APA

Links on the left menu under APA will guide you through the basics

APA Style Guide

Purchase the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition

Statement From the APA Style Guide

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was first published in 1929 as a seven-page “standard of procedure, to which exceptions would doubtless be necessary, but to which reference might be made in cases of doubt” (Bentley et al., 1929, p. 57). Eighty years later, we launch the sixth edition of the Publication Manual in the same spirit. Over the years, the Publication Manual has grown by necessity from a simple set of style rules to an authoritative source on all aspects of scholarly writing, from the ethics of duplicate publication to the word choice that best reduces bias in language. The rules of APA Style are drawn from an extensive body of psychological literature, from editors and authors experienced in scholarly writing, and from recognized authorities on publication practices. This edition of the Publication Manual has been extensively revised to reflect new standards in publishing and new practices in information dissemination. Since the last edition of the manual was published, we have gone from a population that reads articles to one that “consumes content.” New technologies have made increasingly sophisticated analyses possible, just as they have accelerated the dissemination of those analyses in multiple forms, from blogs to personal Web postings to articles published in online databases. To provide readers with guidance on how these and other developments have affected scholarly publishing, we have reordered and condensed the manual significantly. Our first goal was to simplify the reader’s job by compiling all information on a topic in a single place. We have ordered information in accordance with the publication process, beginning with the idea stage and ending with the publication stage. We have retained and strengthened the basic rules of APA writing style and the guidelines on avoiding bias in language that were first published by APA more than 30 years ago. Most important, we have significantly expanded guidance on ethics, statistics, journal article reporting standards, electronic reference formats, and the construction of tables and figures.

Note the following from the Purdue online Writing Lab

There are two common types of papers written in fields using APA Style: the literature review and the experimental report. Each has unique requirements concerning the sections that must be included in the paper.

Literature Review

A literature review is a critical summary of what the scientific literature says about your specific topic or question. Often student research in APA fields falls into this category. Your professor might ask you to write this kind of paper to demonstrate your familiarity with work in the field pertinent to the research you hope to conduct.

A literature review typically contains the following sections:

• Title page

• Introduction section

• List of references

Some instructors may also want you to write an abstract for a literature review, so be sure to check with them when given an assignment. Also, the length of a literature review and the required number of sources will vary based on course and instructor preferences.

NOTE: A literature review and an annotated bibliography are not synonymous. If you are asked to write an annotated bibliography, you should consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for the APA Format for Annotated Bibliographies.

Experimental Report

In many of the social sciences, you will be asked to design and conduct your own experimental research. If so, you will need to write up your paper using a structure that is more complex than that used for just a literature review. We have a complete resource devoted to writing an experimental report in the field of psychology here.

This structure follows the scientific method, but it also makes your paper easier to follow by providing those familiar cues that help your reader efficiently scan your information for:

• Why the topic is important (covered in your introduction)

• What the problem is (also covered in your introduction)

• What you did to try to solve the problem (covered in your methods section)

• What you found (covered in your results section)

• What you think your findings mean (covered in your discussion section)

Thus an experimental report typically includes the following sections.

• Title page

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Method

• Results

• Discussion

• References

• Appendices(if necessary)

• Tables and/or figures (if necessary)

Make sure to check the guidelines for your assignment or any guidelines that have been given to you by an editor of a journal before you submit a manuscript containing the sections listed above.

As with the literature review, the length of this report may vary by course or by journal, but most often it will be determined by the scope of the research conducted.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are generally useful for long, technical terms in scientific writing and their use is justified if they add to the clarity of the text. The rule of thumb is that expressions should be spelled out the first time they are mentioned in the text followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, and then abbreviated on all other occasions. However, when deciding whether to abbreviate or not a certain term, keep in mind that abbreviations that are introduced on a first mention in the text and appear less than 3 times thereafter are not advised. This is especially true for longer texts, when spelling out the term each time can be less confusing to the reader.

Some abbreviations don’t need an explanation if they appear as word entries in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2005):

For example: REM, ESP, AIDS, HIV, NADP, ACTH.

Others appear often in journals, and although they are probably familiar to many readers, they nonetheless should be explained at first use: e.g., reaction time (RT), conditional stimulus (CS), short-term memory (STM).

To form the plural of abbreviations, just add s at the end:

For example: IQs, RTs, Eds.

OWL Guide to APA Abbreviations

Statistics

OWL's Guide to APA Statistics

APA Statistics Samples

Professor Matthew Hesson-McInnis, Ph.D. Guide to APA Statistics

Tables

A common use of tables is to present quantitative data or the results of statistical analyses (such as ANOVA). See the Publication Manual (2010, pp. 128-150) for detailed examples. Tables must be mentioned in the text.

1. Pagination: Each Table begins on a separate page.

2. Heading: “Table 1″ (or 2 or 3, etc.) is typed flush left on the first line below the running head. Double-space and type the table title flush left (italicized in uppercase and lowercase letters).

OWL's Guide to APA Tables

Figures

A common use of Figures is to present graphs, photographs, or other illustrations (other than tables). See the Publication Manual (2010, pp. 150-167) for detailed examples.

1. Pagination: Figures begin on a separate page.

2. Figure Caption: “Figure 1.” (or 2 or 3, etc.) is typed flush left and italicized on the first line below the figure, immediately followed on the same line by the caption (which should be a brief descriptive phrase).

Appendixes (APA does not call plural Appendices)

A common use of appendixes is to present unpublished tests or to describe complex equipment or stimulus materials.

1. Pagination: Each Appendix begins on a separate page.

2. Heading:If there is only one appendix, “Appendix” is centered on the first line below the manuscript page header. If there is more than one appendix, use Appendix A (or B or C, etc.). Double-space and type the appendix title (centered in uppercase and lowercase letters).

3. Format: Indent the first line 5-7 spaces.

APA Sample Paper