This eguide was created by Cathy J. Thompson, PhD, RN, CCNS, CNE CJT Consulting & Education,

Transcription

1 This eguide was created by Cathy J. Thompson, PhD, RN, CCNS, CNE CJT Consulting & Education,

2 American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guidelines INTRODUCTION In my nursing programs, all formal papers had to be written using the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guidelines. So being the type of person who followed directions, I learned APA style, as required. I really learned it. In addition to the reference citation sections, I actually read the APA manual (at least most of it ) and, to my surprise, found that it provided a lot of excellent content on grammar and writing in general. Go figure! Once I started teaching, I found that even though students were required to buy the APA manual, most of them did not; and so, formatting was inconsistent and sloppy, and important information was missing. Why be so picky, you might ask? Attention to detail for nurses is important; it says something about your character and work ethic, I think. Also, it is really frustrating to read poorly formatted papers or look for a cited article and not being able to find it easily because the author has an incorrect volume or issue or page number in the reference citation. So I developed this guide to accompany a free APA seminar I gave over the lunch hour for the students and interested faculty. I covered the most frequent questions about APA style and references for books, book chapters, and journal articles. I conducted these Lunch & Learn seminars almost every semester for many years. Over the years, I have revised this guide to meet new APA guidelines, as per each new APA edition. I have distributed this guide in my courses as required reading for every course I taught (along with a Plagiarism guide). Students have let me know that these guides were valuable resources for their school work and professional writing. Faculty, too, found these materials helpful. Along with the Plagiarism guide (Avoiding Plagiarism: Tips for Students and Faculty), faculty members from my school and other schools, who were taking classes from me, asked permission to use this style guide in their courses. I was happy to oblige. If you would like to use this in your courses, please do. All I ask is that you please me at cathy@nursingeducationexpert.com just to let me know you are using it I d like to keep track of where this eguide is being used. If you would like to add information specific to your school (e.g., changes to APA format that your school accepts, etc.), me and I ll send you the Word file. The contents include the following sections: General Tips and Helpful Hints p. 3 Changes to the 6 th Edition p. 6 APA Style Standards p. 7 References and Citations p. 9 Other Quick Things to Know p. 12 References and Bibliography p. 15 Sample Cover Page for Student Papers (available as a BONUS Attachment) CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 2

3 General Tips and Helpful Hints A Note about this eguide In some areas, I ll try to point you to the section numbers of information you ll need in the APA Manual. All section numbers referenced are from the APA Manual, 6 th ed. (2010). I decided to use three levels of headings. Things I have done that are not APA: I ve decided not to double-space this document to cut down on the number of pages; I have added an extra space between paragraphs, mainly for readability don t do this in your papers; I have used a fancy font; and I may not have used full sentences. Getting Started Though there are multiple ways to cite and format papers, many colleges of nursing (CON) faculty have decided that formal papers required for CON courses should follow APA format. APA is a common method of citation in nursing journals and textbooks, though you will see other methods used, also. 1. All examples provided here are in correct APA format. However, I have taken some liberties with the formatting, such as not double-spacing the text and adding a space between paragraphs for readability. And I may have emphasized some citation material using bolded or italicized letters so be sure to review the APA manual for the specific section you need. Just a note: The one thing I still have to think about is to put two spaces in between sentences, instead of the one space that the previous guidelines had required. So if you do find spacing or a citation that is incorrectly formatted in this document please let me know so I can fix in the next version (and Thanks! in advance). 2. Become familiar with the APA Table of Contents and the actual content you may be surprised as to how helpful the APA manual is in presenting common writing and grammar errors and writing tips, in general. They use colored Tabs help to mark sections. 3. I suggest the use of tape flags (that you ve labeled) to mark frequently used information. 4. With each new edition, be sure to read the Introduction! Sounds boring, I know, but this section will specifically point out changes from the old edition, thus making it much easier for you to identify what you need to relearn! 5. Always check with your instructor for specific APA guidelines to use for assignments in that particular class; these changes may include modifications from the current edition or from published CON modifications. The instructor is grading your paper and so has the last word! 6. If writing for publication, always check the editorial guidelines and/or information for authors for preferred citation styles and guidelines specific to that journal. 7. Be cautious of websites proclaiming to show you how to write according to APA format rules they are not always correct. That said, there are some good resources out there. CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 3

4 8. There is software available for APA format --- but even software is fallible so you still need to know APA to make sure your program is doing it right. I have seen minor mistakes in APA format in papers for which the students used software to format their references. 9. While this eguide may be helpful, it does not replace the manual. The APA clearly recognizes that the manual provides standardized guidelines, to which exceptions would doubtless be necessary, but to which reference might be made in cases of doubt (Bentley as cited in APA, 2010, p. 3). There will be times in which you do not find a citation example that matches your source. In those cases, you use the manual and your judgment to decide on how to cite or reference that source. 10. Use the sample manuscript in the manual to see how APA style is carried out in a paper! 11. Note that the APA website also identifies the new changes, as well as periodically provides informational updates: Free tutorials can be found at: The Basics of APA Style available at and What's New in the Sixth Edition available at CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 4

5 Why is it so Important that I Correctly Cite According to APA Guidelines? The bottom line is that readers depend on accurate citations, so that they can pull a reference, if needed. It is really frustrating to try to find an article you would really like to use for your learning or your own research when the citation is incorrect! Also, readers (in the CON, faculty) may judge your work based on your inattention to this type of detail. Inconsistent or sloppy APA casts doubt over how carefully you researched the paper or even how carefully you credited authors for their ideas! Another common error I ve seen in papers is the fact that students don t consistently document the author s full name in the reference list. Don t forget initials if the author uses them for their byline! By the way, initials only get noted in the reference list, not listed in a text citation. So (Smith & Young, 2012) not (A. Smith & B. Young, 2012) or (Smith, A., & Young, B., 2010). Of course, not all authors use their middle initial(s), but there are several reasons authors do use initials. For example: If the author has a common name, using initials is a way to differentiate their authorship. For example, Cathy Thompson is a common name in the US. I use my middle initial to differentiate myself from the many other Cathy Thompsons, who may be nurse authors. This is a respect issue, in a sense respect the author s hard work and cite their full name. They want to! This is the author s choice. Note that much of the following information is quoted or paraphrased from the 6 th edition of the APA manual or as indicated, so I did not cite every sentence! Additional sources are noted. Purpose of the APA Manual To aid authors in the preparation of manuscripts is the stated purpose of the American Psychological Association (APA) manual (1994, p. xxiii). The APA manual presents.... [Or] The purpose of the American Psychological Association (APA) manual (1994) is to aid authors in the preparation of manuscripts (p. xxiii). (Note the two different ways to use and cite quotes.) Originally written to help maintain consistency, accuracy, ease of editing, ease of retrieval of citations, better flow, and ultimately ease of reading for the readers of APA s journals. Realize that school assignments, theses, dissertations are not considered copy manuscripts but final manuscripts and therefore the rules in the APA manual (2001) may not be appropriate or even useful for student papers (p ). Schools/universities may require you follow APA format with modifications specific to that school/university. Chapter Titles in the 6 th edition of the APA Manual: Chapter 1: Writing for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Chapter 2: Manuscript Structure and Content Chapter 3: Writing Clearly and Concisely Chapter 4: The Mechanics of Style Chapter 5: Displaying Results Chapter 6: Crediting Sources Chapter 7: Reference Examples Chapter 8: The Publication Process CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 5

6 Changes to the 6 th Edition (retrieved from General Changes in the Manual (selected) New discussions of the creation, submission, and storage of supplemental data. New guidelines for referencing electronic sources. New and expanded reference examples for a variety of on-line sources. Redesigned APAstyle website, expanded to provide tutorials, on-line courses, and other resources for learning APA style. Organized to describe the writing process from idea to publication, it begins with background information on ethical issues in publishing, then moves on to manuscript structure and content, then writing style and rules, then graphics and references, then guidance on working with the publisher. Sample paper section has been moved up and featured to better exemplify manuscript structure and content. Major Style changes Return to two spaces after the period at the end of the sentence recommended for ease of reading comprehension. Numbers requirement to use numerals for numbers below 10 grouped with those above 10 had been dropped. Numerals vs. words exception has been added for using words when discussing approximations of days and months (e.g., about ten days). Decimal fractions New guidelines for reporting of p values to two or three decimal places. (However, p values less than p <.001 should be reported as p <.001.). Statistics in text new guideline added to include not only statistics but also associated effect sizes and confidence intervals. Form for reporting confidence intervals delineated. Crediting sources and reference example changes. Chapter now groups rules for quoting and guidance on getting permissions with standards for citation. Other changes include: Citations new passage added on what to cite and recommended level of citation. New guidance on in-text citations of material quoted from electronic sources with no page numbers. Reference list o Hanging indent is back! o New discussion on citing the archival version or version of record. o New expanded information on electronic sources and locator information, with an emphasis on the DOI. o New guidance on what to include for publication information, with focus on electronic sources. CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 6

7 APA Style Standards (Note: Numbers in parentheses refer to section number of where the information is found in the APA Manual.) Important Style Guidelines Double space everything (unless instructor notes otherwise): Easier to read and edit (8.03) 1 margins all sides (8.03). Exceptions: Theses/dissertations left margin = 1.5 for binding. Indent first line of every paragraph one-half inch. Indents = ½ or about 5-7 spaces (8.03). Indent block quotations: Indent the entire paragraph with source credited at end after the period. (Source, year, page number) No quote marks needed for block quotations. Two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence. (4.01) One space after internal periods in abbreviations (e.g., i.e., a.m., U.S.) or around colons in ratios. One space after periods of initials of personal names in reference list: this is considered an internal period and there is no space between the period and the comma between the names. If > 1 author a comma separates the author s names. For example: Borman, F. G., & Resick, H. G. (2003)... One space after commas, colons, and semicolons and all punctuation within the citation or parentheses. (4.01). Running heads are generally not necessary for student papers. They are mainly used for articles to be submitted for publication. But if your instructor wants one, do it. ASK. Left justify all papers (leaves a ragged right edge like this eguide) (8.03). Page numbers in top right-hand corner; Exceptions for Theses/Dissertations for preliminary pages (i.e., approval page, dedication, abstract, etc.). Pages are consecutively numbered starting with the cover page as page 1. (8.03) Five levels of headings in APA format (section ). Table 3.1 outlines the different levels (p. 62). Use headings consecutively, so if you have 2 levels of headings, use levels 1 and 2; if 3 levels of headings, use levels 1-3, etc. Table 3.1 Format for Five Levels of Heading in APA Journals Level of Heading Format 1 Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading 2 Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading 3 Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. 4 Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. 5 Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. Note for levels 3-5 the text starts 2 spaces after the heading period. CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 7

8 Do not use the label Introduction as a heading for student papers. The beginning of a paper or chapter is the introduction. (2.05) Do turn in a cover page with student assignments especially if putting in a general mailbox for multiple faculty. You must note your name and the instructor s name(s) on the cover sheet, so that the paper gets to the right instructor and we know the author of the paper! See the BONUS attachment for a template for how to format your cover page. Don t use fancy fonts (like this one!) for formal student papers. Use serif type fonts such as Times Roman, CG Times, or Courier font, size 12pt, unless otherwise noted by your instructor. Sans serif fonts are used for Figure labels (such as Arial). So be sure to read your class syllabus for the critical elements for the paper in question. (8.03) Use the past tense or present perfect tense to describe or summarize published works in text. Example: Smith (2007) found or Smith (2007) has found or Smith (2007) studied... etc. (3.18). Seriation: (3.04) Three or more elements in a series are separated by a comma. For example: He went to the ATM, the market, and the gas station before heading home. She went to the bank and the florist. (4.03) (note comma after market and before and ) For lists that do not signify a hierarchy or chronology, you may use bullets. For seriation within sentences, use letters within a double parentheses: Examples such as (a) first item and (b) second item OR (a) first item, (b) second item, and (c) last item. Separate paragraphs in a series with Arabic numerals followed by a period. See Getting Started section on page 3 of this document for an example. Other frequently accessed sections: Numbers expressed in words (4.32) Numbers expressed in numerals (4.31) Scientific abbreviations (4.27) Statistical and mathematical copy ( ) Use of hyphenation for compound words (4.13) Using abbreviations (4.22) Explanation of abbreviations (4.23) Plurals of abbreviations (4.29) Quoting and paraphrasing ( ) Construction of an accurate and complete reference list (6.22) CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 8

9 References and Citations Reference Lists and Bibliographies The Reference List or Bibliography starts on new page. o A Bibliography contains background material and additional sources not cited in text. Most instructors want just a Reference list. If this preference is not clear in the paper guidelines --- ASK! o ONLY references cited in text are cited in Reference list. o Conversely, all citations in the Reference list have been cited in text. Whereas in a Bibliography all sources are cited, even if they are never cited in the text. Citations must be accurate and complete so the reader can retrieve the source. (6.22) Reference/Bibliographic citations should be double-spaced (p. 180); Some instructors will allow references to be single spaced with a space separating each citation. ASK. All reference entries should have a hanging indent (p. 180). o Nield, M. (2000). Dyspnea self-management in African Americans with chronic lung disease. Heart & Lung, 29(1), Good chart on how to reference citations (Table 6.1, section ) If you only retrieve an abstract of an article and not the whole article, you have to reference as an abstract. E.g., Author, A. B. (year). Title of the Source [Abstract]... There are examples for different types of sources (e.g., conference proceedings, speeches, etc.) in the Reference section of the manual too. Realize that s, bulletin board, or discussion boards are cited as personal communications in text (6.20), but not listed in reference list (because they are not retrievable by reader). Website URLs also are not listed in ref list if you were only noting the web address to accompany the text. Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon in Reference list. The reference list or bibliography is alphabetized by First author s last name: Letter by letter o Don t rearrange multiple authors (of one article) to be alphabetical. The first author s name is in that place for a reason! o See APA manual for how to arrange multiple citations starting with same last name in text. o Don t forget the authors initials! If an author uses an initial (check the actual article!), use it in the listing! o Mary Alden White becomes White, M. A. (year). o Hyphenated names: Mary Alden-White becomes Alden-White, M. in reference list Commas separate authors in reference page, except if only one author. For example: o White, M. A. (2001). Sleep patterns in the critically ill: A pilot study. Heart & Lung, 29(1), o Porter-O Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2007). Quantum leadership: A resource for health care innovation (2 nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. o Fineout-Overholt, E., Hofstetter, S., Shell, L., & Johnston, L. (2005). Getting to the gold: How to search for the best evidence. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 2(4), Notice the space between the initials and the commas that follow the period after the last initial of each author, except the last one before the date of publication. CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 9

10 Reference citations should now be identified with a digital object identifier (DOI) if one is noted. If a DOI is noted, no retrieval dates are included. There is no period after the DOI number. (6.31; 7.01) If no DOI is assigned to the content and you retrieved [the content] online, include the homepage URL for the journal, newsletter, or magazine in the reference. Use this format: Retrieved from (7.01) Examples o Anderson, A. K., Christoff, K., Panitz, D., De Rosa, E., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2003). Neural correlates of the automatic processing of threat facial signals. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, (No DOI and not retrieved online) o Armony, J. L., & Dolan, R. J. (2002). Modulation of spatial attention by fearconditioned stimuli: An event-related fmri study. Neuropsychologia, 40, doi: /s %2801% o Black, D. G., Smith, G., & Jones, F. (2009). Cognitive behavioral therapy to induce sleep in insomniacs. Internet Journal of Advanced Nursing Practice, 8(6), Retrieved from General Format for Journal Articles, Books, and Book chapters (7.01 & 7.02) These are the most common reference sources that students will need to cite. See APA manual for other examples. Journal articles paginated with volume and issue with DOI: Note journal title and volume are italicized, issue is not. No space between volume and issue and no period after the DOI o Thompson, C. J. (2013). Graduate nursing education in the 21st century: There's an app for that! Clinical Nurse Specialist: The Journal for Advanced Nursing Practice, 27(6), doi: /NUR.0b013e3182a8bf51 Journal articles paginated with volume and issue without DOI: If article was accessed online and there is no DOI, then cite the retrieval information in terms of a URL of the journal article. No date of retrieval is needed. o DiCenso, A., & Bryant-Lukosius, D. (2010). Clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners in Canada: A decision support synthesis. Canadian Health Services Research Foundation. Retrieved from earch/ /b9cb aa57-2b81c aspx Entire Books: Location of the publisher is required and both the city and the state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods (e.g., St. Louis, MO; New York, NY) is required. o Keller, S. P., & Kelvin, E. A. (2013). Munro s statistical methods for health care research (5 th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 10

11 Book Chapters: cite the authors of the chapter many students only cite the editors of the textbook and that is not fair. If you are citing a chapter in a book, give the authors credit for their hard work! o Thompson, C. J. (2012). Cardiovascular problems. In J. G. W. Foster & S. Prevost (Eds.), Advanced practice nursing for adults in acute care, (pp ). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis. o Traditi, L. K. (2003). Searching the literature. In K. S. Oman, M. Krugman, & R. Fink (Eds.), Nursing research secrets (pp ). Philadelphia, PA: Hanley & Belfus. Citing in Text and Parenthetical Material ( ) In general, do not use the author s initials in text use only last name NOT M. A. White (2001) studied BUT White (2001) studied... The article by White (2001)... Cite only author, year of publication when paraphrasing (Smith, 2009) Smith (2009) studied... A recent study (Smith, 2009) examined... OR A recent study examined the effects of... (Smith, 2009). If quoting transcribe the material exactly (you can leave out material using ellipsis marks), put quotes around the quotation if less than 40 words, and cite page number after year (Smith, 2009, p. 24) or following the quote, depending on how you cited the author. ( ) A recent study (Smith, 2009) examined stress and disease and concluded that stress is clearly a determinant in multiple disease states (p. 11). OR A recent study (Smith, 2009) examined stress and disease and concluded that stress is... a determinant in multiple disease states (p. 11). (note ellipsis marks) OR Stress is clearly a determinant in multiple disease states (Smith, 2009, p. 11). Within a paragraph, when the name of the author is part of the narrative... you need not include the year in subsequent nonparenthetical references to a study as long as the study cannot be confused with other studies cited in the article. Do include the year in all parenthetical citations.... However, when both the name and the year are in parentheses include the year in subsequent citations within the paragraph. (APA, 2010, p. 174) [emphasis added]. However, the year must be included the first time in each new paragraph. In a recent study of reaction times, Walker (2000) described the method used to accurately monitor participants reactions. Walker found that reaction time was correlated to alcohol use. The study also showed that there was a high rate of alcohol abuse among the participants (Walker, 2000). Building on Walker s work (2000), Kessler (2006) compared reaction times with stress levels.... High stress was associated with slow reaction times (Kessler, 2006). Kessler also found... References with two authors (6.12) Always cite both authors, every time Smith and Jones (2004) focused on... The study concluded that stress causes disease (Smith & Jones, 2004). CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 11

12 References with 3 to 5 authors (6.12) First time cited in text, cite all authors o Smith, Jones, and Henry (2005) studied... A recent study on stress (Smith, Jones, & Henry, 2005)... or Jacky, Jones, Henry, Grey, and White (2012) implemented... This quality improvement project resulted in a significant reduction in readmission rates (Jacky, Jones, Henry, Grey, & White, 2012). Subsequent citations cite first author with et al. (You can also vary this by stating Smith and colleagues or something similar to give some variety to the paper.) o Smith et al. (2005) concluded... o Jacky and colleagues (2012) demonstrated... o Et al. means and others the Latin word is et alia Et is a word! There is NO period after it. al. is an abbreviation for the Latin word alia, so there is a period after it. In text put a period after al. followed by the (year). In parenthetical material follow the period with a comma, no space because this is an internal period, then the year: (Smith et al., 2005). o In reference list, all authors are cited. References with 6 authors (6:12; 6:27; 7:01) In text, cite first author only with et al. starting with the first time mentioned (6.12) In reference list, for seven or less authors, include all authors in the reference. If eight or more authors cite the first six authors then insert three ellipsis marks to note that there are more than seven authors and include the last author s name at the end of the author information. Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, 3., Author, 4., Author, 5., Author, 6.,... Last Author, L. L. (year). Title case. Journal Name, Volume(issue), pp-pp. doi.xx.xxxxxxx Rosler, A. J., Ulrich, C., Billino, J., Sterzer, P. R., Weidauer, S., Bernhardt, T.,... Kleinschmidt, A. (2005). Effects of arousing emotional scenes on the distribution of visuospatial attention: Changes with aging and early subcortical vascular dementia. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 229, doi: /j.jns In parenthetical material, commas are used to separate authors and publication years, but not in text (Black, 1999) (Smith & Jones, 2000) (Henry, Booth, & White, 2007) Smith and Jones (2010) studied... Use a semi-colon to separate a series of references and Multiple references are listed in alphabetical order, regardless of publication date (6.16) Multiple studies (Black, 2009; Henry et al., 2007; Smith & Jones, 2000) have examined the phenomenon of... (Blake, 2010; Christoff & Xavier, 2000; Zebulon & Pike, 2013) CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 12

13 General Form for Electronic References Electronic sources include aggregated databases, online journals, Web sites or Web pages, newsgroups, Web- or -based discussion groups, and Web-or -based newsletters. Online periodical with DOI. (use hanging indent) Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Vol(issue), pp. xx-xx. doi:xx.xxxxxxxx Online periodical without DOI. Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Vol(issue), pp-pp. Retrieved from Citations in text of electronic material. To cite a specific part of a source, indicate the page, chapter, section, figure, table, or equation at the appropriate point in text. (6.19) Always give page numbers for quotations. Note that the word page, but NOT chapter, is abbreviated in such text citations: o (Cheek & Buss, 2001, p. 332) (Readley, 2009, Chapter 3) For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number, if available, preceded by the paragraph symbol ( ) or the abbreviation para. If neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material (see section 6.05). o (Myers, 2000, 5) (Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1) CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 13

14 Other Quick Things to Know Quotations Periods or commas are placed within quoted material followed by end-quotes xxx xxxx. Other punctuation placed inside quotes only if in original material. When quoting, period follows citation, except for block quotes: xxx xxxx (p. 25). Or > 40 word quote finishes with period (indented, no quote marks), source, year, page cited with no period following: Xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx. Xxxx xxxxxx xx xxxx xx. Xxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx. Xxxx xxxxxx xx xxxx xx. Xxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx. xxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xxx xxxxx. Xxxx xxxxxx xx xxxx xx. Xxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx. Xxxx xxxxxx xx xxxx xx. Xxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx. (Smith, 2009, p. 25) Use ampersand (&) only in parentheses and in full citation in Reference page; Use and when discussing authors in text: Parentheses: A recent study (Hart & Black, 2000) supported the conclusions of... Reference page: Hart, E. J., & Black, F. R. (2000). A pilot study of... Text: Hart and Black (2000) studied... Use past tense or present perfect tense when discussing studies in literature review In 2008, White examined... Several studies have focused on... When citing year of publication use parentheses unless year is part of text (when varying writing style) for example: o In 2008, White examined... or White (2008) examined... Spell out abbreviations the first time they are used to save space only if they are to be used again in the paper. ( ) In long papers, sometimes abbreviations are re-identified if the author thinks the reader may forget the meaning of the abbreviation. Term is spelled out first time noted and immediately followed by abbreviation in parentheses o Systolic blood pressure (SBP) is a measure of the force... The patient s SBP was elevated and therefore immediate treatment was initiated. Don t need to spell out abbreviations that are found in the dictionary and accepted as words: IQ REM ESP AIDS HIV NADP ACTH -- but consider your audience! It may be wise to spell these out if writing for the lay public. To make a plurals of most abbreviations, numbers, and statistical symbols just add an s, but not italicized and without an apostrophe (unless the plural is denoting possession) (4.29) o IQs Eds. NPs CNSs APNs In the 1950s o But -- The CNS s improvement project; The editor s decision; The groups rules When omitting material from of a quoted portion, use ellipsis marks to show that you left words out. Three spaced ellipsis marks (... ) denote words missing within a sentence. If you skip a sentence or more within the quoted material (frequently done to make a more concise point), that is denoted by four ellipsis marks = a period to end the first quote, then three spaced ellipsis points to indicate the missing material (the end of the sentence.... ) Never start a sentence with a number; spell out numbers less than ten; exceptions are many see APA manual. (4.32) One hundred subjects participated in the study OR CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 14

15 There were 100 participants in the study. Five examinations were completed on Monday and 10 examinations were completed Tuesday. Fifty percent of the class was female. In this study, 42% were married. Remember: Your faculty member s specifications for student assignments take precedence over APA format guidelines! CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 15

16 Reference List Example of a single-spaced Reference List with a space in between the citations. Reference list is alphabetized letter by letter-- nothing comes before something (6.25); if more than one entry lists the same first author put the earliest publication date first; American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Carstensen, L. L. (1992). Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: Support for socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 7, doi: / Carstensen, L. L., & Mikels, J. A. (2005). At the intersection of emotion and cognition: Aging and the positivity effect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(3), doi: /j x Fineout-Overholt, E., Hofstetter, S., Shell, L., & Johnston, L. (2005). Getting to the gold: How to search for the best evidence. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 2(4), Keller, S. P., & Kelvin, E. A. (2013). Munro s statistical methods for health care research (5 th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. Thompson, C. (1993). Evaluating the patient's response to care: Outcomes documentation. Medical- Surgical Quarterly, 1(4), Thompson, C. J. (2012). Cardiovascular problems. In J. G. W. Foster & S. Prevost (Eds.), Advanced practice nursing for adults in acute care, (pp ). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis. Traditi, L. K. (2003). Searching the literature. In K. S. Oman, M. Krugman, & R. Fink (Eds.), Nursing research secrets (pp ). Philadelphia, PA: Hanley & Belfus. Another Example follows on next page. It shows the list double-spaced. Also note list is alphabetized; note similar first author names with nothing proceeds something principle; note exact same authors with earliest publication years first. The Bonus attachment is a template that you can use as a cover page for your student papers, if your program does not have a required method. NOTE: If you think that colleagues would benefit from these resources, please direct them to my website link. This will give them an opportunity to subscribe to the newsletter list, as well. Thanks so much! CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 16

17 Reference List American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Porter-O Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2007). Quantum leadership: A resource for health care innovation (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Rosler, A. J., Ulrich, C., Billino, J., Sterzer, P. R., Weidauer, S., Bernhardt, T.,... Kleinschmidt, A. (2005). Effects of arousing emotional scenes on the distribution of visuospatial attention: Changes with aging and early subcortical vascular dementia. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 229, doi: /j.jns Thompson, C. (1993). Evaluating the patient's response to care: Outcomes documentation. Medical-Surgical Quarterly, 1(4), Thompson, C. J. (1995). Denervation of the transplanted heart: Nursing implications for patient care. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 17(4), White, M. A. (2001). Sleep patterns in the critically ill: A pilot study. Heart & Lung, 29(1), White, M. A., Black, D. G., Smith, G., & Jones, F. (1999). Sleep: A review of the literature. Heart & Lung, 28(6), CJT Consulting & Education, 2013 Page 17