1990).

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Punctuation

• Brackets
• Use brackets
• to enclose parenthetical material that is
  already within parentheses.
• (The results for the control group n8 appear
  in Figure 2.)
• Exception do not use brackets if the meaning is
  clear using commas.
• Not (as Imai 1990 later concluded)
• But (as Imai, 1990, later concluded)
• to enclose material inserted in a quotation by
  someone other than the author.
• when the authors words are quoted (Dummy,
  1995, p. 151).

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Punctuation

• Slash
• Do not use a slash
• When a phrase would be clearer.
• Not Smith acted as a supervisor/mentor.
• But Smith acted as a supervisor or mentor.
• For simple comparisons. Use a hyphen or short das
  (en dash) instead.
• Test-retest reliability
• Not test/retest reliability.

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Spelling

• Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary is the
  standard spelling reference for APA journals and
  books.
• The more comprehensive version is the Websters
  Third New International Dictionary.
• Plural forms of Latin or Greek origin
• Singular Plural
• Appendix appendices
• Cannula cannulas
• Datum data
• Matrix matrices
• Phenomenon phenomena
• Schema schemas

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Spelling

• Hyphenation
• Use the dictionary to determine the use of
  hyphens in compound words.
• Follow-up is a noun or adjective, but follow up
  is a verb.
• If a compound is in a dictionary, it is
  considered a permanent compound (e.g., high
  school, caregiver, and self-esteem).
• Spelling can also change (life-style became
  lifestyle data base became database).

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Spelling

• General principles of hyphenation
• Do not use a hyphen unless it serves a purpose.
  If a compound adjective cannot be misread, do not
  use a hyphen.
• Grade point average.
• Health care reform.
• In a temporary compound that is used as an
  adjective before a noun, use a hyphen if the term
  can be misread or if the term expresses a single
  thought (all words modify the noun).
• Different-word lists (lists of different words).
• Different word lists (different lists of words).
• Most compound adjective rules are applicable only
  when the compound adjective precedes the term it
  modifies. If it follows the term, do not use a
  hyphen.
• Client-centered advice.
• But the advice was client centered.

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Spelling

• General principles of hyphenation.
• Write most words with prefixes as one word
  however, there are exceptions.
• When two or more compound modifiers have a common
  base, this base is sometimes omitted in all
  except the last modifier, but the hyphen is
  retained.

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Capitalization

• Words beginning a sentence
• The first word of a complete sentence.
• The first word after a colon that begins a
  complete sentence.
• Major words in titles and headings
• Not conjunctions, articles, or short
  prepositions, but all words four letters or
  longer. Capitalize all verbs, nouns, adjectives,
  adverbs, and pronouns. When a capitalized word
  is hyphenated, capitalize both words. Capitalize
  the first word after a colon or dash in the
  title.
• Major words in article headings and subheadings.
• Major words in table titles and figure legends.
• References to titles of sections within the same
  article.

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Capitalization

• Proper nouns and trade names.
• Proper nouns and adjectives and words used as
  proper nouns.
• Names of departments if they refer to a specific
  department.
• Trade and brand names of drugs, equipment, food,
  programs, etc.
• Do not capitalize names of laws, theories,
  models, or hypotheses (except retain uppercase in
  proper names).

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Capitalization

• Nouns followed by numerals or letters.
• On Day 2 of Experiment 4.
• Do not capitalize nouns that denote common parts
  of books or tables followed by numerals or
  letters.
• Titles of tests
• Capitalize complete, exact titles of published
  and unpublished tests.
• Do not capitalize shortened, inexact, or general
  titles of tests

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Italics

• Use italics for
• Titles of books, periodicals, and microfilm
  publications.
• Genera, species, and varieties.
• Introduction to a new, technical, or key term or
  label (do not italicize after the first use).
• Letter, word, or phrase used as a linguistic
  example.
• Words that could be misread.
• Periodical volume numbers in reference lists.

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Italics

• Do not use italics
• Foreign phrases and abbreviations (ad lib, et
  al., per se, vis-à-vis.
• Greek letters.
• Mere emphasis.

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Abbreviations

• Use abbreviations sparingly.
• Do not overuse because it creates confusion.
• Do not underuse. If you introduce an
  abbreviation, and only use it two or three times
  subsequently, you are better spelling it out in
  all cases.
• Explain the abbreviation the first time, and use
  the abbreviation subsequently.
• Some abbreviations are in dictionaries. They can
  be used without explanation.
• IQ, REM, ESP, AIDS, HIV, NADP, ACTH.
• Use the standard Latin abbreviations only inside
  parentheses. Spell out the English equivalent in
  the main text (e.g., use and so forth for etc.).