Essentials of APA
Today, we will cover: 1) Paper formatting (title pages, running heads, headings and sub-headings) 2) In text citations (the most common forms, including grammar advice) 3) Creating documentation for References pages and handling appendices 4) Questions you might have If you have APA questions, please feel free to email me at sean.mccandless@ucdenver.edu While I can only review drafts extensively with a professor s referral, I can address most types of questions regarding writing.
APA papers have very particular formatting. The pages come in the following order: Title Page Abstract Body of Paper References Appendices
Start the title page by writing in the upper half of page. Put the title, your name, the school, the class, and the date. Keep in mind that the class and the date information only appear this way for papers for class, not for publication.
Next, create the running head, which APA requires on each page. When opening the header, make sure to click Different First Page under Design. Insert the page numbers first, starting the numbering on the title page (as per the APA Manual), unless instructed to do otherwise. Type Running head, then a colon, and then an ALL CAPS SHORTENED TITLE. Hold down the space bar to align it with the left hand margin.
As per the APA (2010), the running head should be a maximum of 50 characters, counting letters, punctuation, and spaces between words (p. 229). The term Running head on the first page is excluded from this count.
You will repeat the process for page 2. You will insert page numbers and the shortened ALL CAPS title, but you will omit the words Running head. All subsequent pages should have this formatting.
Everything in APA is double spaced. Open Paragraph and then make sure Before and After are both set to 0 and that line spacing is Double (Word defaults to single, as seen above). Use standard 1 margins throughout.
Everything is now double spaced, and there are no extra spaces between paragraphs. The abstract is typically next (unless you have a table of contents). Type Abstract at the top, center it, left justify the contents, and detail the pertinent aspects of the paper.
Start the body of the paper with the full title of the paper. As per the APA Manual, you will not need to label the introduction (pp. 27, 42). Use standard 0.5 indentation for paragraphs.
APA section and sub-section headers are very particular and should only occur in the following ways: Major Sections Sub-sections Sub-sub sections. Sub-sub-sub sections. Sub-sub-sub-sub sections. Major sections (e.g., literature review, methods) are centered and bolded. Sub-sections are left justified and bolded. The remaining types are all indented 0.5 and have various types of bolding and italicizing. All section types after sub-sections should end with periods. For the sections, the sentences begin immediately after the period: Sub-sub-sub-sub section. The researchers recruited participants from
APA presents some grammar suggestions (pp. 77-86): 1) Avoid passive voice as much as possible (more on the next slides) 2) Try to use simple past tense and present perfect to describe findings (e.g., found or have found ) 3) Verbs should be the most descriptive of the action taken and in the appropriate tense (taking into account the verb tenses for findings) 4) Make sure that verbs and pronouns that refer to data are plural (e.g., The data are they are ) 5) Use pronouns carefully (e.g., he or she or his or her to refer to singular; they to refer to plural)
Passive voice (typically) occurs when combining some form of be or get with a past participle. The danger is that the agent of the action might be obscured also passive voice. Forms of Be : is, was, were, been, being, to be Form of Get : got, get, getting Past Participle: Verb form indicating past or completed action
There are two primary forms of passive voice, namely an implied who[m]/what and an explicit who[m]/what. In the first, the agent of the action is implied, but is not explicitly written, in the sentence. In the second, the agent is stated. (Notice how these instructions are passive voice) Implied: The bill was passed [by whom/what] with a 60-40 vote. Explicit: The bill was passed by the US Senate with a 60-40 vote. Active: The US Senate passed the bill with a 60-40 vote. Try to make as many of your sentences as possible in active voice.
You should only use passive voice in the following instances: 1) if who/what is doing the action is completely clear; 2) if the action is broadly applicable to all (or most) individuals; 3) If the action only ever refers to something one individual or group of individuals did; and 4) if the common convention is usually in passive voice (e.g., He was born in Paris versus His mother bore him in Paris ).
Before we talk about the basics of in-text citations, keep the following in mind: 1) Any idea not your own should have a citation 2) When in doubt, cite 3) You should paraphrase/summarize as much as possible instead of directly quoting (i.e., putting in your own words versus taking authors words directly) 4) All paraphrases/summaries still require citations 5) Direct quotations should (ideally) comprise no more than 5% of the total body of a paper 6) Never change the order of authors names as they appear in a source If the order of authors names for a work is listed as Zimmerman, Johnson, and Doe, you should never reorganize them to be Doe, Johnson, and Zimmerman.
1) The author as the subject of the sentence: Johnson (2009) asserted that... Keep this in mind: When mentioning the author in this way, the year in parentheses will follow The preferred verb tense is SIMPLE PAST Make sure the verb accurately describes what the author/source did (e.g., argued, asserted, found, postulated, researched, wrote) You can also use present perfect ( have asserted ) if you are describing a broader range of discoveries by numerous researchers/authors Page numbers are not required for paraphrases/summaries, but APA encourages their use for long and complex works or when citing unusual, specific, or uniquely structured information You can drop the year in paragraphs after the first citation IF it is clear you are referring solely to a given author If using page numbers: Johnson (2009) asserted (p. 99). (Johnson, 2009, p. 99).
Avoid these common mistakes: 1) The year is NEVER SEPARATED from the author! 2) No double citations 3) Position of page numbers Johnson argued (2009). As noted by Johnson,.(Johnson, 2009). As noted by Johnson (2009).(Johnson, 2009) As noted by Johnson (2009, p. 99) this is a non-apa citation style) 4) URLs are NEVER citations Most administrators (www.aspa.org). 5) Authors names never stand alone in parenthetical citations Moreover, most administrators (Johnson). non-apa citation style)
2) Emphasizing the idea with the author in a parenthetical citation: Participants overwhelmingly asserted (Johnson, 2009). Keep this in mind: The sentence should clearly state an idea that can be properly attributed to this author Again, page numbers are not required for a paraphrase/summary If you use the name of the author in parentheses, you MUST have the year
If using a single source for a paragraph, you should sandwich the citations. Place one citation for the first sentence employing borrowed information and one for the last. This implies that ALL information is borrowed from this one source. When you switch paragraphs, be sure to clarify the provenance of the information.
Anytime you switch sources, you need to indicate it immediately (lest readers become confused regarding the provenance of the information). Sentence #2 in the example above implies that these are the author s own thoughts.
3) Combining multiple authors into a single sentence when those authors discuss the same subject but come to different conclusions: Post-modernism is becoming more prevalent in policy studies (Johnson, 2009), operations management (Syn, 2007), and stochastic processes (Gunther, 2008). Keep this in mind: You CANNOT put all the citations at the end of the sentence Each citation refers to the information immediately prior to it The sentence implies that all of these authors ideas fit together
When multiple authors have come to the same conclusion, you will list the sources alphabetically (remember not to change the order of authors names as listed in that source): Non-profits are essential to (Doe, 2007; Johnson, 2001). If one author is more important than the other, but you are using both: Non-profits are essential to (Johnson, 2001; see also Doe, 2007).
4) Using direct quotations: Introductory words, quotation (Johnson, 2009, p. 99). As Johnson (2009) wrote, quotation (p. 99). As noted by Doe (2013), quotation (para. 4). Introductory words, quotation (Doe, 2013, para. 4). Keep this in mind: You should use direct quotations sparingly, or only in instances in which paraphrasing the information will detract from the information s explanatory power and uniqueness (i.e., direct quotations should comprise less than 5% of a paper) In other words, you should default to paraphrasing/summarizing as much as possible Location information is ALWAYS required for directly quoted information, including for online/electronic sources Electronic sources still require location information; to avoid the issue of counting paragraphs, use a paraphrase/summary
If you decide to use a quotation of 40+ words, you will need to create a block quotation. However, doing this should be rare, if done at all. You will (typically) introduce the quotation with the authors names, year of publication, and a colon. The quotation will NOT have quotation marks, will be indented 0.5, and will have the page number immediately following (with the period before the page number, instead of after). As noted by Guy and McCandless (2012): Another example can be found in the contrast between equal rights legislation and affirmative action initiatives. From a legal perspective, the Civil Rights Acts, dating back to the first passed in 1866 in the aftermath of the Civil War, have each been crafted to ensure equality of citizens before the law. The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1868 and specifically provides for equal protection under the law. The courts use it to judge whether a challenged law creates suspect categories whose members are subjects of discrimination. The criterion considers whether group members have been historically discriminated against, have a highly visible trait, or have little to no power to protect themselves in the political process. Affirmative action, by contrast, was a lever to advance equity, such that, all else being equal, members of an underrepresented group would have priority in the hiring process as recompense for prior exclusion. It was not introduced until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and met with lasting resistance. (p. 1)
5) Using electronic sources: a) Author listed, paraphrase/summary: Prada outperformed Gucci in 2009 (Johnson, 2010). b) Author listed, direct quotation: Prada totally vanquished Gucci in 2009 (Johnson, 2010, para. 9). Prada totally vanquished Gucci in 2009 (Johnson, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 9). If the article/page has section headers! c) No author listed, paraphrase (direct quotations are handled in the same manner as above): Prada outperformed Gucci in 2008 ( Name of article, 2009). d) No date: Moreover, Prada has larger world wide profits than Gucci (Johnson, n.d.).
Cannot find a publication date on an online website? Using Firefox, right click on the page and go to View Page Info. This will bring up a last updated date, which you can use as the publication date, as seen in the next slide
6) Using organizational authors: The national prevalence of schizophrenia is 1% (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2010). Keep this in mind: Organizational authors are cited in the same basic way as human authors; All acronyms MUST be spelled out in full BEFORE using the acronym; Once the acronym is defined, it can be used for all subsequent citations.
7a) Citing two authors: Doe and Koenig (2007) noted that OR: (Doe & Koenig, 2007). You will ALWAYS have both authors names cited in each and every single use.
7b) Citing three or more authors: a) First mention of article with 3-5 authors: Doe, Koenig, and Porpora (2007) found that. A recent study found that (Doe, Koenig, & Porpora, 2007). b) Subsequent mentions: Doe et al. (2007) found that... A recent study found that (Doe et al., 2007). Doe et al. also found in the same paragraph in which you have already identified the authors. c) Six or more authors: Bain et al. (2007) found that...(bain et al., 2007).
If employing multiple sources published in the same year by the same author, you need to do the following: 1) Create the References citations first, and alphabetize the particular sources from the same author by title 2) Assign a lower case letter to the year 3) Use the year and lower case letter in the text to distinguish between sources
Further, as seen in the APA Manual, if two references shorten to the same form, you will need to cite the surnames of the first authors and of as many of the subsequent authors as necessary to distinguish the two references, followed by a comma and et al. (p. 175, italics in original). For example: (Doe, Doe, Berry, & Zimmerman, 2013) (Doe, Doe, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2013) You could cite subsequent citations as: (Doe, Doe, Berry, et al., 2013) (Doe, Doe, Zimmerman, et al., 2013)
Occasionally, we have to rely upon information retrieved from interviews, emails, non-archived discussion groups, telephone calls, etc. As per the APA (2010), because they do not provide recoverable data, personal communications are not included in the reference list (p. 179). However, we can cite them: According to J. Doe (personal communication, April 1, 2013) (J. Doe, personal communication, April 1, 2013).
Book: Doe, J. (2001). Egyptian death rituals and their historical significance. Cairo: National Publishing. Electronic Book: Doe, J. (2013). Title of book [Version of book, such as Adobe Digital]. Retrieved from URL Journal: Doe, J. (2001). Realism: An examination of its efficacy. Journal of International Relations, 82(5), 19-27. Journal with Digital Object Identifier (DOI): Doe, J. (2013). Title of article. Name of Journal, 25(3), 300-330. doi: #### Whole website: Name of Association. (2008). Title of page. Retrieved from URLhttp://www.website.de Human Author on Organizational Website: Doe, J. (2008). Title of report (Report #). Retrieved from XYZ Organization website: URL Newspaper Article: Does, J. (2013, July 31). Title of article. Name of newspaper, pp. A15. Online Newspaper: Doe, J. (2013, August 1). Title of article. Name of newspaper. Retrieved from URL
Creating References pages is easy: 1) Type References and center at the top of the page 2) Type the authors names, only use first initials, and use periods after initials and commas to separate elements 3) A period follows the last author s initials 4) The year follows, followed by a period 5) The title of the article goes next 6) If a journal, the title of the journal and then the volume/issue goes next, followed by the page range 7) If a book, the place of publication follows, ending with the publisher 8) If a website, you will have Retrieved from and then the URL (Retrieval dates are NO LONGER REQUIRED IN APA) 9) If an authored report from an organization, you will have Retrieved from XYZ website, followed by a colon, and then the URL 10)After you type all the References, highlight everything, and create the hanging indentation. 11)While everything is supposed to be double spaced, professors often allow single spacing solely in the References, as this saves space. 12)For TITLES, you should only capitalize proper nouns, the first letter of a title, and the first letter of the first word after a colon, semi-colon, or period in a title (but I often do not do this. Just keep in mind that the capitalization is a requirement).
APA employs a handing indentation, in which all lines of a Reference citation is indented 0.5. To create this easily, first left justify everything. Then highlight everything. Place your mouse cursor over the ruler in Word, and then move the lower triangle and block over 0.5.
This is the result. Everything should now have a hanging indentation, but you should check each source to make sure. While everything in APA should be double spaced, I elected to keep this example single spaced.
For publication, APA requires tables/graphs/figures to be in appendices and NOT in the body of the paper. Label each appendix with a letter. Ask your professors if they want tables/graphs/figures to be placed within the body of the text. If you borrow someone else s table/graph/figure, you MUST provide a label for it below, such as: 6 5 4 3 2 Series 1 1 0 Series 2 Series 3 From Title of article by J. Doe, 2013, Title of Journal, Volume, p. ###. Copyright [YEAR] by Name of Holder. From Title of Book (p. ###), by J. Doe, 2013, Place of publication: Publisher. Copyright [YEAR] by Name of Holder.
Reminders and other suggestions: 1) Use footnotes ONLY to denote special publication information or to indicate interesting material that might be requisite to add context but not important enough to be in the body of the paper. You can likely eliminate most footnotes 2) When in doubt, cite. It is better to over-cite than to under-cite 3) You should paraphrase/summarize as much as possible and use direct quotations sparingly (i.e., less than 5% of the paper) 4) Feel free to write to me if you have questions (sean.mccandless@ucdenver.edu)