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APA style
Style guides
American Psychological Association (APA) Style is a set of rules that authors must use when submitting papers for
publications in APS journals [1] . The APA states that they were developed to assist reading comprehension in the
social and behavioral sciences, for clarity of communication, and to "move the idea forward with a minimum of
distraction and a maximum of precision."[2] The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
contains guidelines for every aspect of writing, especially in the social sciences, from determining authorship to
constructing a table to avoiding plagiarism and constructing accurate reference citations.
Early editions
The Publication Manual was established in 1929 as a seven-page document with a set of procedures to increase the
ease of reading comprehension (APA, 2009a, p. xiii).[3] Created under the sponsorship of the United States National
Research Council, its originators included psychologists, anthropologists, and publishing professionals.
In 1952, the booklet was expanded and published as a 55-page supplement in Psychological Bulletin with revisions
made in 1957 and 1967 (APA, 1952, 1957, 1967).[4] [5] [6] The first edition covered word choice, grammar,
punctuation, formatting, journal publication policies, and "wrapping and shipping" (APA, Council of Editors, 1952,
p. 442).
In response to the growing complexities of scientific reporting, subsequent editions were released in 1974, 1983,
1994, and 2001. Primarily known for the simplicity of its reference citation style, the Publication Manual also
established standards for language use that had far-reaching effects. Particularly influential were the "Guidelines for
Nonsexist Language in APA Journals," first published as a modification to the 1974 edition, which provided
practical alternatives to sexist language then in common usage.[7] [8] The guidelines for reducing bias in language
have been updated over the years and presently provide practical guidance for writing about race, ethnicity, age,
gender, sexual orientation, and disability status (APA, 2009, pp. 70–77; see also APA, 2009b).[9]
APA style 2
Resources on apastyle.org
• Main apastyle.org [12] page
• Learning resources page [13], including links to free tutorials, an online course, and other content arranged by
subject
• Free tutorials:
• The Basics of APA Style [14]
• What's New in the Sixth Edition [15]
• FAQs about APA Style [16]
• Online course:
APA style 3
to the Educational and Behavioral Sciences Section listserv (EBBSS-L) of the American Library Association alerted
readers to what she described as the "many" errors in the first printing and speculated that "some but not all" would
be corrected in a second printing. On October 5, 2009, APA staff responded to the note clarifying that errors were
found in the sample papers, that the papers had been corrected and posted online, that the substantive guidance in the
manual was correct and accurate as printed, and that a full list of corrections could be found at the APA Style
website [37].
On October 13, 2009, the article "Correcting a Style Guide" was published in the online newspaper Inside Higher
Education that included interviews with several individuals who defined the errors as "egregious" (Epstein,
2009).[38] The article, along with rumors spread on various listervs, resulted in exaggerated accounts of both the
magnitude and the extent of the errors, with some reports on Amazon.com claiming more than 80 pages of errors had
occurred.
APA responded to the increasing confusion by issuing an apology and implementing a return/replacement program
for purchasers who wished to exchange their first printing copies for second printing copies of the Publication
Manual. The first edition copies returned to APA were destroyed. The second and all subsequent printings of the
Publication Manual have been fully corrected.
Headings
The use of headings aids in establishing the hierarchy of the sections of a paper to help orient the reader. Topics
within a paper that have equal importance will have the same level of headings throughout the paper. For example, in
a paper with multiple experiments, the heading for the Method section for Experiment 1 should be at the same level
as the heading for the Method section for Experiment 2.
Headings can also function as an outline to reveal the paper's organization. This is particularly true when the paper is
submitted to APA journals. Also, avoid having one sub-section heading in a paper. Use at least two subsections with
any given section or none at all.
APA’s heading style consists of five possible levels of subordination. Level 1 is the highest level and Level 5 is the
lowest level. Most papers will use two or three levels. Levels are always used consecutively, beginning with Level 1.
APA style 5
APA does not use the heading "Introduction" to begin a paper, as the opening of a paper is considered by default to
be the introduction.
1. Level 1: Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2. Level 2: Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3. Level 3: Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with period.
4. Level 4: Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with period.
5. Level 5: Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with period.[39]
You can read more about them and see examples in the APA Style Blog category for headings [40].
Citation
Reference citations in text are done using parenthetical referencing. Most usually, this involves enclosing the author's
surname and the date of publication within parentheses, separated by a comma, generally placed immediately after
the reference or at the end of the sentence in which the reference is made. However, it is also common for the authors
to be the subject or object of a sentence. In such a case only the year is in parentheses. In all cases of citation, author
name(s) are always followed immediately by a year, and years are never presented without author name(s)
immediately preceding it. In the case of a quotation, the page number is also included in the citation.
Reference list
The APA style guide prescribes that the Reference section, bibliographies and other lists of names should be
accumulated by surname first, and mandates inclusion of surname prefixes. For example, "Martin de Rijke" should
be sorted as "de Rijke, M." and "Saif Al-Falasi" should be sorted as "Al-Falasi, S." For names in non-English
languages, follow the capitalization standards of that language. For each of the source types below a hanging indent
should be used where the first line is flush to the left margin and all other lines are indented.
Print sources
Book by one author
• Sheril, R. D. (1956). The terrifying future: Contemplating color television. San Diego, CA: Halstead.
Book by two authors
• Kurosawa, J., & Armistead, Q. (1972). Hairball: An intensive peek behind the surface of an enigma. Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada: McMaster University Press.
Chapter in an edited book
• Mcdonalds, A. (1993). Practical methods for the apprehension and sustained containment of supernatural entities.
In G. L. Yeager (Ed.), Paranormal and occult studies: Case studies in application (pp. 42–64). London, England:
OtherWorld Books.
Dissertation (PhD or masters)
• Mcdonalds, A. (1991). Practical dissertation title (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL.
Article in a journal with continuous pagination (nearly all journals use continuous pagination)
• Rottweiler, F. T., & Beauchemin, J. L. (1987). Detroit and Narnia: Two foes on the brink of destruction.
Canadian/American Studies Journal, 54, 66–146.
• Kling, K. C., Hyde, J. S., Showers, C. J., & Buswell, B. N. (1999). Gender differences in self-esteem: A
meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 470–500. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.4.470
Article in a journal paginated separately Journal Pagination
APA style 6
• Crackton, P. (1987). The Loonie: God's long-awaited gift to colourful pocket change? Canadian Change, 64(7),
34–37.
Article in a weekly magazine
• Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28–31.
Article in a weekly magazine with DOI
• Hoff, K. (2010, March 19). Fairness in modern society. Science, 327, 1467-1468. doi:10.1126/science.1188537
Article in a print newspaper
• Wrong, M. (2005, August 17). "Never Gonna Give You Up" says Mayor. Toronto Sol, p. 4.
Electronic sources
For electronic references, websites, and online articles, APA Style asserts some basic rules, including to
• direct readers specifically to the source material using URLs which work
• include retrieval date ONLY when content is likely to change (e.g., wikis)
• include all other relevant APA Style details for the source
Online article based on a print source, with DOI (e.g., a PDF of a print source from a database)
• Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Externalizing psychopathology in
adulthood: a dimensional-spectrum conceptualization and its implications for DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology, 114, 537-550. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.114.4.537
Online article based on a print source, without DOI (e.g., a PDF of a print source from a database)
• Marlowe, P., Spade, S., & Chan, C. (2001). Detective work and the benefits of colour versus black and white.
Journal of Pointless Research, 11, 123–127.
Online article from a database, no DOI, available ONLY in that database (proprietary content—not things like Ovid,
EBSCO, and PsycINFO)
• Liquor advertising on TV. (2002, January 18). Retrieved from http://factsonfile.infobasepublishing.com/
OR
• Liquor advertising on TV. (2002, January 18). Retrieved from Issues and Controversies database.
Article in an Internet-only journal
• McDonald, C., & Chenoweth, L. (2009). Leadership: A crucial ingredient in unstable times. Social Work &
Society, 7. Retrieved from http://www.socwork.net/2009/1/articles/mcdonaldchenoweth
Article in an Internet-only newsletter (eight or more authors)
• Paradise, S., Moriarty, D., Marx, C., Lee, O. B., Hassel, E., Thyme, E. J., . . . Bradford, J. (1957, July). Portrayals
of fictional characters in reality-based popular writing: Project update. Off the Beaten Path, 7. Retrieved from
http://www.newsletter.offthebeatenpath.news/otr/complaints.html
Article with no author identified (the title moves to the "author" position)
• Britain launches new space agency. (2010, March 24). Retrieved from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/
technology/1031221/britain-launches-new-space-agency
Article with no author and no date identified (e.g., wiki article)
• Harry Potter. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.
org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Potter&oldid=380786432
Entry in an online dictionary or reference work, no date and no author identified
• Verisimilitude. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster's online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verisimilitude
APA style 7
Notes
[1] http:/ / www. apa. org/ pubs/ authors/ instructions. aspx#
[2] apastyle.org APA Style (http:/ / apastyle. apa. org/ about-apa-style. aspx)
[3] Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). 2009. Washington, DC
[4] American Psychological Association, Council of Editors. (1952). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Psychological Bulletin, 49(Suppl., Pt. 2), 389-449.
[5] American Psychological Association. (1957). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Rev. ed.). Washington, DC:
Author.
[6] American Psychological Association. (1967). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Rev. ed.). Washington, DC:
Author
[7] American Psychological Association, Task Force on Issues of Sexual Bias in Graduate Education. (1975). Guidelines for nonsexist language
in APA journals. American Psychologist, 30, 682-684. doi:10.1037/h0076869
[8] APA Publication Manual Task Force. (1977). Guidelines for nonsexist language in APA journals [Change Sheet 2]. American Psychologist,
32, 487-494. doi:v10.1037/0003-066X.32.6.487
[9] American Psychological Association. (2009b). Supplemental material: Chapter 3: Writing clearly and concisely. Retrieved at http:/ /
apastyle. org/ manual/ supplement/ index. aspx
[10] American Psychological Association. (2007a, April 13–14). Meeting of the Council of Editors[Agenda book]. APA Archives, Washington,
DC.
[11] American Psychological Association. (2007b, May 18–20). "Meeting of the Publications and Communications Board[Agenda book]. APA
Archives, Washington, DC.
[12] http:/ / apastyle. apa. org/
[13] http:/ / www. apastyle. org/ learn/ index. aspx
[14] http:/ / www. apastyle. org/ learn/ tutorials/ basics-tutorial. aspx
[15] http:/ / www. apastyle. org/ manual/ whats-new. aspx
[16] http:/ / www. apastyle. org/ learn/ faqs/ index. aspx
[17] http:/ / www. apastyle. org/ learn/ courses/ 4210700. aspx
[18] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/
[19] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ social-media/
[20] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ twitter/
[21] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ facebook/
APA style 9
[22] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2009/ 09/ how-do-i-cite-a-kindle. html
[23] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ wikipedia/
[24] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ references/
[25] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ electronic-references/
[26] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ databases/
[27] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ digital-object-identifier-doi/
[28] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ grammar-and-usage/
[29] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2010/ 02/ lists-part-1-parallelism. html
[30] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2010/ 02/ lists-part-3-lowercase-letters. html
[31] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2010/ 02/ lists-part-4-numbered-lists. html
[32] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2010/ 03/ lists-part-5-bulleted-lists. html
[33] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2010/ 03/ lists-part-6-overview. html
[34] http:/ / www. facebook. com/ apastyle/
[35] http:/ / www. twitter. com/ apa_style
[36] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ 2009/ 10/ note-to-apa-style-community-sixth-edition-corrections. html
[37] http:/ / supp. apa. org/ style/ pubman-reprint-corrections-for-2e. pdf
[38] Epstein, J. (2009, October 13). Correcting a style guide: Scholars turn to style manuals for guidance in authoring error-free manuscripts, but
what happens when the manual itself is laden with errors?" Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from (http:/ / www. insidehighered. com/
news/ 2009/ 10/ 13/ apa#)
[39] "The Owl At Purdue" (http:/ / owl. english. purdue. edu/ owl/ resource/ 560/ 16/ ).
[40] http:/ / blog. apastyle. org/ apastyle/ headings/
References
• American Psychological Association. (2010). The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
(6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. ISBN 9781433805622
• American Psychological Association. (2001). The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
(5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. ISBN 9781557987914
External links
• Introduction to APA Style (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/apa/introduction.html) -
Hypertextual electronic workshop hosted by the Online Writing Lab (OWL), Department of English, Purdue
University.
• APA Style—Reference List/In-Text (pdf) (http://www.academicexperts.us/dl/APA_Style.pdf)
• Create References APA (http://tupera.com/) - Free Generator APA references
• APA "Citation Styles" Online Guide (http://www.cws.uiuc.edu/workshop/writers/citation/) - Resource
hosted by the Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Apacite (http://www.dante.de/CTAN//help/Catalogue/entries/apacite.html) – "A BibTeX style which
closely follows American Psychological Association style citations, providing a very good match."
• APA.cls (http://www.ilsp.gr/homepages/protopapas/apacls.html) – Resource compiled by Athanassios
Protopapas, Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP), Athens, Greece.
• APA Guide Basics Summary (pdf) (http://www.thewritedirection.net/apaguide.net/apaguide.pdf) - Webpage
summary of APA Rules.
• APA Style (http://www.apastyle.org/) - APA Style Online home page.
• CiteFast (http://www.citefast.com/) - Free Citation Generator
• "Citation Machine" (http://citationmachine.net/) – Citation style generator (APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian).
• Amacite (http://www.amacite.com/) – Automatic citation style generator and library for books powered by
Amazon.com (APA, MLA).
• "KnightCite: A Project of Hekman Library (http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/) – APA, MLA, and
Chicago Style citation generator hosted by Calvin College.
APA style 10
• "NoodleBib Express" (http://www.NoodleTools.com/) – Style advice, citation creator (APA, MLA, Chicago,
Turabian).
• Psychology with Style: A Hypertext Writing Guide (for the 5th edition of the APA Manual) (http://www.uwsp.
edu/psych/apa4b.htm) (February 1, 2007 - Version 5.014). - Teacher's Guide compiled by Mark Plonsky, Ph.D.,
Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point.
Article Sources and Contributors 11
License
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