Writing a paper in The American Psychological Association (APA) format

1. Writing a paper in The American Psychological Association (APA) format

2. Why Use APA Style? • This is the most common format for • documenting sources. • This format is widely used for course • papers and journal articles in Psychology • and also in the social sciences, education, • engineering, and business.

3. American Psychological Association (APA) • Also called the “name-and-year” system of documenting sources because these are the two pieces of information you insert into the body of your paper. • Emphasizes how recent the information is.

4. Cite Sources for Support and to: • Avoid Plagiarism • Give Credit Appropriately • Advance Knowledge Base • Make Research Easier for Future Scholars

5. Where do you put the information about your sources in an APA research paper? • APA requires information in two places: • In in-text citations, right in the body of your paper. AND • At the end of your paper, on the references page.

6. Rules for in-text citations • Place at the end of borrowed material. • Include the author’s last name and the date of publication. • Include the page number for direct quotations or a specific part (i. e.: paraphrased items) of a paginated source. • Use a comma between elements and the abbreviation “p.” for “page” and “pp.” for “pages.” • APA rarely refers to names of sources within in-text citations – use author(s’) name(s)

7. When Do I Cite Sources? • Direct Quotation • Webster (2009) reports that subjects in the study “ran funnier than Marcus with one leg” (p. 253). • Paraphrase • Webster (2009) further shows the media biased approach to the University of Miami football (p. 222). • Summary • Middle school students are gross for a variety of reasons, including lack of hygiene and overall ignorance (Webster, 2010, p.22).

8. What is a Direct Quotation? • A direct quotation is a group of words or sentences that you copy word for word and use as a part of your essay. Example: “The scientific method has well-known and important advantages” (Schrope,2009, p. 24).

9. What is a Paraphrase? • A paraphrase is restating a section of text in your own words. • Length and sentence structure will be similar to the original.

10. What is a Summary? • If your source is unnecessarily detailed, you may put the information entirely in your own words. Example: Student test scores tend to correlate strongly with amount of time spent studying (Marigold, 2006).

11. In-text Citations • Three Components of In-text Citations • Authors’ Last Name(s) • Year Source was Published • Page Number (if available)

12. Two frequently asked questions about in-text citations • Do I need to keep inserting the name of the author of my source over and over again? • If I’m using the same source a lot, how often do I need to insert an in-text citation?

13. Answers • In both cases, you insert the information as often as you think the reader needs it. • Keep asking yourself, “Will the reader know where I found the information in this sentence or paragraph?” and “Whose words/ideas/language am I using?” • It’s better to use too many in-text citations than too few. • You may also consider using less of that specific source.

14. Your in-text citation tells the reader to look at your references page in order to find complete publishing information for that source.

15. The references page • Is at the end of your paper and begins on a new page. (Tip: Use “hard page break” or “section break” after the end of body.) • It is an alphabetical listing of all of the sources you referred to specifically with an in-text citation in your paper. • It does not include sources that you may have read for background information but did not actually incorporate into the paper.

16. References page, contd. • The title of the page is References, not References Page, Bibliography, or Works Cited. • Subsequent pages do not have a title. • On the first line, center the word References, using the same font as the essay. It is not underlined, italicized, or bold. • The references page is double spaced like the rest of the paper (no single space within entries). • Each entry begins at the left margin (1”) and subsequent lines are indented an additional 5 – 7 spaces or ½ inch using tab key. (This is called “hanging indent.”)

17. The format for a book citation shows you the “skeleton” of all APA citations… • Book format (with two authors) Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2005). Psychology (8th ed.). New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Note the punctuation! • Last name, first initial., & last name, first initial. (date). Title of work. Place of publication meaning City, State (using 2 letter postal abbreviation): Publisher.

18. Format for an article in a journal paginated by issue Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13. Last name, first initials. (date). Title of article. Title of Journal, vol(issue), pages.

19. Nonperiodical Web Document Archer, Z. (n.d.). Exploring nonverbal communication. Retrieved from http://www.zzyx.uscs.edu/~archer Name of Web Page. (Year, month day) Retrieved from:Name of Web Site: URL