APA Style & Paper-Writing

• Also see Library Databases and Document-Sharing

(1) APA Style and Standards 

• APA Online Guide to Style and Grammar 

  • See also: A summary of the most notable changes

  • See also: The printed APA Publication Manual

• The APA's Endorsement of the "Singular They" 

  • • This was, and still is correct (though a little awkward):

"Each participant had the opportunity to substitute the group's estimate for the participant's own estimate.

• • • This was correct but is now wrong:

"Each participant had the opportunity to substitute the group's estimate for his or her own estimate."

• • • This was wrong and is now correct (though it may not always be sufficiently clear):

"Each participant had the opportunity to substitute the group's estimate for their own estimate."

• • You should be aware that use of the singular they can benefit society by reducing gender bias. However,  such use may not be cost-free to the writer (or speaker) who uses the singular they. 

    • Traditionally, and even currently, in formal contexts, a person's use of the singular they is taken to indicate that the person has not quite mastered English grammar. So my recommendation is that you consider both the costs and benefits. 

    • You should also be aware that use of the singular they will sometimes require you to invest additional time in editing your writing, to avoid ambiguity concerning number, singularity, and plurality. 

    • Personally, I make it my practice to avoid using unnecessarily gendered pronouns while at the same time avoiding use of the singular they. I accomplish this either by using true plurality or, in the case of singularity, avoiding pronouns altogether. (Example: "Each participant had the opportunity to substitute the group's estimate for the participant's own estimate.)

    • If you decide to use the singular they in a thesis, dissertation, or a manuscript written for a class, please include a footnote that says something like the following: 

      • "The present manuscript makes use of "singular they" pronouns, consistent with the guidelines of the 7th edition of the APA publication manual."

• Hyphens and Dashes

  • Types of Dashes

    • Some students are having difficulty making sure that Microsoft Word inserts em dashes when em dashes (as opposed to en dashes) are required. 

      • This page shows how to insert the two types of dashes: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automatically-format-hyphens-as-en-dashes-and-em-dashes-8742dd30-af01-464f-a8c8-ec6fdee23197

      • These pages describe when you should use each type of dash:

        • http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/09/computer-editing-tip-em-dashes.html

        • http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/09/computer-editing-tip-en-dashes.html

• Capitalization 

  • "Capitalize most nouns when they are followed by numerals or letters (e.g., Table 1, Figure 2, Experiment 3, Panel A)."

  • "The first word after a colon is also capitalized when what follows the colon is an independent clause."

• When to spell-out numbers

(2) Richard Anderson's Multi-Page Guide to Writing a Research Report or Proposal