APA Seriation

1. APA Seriation Dr. Gustafson

2. What is Seriation? • APA Manual 6th Edition – 3.04 • Seriation signals the reader to key points within a section (for example, a list of items) • Different types of seriation for different purposes

3. Numbered Lists • Separate paragraphs in a series or • Separate sentences in a series • Arabic numeral followed by a period • Only use with complete sentences and end with period Example Participants made the following judgments: 1. Individuals who . . . [paragraph or sentence continues]. 2. Nondepressed persons . . . [paragraph or sentence continues]. 3. Depressed persons . . . [paragraph or sentence continues].

4. Bulleted Lists • Separate paragraphs in a series or • Separate sentences in a series • Only use with complete sentences and end with period • Used to avoid connoting ordinal number or items Example Participants made the following judgments: • Individuals who . . . [paragraph or sentence continues]. • Nondepressed persons . . . [paragraph or sentence continues]. • Depressed persons . . . [paragraph or sentence continues].

5. Lists within Paragraph or Sentence • List items within a sentence or paragraph • Identify elements with lowercase letters in parenthesis • Use comma to separate items - in sentence where there are no other internal commas • Use semicolon to separate items – in sentence where there are other internal commas Example (sentence with no other internal commas) The participant's three choices were (a) working with another participant, (b) working with a team, and (c) working alone. Example (sentence with other internal commas) We tested three groups: (a) low scorers, who scored fewer than 20 points; (b) moderate scorers, who scored between . . .

6. Seriation Misc. • Use the correct type of seriation for your purpose • Numbered lists connote order or hierarchy of items; use bulleted list if hierarchy is not intended • Follow paper or journal typeset requirements for bullet style