APA (American Psychological Association)

is the most commonly used format for manuscripts in the Social Sciences.

Do not use first person point of view (I think, I feel, I conclude …)› Use the third person point of view.› E.g. The study showed… The researcher feels that...

Use an active voice.› E.g. Hamlet responded… NOT… Hamlet was asked…› E.g. Hamlet went… NOT… Hamlet was going

Use language that is:› CLEAR – be specific in descriptions and explanations.› CONCISE – condense information when you can.› NOT FLOWERY

Your essay should:

› Be typed and double spaced› Be on standard size paper (8.5 x 11)› Have 1 inch margins on all sides› Be written in 10 – 12 pt. Times New Roman font› Include a page header (the title) in the upper

left-hand side of every page and a page number in the upper right-hand side of every page

Your essay should include 4 main sections:

› Title page› Abstract› Main body› Reference page

Page header flush left› E.g. Running head: SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGEDIES

Page # flush right Centered in the upper half of the paper:

(Title) Shakespeare's Use of Pathetic Fallacy

(Your name) Brandi Lennox

(School) Bonar Law Memorial School

Page header on top left› Do not include “Running head” this time.

Page # on top right Center the word Abstract at the top of the page

(Do not use italics, bold, or fancy font). Write a brief (between 150 and 250 words)

summary of your paper. It should be no more than 1 paragraph, double spaced.› It should contain: a research topic, research questions,

participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. It may also include keywords.

Continue with header: Title at the left & page # on the right.› The first text page should be page 3

Type the text double spaced with no extra spacing between paragraphs.

Use headings to separate and classify sections of your paper.

Identify your sources by using parenthetical in-text citations.

There are 5 heading levels. (Always use the headings in order.)

Level format

1 Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings

2 Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings

3 Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period.

4 Indented, boldface, italicized heading with a period.

5 Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.

Short Quotations If you are directly quoting from a work, you will

need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p.").

Ways to do it:

Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.› E.g. According to Jones (1998), "Students

often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

› Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?

If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.› E.g. She stated, "Students often had

difficulty using APA style," but she did not offer an explanation as to why (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

Long Quotations Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing

block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces from

the left margin. Type the entire quotation on the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthesis should come after the closing punctuation

mark.E.g. Jones's (1998) study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be

attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)

Summary or Paraphrase If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you

have to make reference to the author, year of publication, and page number

› E.g. According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (p.199).

APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

Works with 2 or more authors› In a phrase use:

According to the research of Glendenning and Lennox (2001) …› In your parenthesis use:

(Glendenning & Lennox, 2001)

Works with 3-5 authors› List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you

cite the source.› In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et

al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses.› (Glendenning, Lennox, Beers, Courtney, & Hudson, 2001) (Glendenning et

al., 2001)

Works with more than 5 authors› Use the first author's name followed by “et al.” in the signal phrase or in

parentheses.

Unknown Author If the work does not have an author, cite

the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses.

Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined;

Titles of articles and chapters are in quotation marks.

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses

When your citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list, separated by a semi-colon.› E.g (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)

Electronic Sources If possible, cite an electronic document the

same as any other document by using the author-date style.› E.g. Kenneth (2000) explained...

Unknown Author and Unknown Date If no author or date is given, use the title in

your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").› E.g. Another study of students and research

decisions discovered that students succeeded with tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).

Header: title at top left, page # at top right. Center the word References at the top of

the page. (Do not use italics, bold, or fancy font)

Double space reference entries. Do not indent the first line of a reference,

but indent subsequent lines. Order references alphabetically by the

author’s surnames.

Invert authors’ names (last name first followed by initials).

Capitalize all major words in journal titles. Italicize titles of longer works such as books

and journals. Do not italicize or underline the titles of

shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections. They need to be enclosed in quotation marks instead.

Basic Format for Books Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title

of work: Location: Publisher.

Article From an Online Periodical Online articles follow the same guidelines

for printed articles. Include all information the online host makes available.› E.g. Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication).

Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide

authors' names. If this is the case, move the entry name to the front of the citation. Provide publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is present in the entry.

When listing the URL, give only the home or index root as opposed to the URL for the entry.

› E.g. Feminism. (n.d.) In Encyclopedia Britannica

online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com