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APA Style / Format: A Primer or Booster

Learn the rules and guidelines of APA Style for presenting information in academic and professional settings to ensure clear, complete, and efficient communication. This guide covers common components, writing style tips, and formatting requirements.

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APA Style / Format: A Primer or Booster

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  1. APA Style / Format:A Primer or Booster Psychology Dept. Occidental College

  2. I. What is it? • A set of rules & guidelines for presenting information in academic and professional settings • Developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) • “Publication Manual” includes a complete account • Continually revised: 6th edition

  3. II. Purpose • To make the presentation of information* complete, clear, & efficient • Components to be included • Organization of components • General writing style tips * Stricter rules for empirical (data-based) works

  4. Guidelines for papers • Student papers • Why learn an artificial format of no general importance? • Formal manuscripts intended for publication / dissemination among professionals • Learn a subset of guidelines for this type of paper

  5. III. Common Components • General formatting • 1-inch margins, all around • Double-spaced • 12-pt. font (or equivalent) • “Times New Roman” (or equally clear font)

  6. III. Common Components • Writing style • Succinctness • “in order to”  “to” • “four different categories”  “four categories” • 3rd person • Active voice • Unbiased language • Quotations used sparingly • No plagiarism

  7. Plagiarism • Paraphrase points from sources unless completely obvious and simple • “2nd citing” (of another source cited within a reference source you have on hand) is not ideal, but permissible • You should know exactly what the original source says regarding your specific point; look up the original source whenever possible!

  8. III. Common Components: Title Page • Running head • Page numbers • Title • Author • Affiliation • Make it look like it should! • See sample paper (APA) • See sample paper (OWL)

  9. III. Common Components: Body • Format the title properly • Use references properly: … within the text • In a 4-year study, Vrij and Secundo (1971) discovered… … within parentheses • Order multiple references • … demonstrated a statistically significant effect (Borth, 1992; Lee & Park, 2004; Miettinen et al., 1934).

  10. III. Common Components: Body • “et al.” for multiple authors • 3-5 authors: use et al. when citing a source after the first mention • 6 or more: use immediately • Miettinen et al. (1934) OR (Miettinen et al., 1934)

  11. III. Common Components: Body • Quotations: use page #s 2 ways to do this… before the quote or after it Place the page number close to the quote • El-bahim (2007, p. 196) claimed “all three factors…” • El-bahim (2007) surveyed college students and concluded that the groups “must be equalized” (p. 41)

  12. III. Common Components: “References” Page • Order alphabetically • Hanging indent • For 8 or more authors, list the first 6, use an ellipsis (…) and include last author: • Castillo, A. R. N., Thompson, C., Engler-Smith, F., Ricci, Q. H., … Ward, A. (2001).

  13. “References” Page (cont.) • Each type of source requires a uniquely formatted reference • Refer to publication manual • At Oxy, you are expected to know just a few common ones • (see following slides)

  14. IV. Empirical Work Components • Abstract • Section Headings • (Introduction) • Methods • Results • Discussion • Statistics (PSYC 201) • Figures & Tables • Appendices (if needed) • Ex) survey items; “extra” data

  15. V. Expectations for Oxy Students • Reference types • Journal article: Men, X. A. (1964). Reply to critics: Bayesian may be best. Social Psychological Bulletin, 36, 45-49. doi: 15.453/4813743.24.7 • Book: Patel, P. (1997). Cultural barriers. New York: Wiley.

  16. V. Expectations for Oxy Students • Reference Types • Book chapter (edited): Lightfoot, T. G., & Widmer, E. (1987). Tall tales. In G. Suri & L. O’Kachai (Eds.), Folklore in South America (pp. 31-65). Omaha, NB: University Press. • Internet Source: Nguyen, T. (2003, May 19). The p value. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/afx23

  17. V. Expectations for Oxy Students • Note for journal articles: • Always include volume number • ONLY include issue number for journals that start page numbers from 1 for each issue of a volume Ex) …Journal of Personality Issues, 7(2), 14-29 [Here issues 1 and 2 both start at page 1; articles cannot be identified solely by volume & page numbers]

  18. VI. Supplemental Resources • Oxy Psychology Website • APA’s website • Sample paper (APA) • Sample paper (OWL) • Purdue’s “The OWL” • Daryl Bem’s writing guide

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