APA Style Overview

APA stands for the American Psychological Association. APA style is often the preferred method of writing (and writing used for research) by researchers and students in the social sciences.
Psychology Education Political Science Anthropology ETC!

Why Use APA Style?

Standardizes writing. In other words, it provides rules that everyone follows in exactly the same way, all the time. Makes certain that credit is given where credit is due. In other words, it provides a method to quote sources that you use during the writing or research process. Creates an organized paper that is easier to read. Because you want to get an A in your classes!

General APA Rules

Times New Roman font Size 12 Double spaced One inch margins on the top, bottom, right, and left Quote anythinganythingthat you did not originally write, even if its a 2-3 word phrase Cite anything that is paraphrased from someone elses idea or thought In general, if its not common knowledge, cite it

APA Style Cover Page

On the cover page, the following elements typically appear:
Running head (Running head: TITLE OF THE PAPER) Page number Title Author(s) Institutional affiliation (Indiana State University)

On page 2, the following elements appear:

Heading Title

Abstracts
APA also sometimes uses an abstract, which is a short summary of your essay. The abstract lets the reader know what your paper will cover, the research methods used, and the papers conclusion. In general, it helps your reader determine whether your essay will be helpful for them.

In-Text Citations
You are expected to tell the reader if you use another persons written or spoken words. You are expected to tell the reader if you use another persons ideas. You do this through in-text citations.
Important! This is not the same as your reference list at the end of your paper! (Well chat about that later.)

In-Text Citations
There are two ways to use in-text citations: 1) Place the citation within the text. For example: In this article, Bushnell (2011) talks about the correct way to use APA style. Or 2) Place the citation at the end of the text. For example: More than half of graduate students do not know how to use APA style correctly (Bushnell, 2011).

In-Text Citations
Things get a little more complex when the journal, book, or source has 2 authors: Example 1: Bushnell and Morrell (2011) talk about the correct way to use APA style. Example 2: More than half of graduate students do not know how to use APA style correctly (Bushnell & Morrell, 2011).

In-Text Citation
Things get even more complicated when the source has 3 to 5 authors: The 1st time you cite the source, it will appear like this:
Bushnell, Chang, and Allen (2011) said that APA style is easy. APA style is easy to learn (Bushnell, Chang, & Allen, 2011).

The 2nd (and 3rd and 4th and so on) time you cite the source, it will appear like this:
Bushnell et al. (2011) said that APA style is easy. APA style is easy to learn (Bushnell et al., 2011)

In-Text Citation
When 6 or more authors are listed for your source, you always use et al, even on the 1st mention of the source:
Bushnell et al. (2011) say that APA style is easy to learn. APA style is not too difficult to learn (Bushnell et al., 2011).

Moving on Citing Quotations

Notice that so far we have only cited other peoples ideas. The good news is that citing their spoken and written words follows almost the same format that we just used. For 1 author, citations appear as follows:
APA style is easy to learn (Bushnell, 2011, p. 15)

For 2 authors:
APA style is my favorite way to write (Bushnell & Johnson, 2011, p. 624)

Citing Quotations
For 3 5 authors on the 1st mention:
Learning APA style is a good skill to acquire (Bushnell, Jackson, Hudson, & Connelly, 2011, p. 43).

For 3 5 authors on the 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) mention:

APA style is much different than other styles (Bushnell et al., 2011, p. 20).

For 6 or more authors for all mentions:

APA is a good skill to learn (Bushnell et al., 2011, p. 102).

Citing Quotations
Notice that when you cite a quotation, you cite immediately after the quote, even if the quote is in the middle of a sentence! For example: I was surprised to learn that most students dont fully understand how to properly use APA style (Bushnell, 2011, p. 235) even after they have written several papers in APA style.

How would you cite this?

Source information: Authors Jill Smith and Bob Wells. Title Communication and dolphins. Year: 2004. Page: 13. __________________ state that dolphins are highly intelligent creatures Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures ___________

Whew Question Time!

Take a break Regroup Catch your breath Let your brain relax Ask questions Smile like youre enjoying yourselves

Headings (or Subtitles)

What we normally call subtitles, APA style calls Headings. These are NOT the same things as headers or the running head. These are basically mini-titles (subtitles) that appear throughout your paper to help break up the information a little better.

Headings
Here are how the five types of headings are formatted: Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

Confusing? I know.
Let me help clarify things. Each type of heading is like a subsection. Living Things Animals Humans. Dogs. Yorkie. Golden retriever. Cats. Maine Coon. Ragdoll. Plants Trees. Flowers.

Headings
The title of your document does not count as your first heading. The title stands alone, and does not impact the headings.

Questions?

Reference List
Your reference list will appear on a new page after your conclusion. The references will be listed alphabetically by author. References will have a hanging indent. (See example.) References for academic journals will be formatted as follows:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of article with only the first letter of the title capitalized. Title of Periodical with Important Words Capitalized, xx, pp-pp. doi:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Reference List
Different types of references are formatted in different ways. The APA Manual specifies how to reference nearly a hundred types of scholarly sources (articles, books, chapters in books, theses, videos, video games, software, books, unpublished material, private letters, photographs, and on and on and on).