APA Style Exposed

Everything You Always Wanted to Know

About APA Format but Were Afraid to Ask

Why use the APA format?

• Looks Professional

• Communicates Important Information – Is this information from a journal or a book?

• Provides clarity: Felicity of expression

• Avoids Inadvertent Plagiarism– You want to give credit where credit is due. – AND you don’t want to take credit for someone else’s mistakes

Where to Use APA Style

• Term Papers

• Research Reports

• Empirical Studies

• Literature Review

• Case Studies

Basic Formatting

• Double Spacing, No single spacing

•1 inch margins all around

•Font: 12 pt, Times New Roman

Manuscript Structure

• Title Page• Abstract (Summary of Study)• Introduction (Lit review, Purpose, Hypotheses)• Method (Participants, Materials, Procedure)• Results (Effects of IV(s) on DV(s)• Discussion or Conclusion • References• Tables and Figures• Appendices (Survey used)

Title Page

• Running head: Maximum of 50 characters• Title, Authors and Affiliation double spaced

Abstract

• 150 words

• Do not indent

• Describe the paper’s– Purpose (provide context)– Method– Results– Conclusions

Sections of an Empirical Paper

• Introduction– Review of the literature on the topic, including the independent and dependent variables

used in the study– Purpose of the current research

• Method– Participants: Sex and Age and….– Materials: Questionnaires, surveys, instruments– Procedure: What happened in the experiment

• Results– Statistical analysis of how the independent variable(s) affected the dependent variable(s)

• Discussion– Recapitulation of the results without numbers– Implications for theory and practice– Limitations of the study– Suggestions for future study

Five-Heading System

Three Points to Remember

1.All headings of equal importance are given the same heading level.

2. Use only as many heading levels as needed.

3. If a section can be divided into two or more two or more subsections, assign each subsection a heading.

Heading Level 1

Heading Level 2

• Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

Method

Participants

One hundred and twenty college-aged students participated……

Materials

The Singelis Cultural Orientation scale was used……

Procedure

When the participants arrived at the lab…….

Heading Level 3

Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

Participants

Adult participants. Men and women over the age of 21 were classified as…..

Child participants. For this study, participants under the age of 14 were…

Heading Level 4

Participants

Child participants. Included all participants…..

Preschool children. Included those children who..

Use Unbiased Language

• What is meant by unbiased language? Language that is unbiased in terms of:

– Race– Ethnicity– Age– Disability– Sexual Orientation– Gender

Ex: “he or she” or “she or he” NOT s/he

Tables

• Placed after the References.• Referred to in the Results section of the text.• Follow this formatting:

Things to Avoid

• Direct Quotes (Paraphrase instead)

• Jargon and Colloquialisms

• Not citing sources for any and all assertions

• Passive voice Active: The experimenter told the participants. Passive. The participants were told by the experimenter.

Always try to stick with one verb and you should be good to go. Instead of saying "She had noticed" write "She noticed.”

Reference Citations in the Paper

Cite the source completely: (Smith, Jones, Kerby, Miller & Roberson, 1998).•The very first time you refer to the work •Every time you refer to the source in a new paragraph, citations can be

Smith et al, 1998)Smith and Jones suggest….

Within a single paragraph you do not need to include the year in subsequent references to a source, as long as it cannot be confused with other sources you are citing.

What if I did not actually read a study, but it was cited in a work I did read?

Cite the Secondary Source (the source you actually read) in the text:

Dunn, Kendrick, and MacNamee (as cited in Harris, 1989) found that…

In this example, Harris is the author of a textbook, which is never a primary source

References

Only include works that you have cited in the text in the References section of your paper

Alphabetize the list of references.

If you have more than one entry by the same author list them by year of publication with the earliest year first.

Formatting References

Journal Article:

Miller, R. L., Brickman, P., & Bolen, D. (1975). Attribution versus persuasion as a means for modifying attitudes and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 430-441.

Chapter in a Book:Miller, R. L. (2013). Multicultural identity. In K. Keith (Ed.). Encyclopedia of cross-cultural psychology, (pp. 904-907). New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell.

Edited Book:Suls, J., & Miller, R. L. (Eds.). (1977). Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives. Washington, D. C: Halsted.