APA Style Professional Development: Consistency is Key!

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APA Style Professional Development Consistency
is Key!
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Why a Style?
The American Psychology Association published
the first set of guidelines for preparing journal
manuscripts in 1929. Of course, the APA style
guide has expanded a lot in the subsequent
80-year time span. The sixth edition of the APA
Publication Manual sets forth clear standards for
formatting documents in specific fields of
research. Use of a particular document style
makes it easy for the audience to find key
information, whether through reading a clearly
written abstract or through an easy-to-follow
list of references. Use of a particular
document style eases the transaction between
writer and reader so that the reader clearly
understands the material being presented.
Readers of APA journals do not have to do any
guess work in finding specific information
quickly and reliably.
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Why Should My Students Adhere to APA?
Education adheres to those guidelines, and
students who are in Master of Education and
doctoral programs need to have facility with
following APA style. As future scholars, they
will need to be able to present professionally
acceptable work to journals, employers, and
colleagues. Consider this, if a student
presents a journal article that has solid
research ideas to a journal that requires APA
formatting, but does not adhere or only partially
adheres to APA style guidelines, chances are good
that the journal editor will not take the time to
work with that student on APA style. Good
research may go unpublished because of sloppy or
inconsistent use of APA style. Similarly,
students who are going on from a masters program
to a doctoral program will be expected to already
know and apply APA style to their writing, and
will be in for a rude surprise when their grade
is impacted by poor usage or failure to adhere
to the guidelines.
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Consistency is the Key!
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Key APA Areas

• The Title Page
• Abstract
• In-Text Citations
• References
• Appendices
• Figures
• Headings

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Title Page
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Abstract
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In-Text Citations
Example 1 Because much of the literature on
recidivism suggests that education is one key to
rehabilitation (Criminal Justice Center, 1994
Gerber Fritsch, 1995 Steurer, Smith Tracy,
2001 Donaldson Bedell, 2002 Nuttall, Hollmen
Staley, 2003) there is also an increasing need
for understanding womens educational experiences
before, during, and after incarceration.
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In Text Citations
Example 2 Luke (2002) states that ASFA
requires states to file for termination of
parental rights (TPR) for children who have been
in out-of-home care for 15 of the past 22 months
(p. 935).
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References
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Appendices
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Headings
APA articles use between one and five levels of
headings. One or Two Levels Centered,
Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Flush
Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
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Headings (cont.)
Three levels Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and
Lowercase Heading Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase
and Lowercase Heading Indented, boldface,
lowercase paragraph heading ending with a
period. Four levels Centered, Boldface,
Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Flush Left,
Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading
ending with a period. Indented, boldfaced,
italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending
with a period.
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Teaching APA style in your class

• Model APA style in your own posts if you use a
  reference, be sure to cite it correctly
• Present sample papers that use APA correctly as
  models
• Present a short sample paper in the first week
  that is not correctly formatted have students
  format it, either assign points as an assignment
  or give extra credit for getting it right
• Have students peer edit major assignments for APA
  correctness
• Help students by making sample corrections on
  assignments make corrections in one or two
  paragraphs and then send the assignment back to
  the student for revision, having the student use
  your corrections as models.
• Provide a thread on the Forum for questions on
  APA formatting.

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Assessing APA style in Student Writing
Forum Discussions Forum discussion posts,
especially the first post responding to the
discussion prompt, should follow APA citation
guidelines. Correct in-text references and a
references list for anything cited within the
post are essential for all posts.
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Assessing APA style in Student Writing (cont.)

• Course Project Components
• Course project components should also follow APA
  style guidelines when citing courses. Correct
  in-text references should be required as well as
  a reference list for anything cited in the
  assignment.
• Final Course Project
• Final course projects should include title page,
  table of contents, abstract, the text of the
  project itself formatted with appropriate
  headings dependent on the nature of the project
  and a references list, followed by appendices as
  necessary.
• Students should be evaluated based on their usage
  of APA style. All components need to be present
  for the project to receive full credit. Projects
  that are not formatted using APA style are not
  professional portfolio-ready projects. However,
  with coaching throughout the process of writing
  their project, students should finish the course
  with a project that adheres to APA standards.

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Additional resources for both professors and
students

• The OWL at Purdue
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
  
• APA Style
• http//apastyle.apa.org/
• Sample Paper 1
• http//www.apastyle.org/manual/related/sample-expe
  riment-paper-1.pdf
• Sample Paper 2
• http//my.ilstu.edu/jhkahn/APAsample.pdf