APA Style Review

APA STYLE REVIEW

Adv Research Design & Analysis Lab

WHAT TO DO? What do you do when you have two articles with the SAME

AUTHORS and published in the SAME YEAR?

Give a full APA citation for the two Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998) articles—write the citations in the correct reference section order

How to you cite these articles in-text? Provide an example of in-text citations at the end of these sentences (use a different article for each sentence—the sentences are in order) With longer stimulus durations, socially anxious individuals can

voluntarily suppress and avoid their initial negative interpretations.

The authors presented either a social or a nonsocial scenario, each followed by three interpretations: positive, negative, and neutral.

ANSWERAmir, N., Foa, E.B., & Coles, M.E. (1998a).

Automatic activation and strategic avoidance of threat- relevant information in social phobia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107(2), 285-290. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.107.2.285

Amir, N. Foa, E.B., & Coles, M.E. (1998b). Negative interpretation bias in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 945-957. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(98)00060-6

ANSWER With longer stimulus durations, socially

anxious individuals can voluntarily suppress and avoid their initial negative interpretations (Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998a).

The authors presented either a social or a nonsocial scenario, each followed by three interpretations: positive, negative, and neutral (Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998b).

WHAT TO DO? What is another way to write an in-text

citation? Cite the second sentence again, but not with an end-of-sentence parenthetical citation.

The authors presented either a social or a nonsocial scenario, each followed by three interpretations: positive, negative, and neutral

Hint: may have to change some of the words in the sentence

ANSWER Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998b) presented

either a social or a nonsocial scenario, each followed by three interpretations: positive, negative, and neutral.

What KEY WORD is different between the parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence and the in-text citation?

ANSWER & = end of sentence, in the parentheses

…interpretations (Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998b).

and = when the citation is IN THE SENTENCEAmir, Foa, and Coles (1998b) presented…

How do you remember this? Don’t use symbols in your text! Use words only!

WHAT TO DO? What if you paraphrase more than one

article in a single sentence?

Cite this sentence (hint: it paraphrases info from both articles)Socially anxious individuals can voluntarily

suppress and avoid their initial negative interpretations, even when presented with both positive and negative social scenarios.

ANSWER Socially anxious individuals can

voluntarily suppress and avoid their initial negative interpretations, even when presented with both positive and negative social scenarios (Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998a; Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998b).

Semicolon between study authors!

REFERENCE SECTION TIPS Remember, the reference section is

evenly double-spaced throughout has hanging indents Is in alphabetical order

Every in-text citation or reference to another article/study MUST have a corresponding, complete reference in the reference section If you’re referring to another study that the

original authors referenced, check up on that article and give a full citation (you may have to look it up yourself to find the doi)

IN-TEXT CITATION TIPS If you feel like you’re saying “Amir, Foa, and

Coles (1998a)” too much, try mixing up your writing with “Amir and colleagues (1998a)”

If there are 6+ authors, even the first in-text citations should be “Amir et al. (2013)” or “Amir and colleagues (2013)”

You do not need to write authors’ first names in your writing

Any other questions?

WHAT TO DO? What if I want to use a quotation from

one of these articles?

Form a sentence from this snippet from the Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) study:“examined whether these individuals would

show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information.”

ANSWER Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) “examined

whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information” (p. 285).

OR

The authors “examined whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information” (Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998a, p. 285).

QUOTATIONS AND PERIODS Notice where the period is located:

Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) “examined whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information” (p. 285).

If you have a parenthetical citation at the end of the quotation (which you always should!), then the period goes AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE.

QUOTATIONS AND PERIODS Correct

Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) “examined whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information” (p. 285).

Incorrect Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) “examined

whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information.” (p. 285)

WHAT IF THERE’S A COMMA?! Correct

Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) “examined whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information” (p. 285), and so they conducted…

Incorrect Amir, Foa, and Coles (1998a) “examined

whether these individuals would show biases in automatic processing and strategic processing of threat-relevant information,” (p. 285) and so they conducted…

SPEAKING OF COMMAS…

COMMAS! Know the rules of grammar, commas,

and other punctuation Do not use contractions (you’re, don’t, can’t,

shouldn’t—they have no place in professional writing! )

Notice run-on sentences

Notice when to use a comma with the word ‘and’ (hint: separate with a comma when there are two independent clauses) Correct: “I went to the store with my friend, and

we had a great time.” Incorrect/run-on: “I went to the store with my

friend and we had a great time.”

COMMAS AND SEMICOLONS! Use a comma when you want to connect two

independent clauses with coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet)

Use a semicolon when you want to connect two independent clauses without one of those conjunctions “I went to the store with my friend; we had a great time.”

Use a semicolon when you want to connect two independent clauses with conjunctive adverbs (however, moreover, therefore, consequently, etc.) “I went to the store with my friend; moreover, we had a

great time.”

APA STYLE All of this has to do with APA Style!

Look to APA manuals and apastyle.org for guidance on grammar, punctuation, and good writing

http://www.apastyle.org/learn/index.aspx