APA Formatting

STYLISTICS
LAYOUT
RESEARCH
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
HELPFUL HINTS
 Why do you have to use APA?

 Because learning to write means mastering an

accepted and uniform writing style.
 Helps the reader locate the materials used.
 Gives credit to the authors and provides a standard
format of each citation.
 Allow readers to focus more on your ideas by not
distracting them with unfamiliar formatting.
 Establish your credibility or ethos in the field by
demonstrating an awareness of your audience and
their needs as fellow researchers.
APA 7th Edition Updates

THIS PRESENTATION CONTAINS NEW

FORMATTING GUIDELINES

LOOK FOR THIS ICON

 Old Way (6th Edition) New Way (7th Edition)

A summary of the
changes
 Plagiarism

 Researchers do not claim the words and ideas of

another as their own; they give credit where credit is
due.
 Quotation marks should be used to indicate the exact
words of another.
 Each time you paraphrase another author (i.e.,
summarize a passage or rearrange the order of a
sentence and change some of the words), you need to
credit the source in the text.
 Stylistics

 Point of View and Voice

 When writing in APA Style, you can use the first-person
point of view when discussing your research steps ("I studied
...")
 APA Style encourages using the active voice as it creates direct,
clear, and concise sentences. For example, use the active voice
to describe the actions of participants and others involved in
your study, as in “the patients took the medication orally,” not
“the medication was taken orally by the patients.”

In the active voice, the subject of a sentence is presented first, followed by the
verb and then the object of the verb.
 Stylistics

 Clarity and Conciseness

 Clarity and conciseness in writing are important when
conveying research in APA Style. You don't want to
misrepresent the details of a study or confuse your readers
with wordiness or unnecessarily complex sentences.
 For clarity, be specific rather than vague in descriptions and
explanations. Unpack details accurately to provide adequate
information to your readers so they can follow the
development of your study.
 Economy of Expression
Say only what needs to be said in your writing: The author who is more concise—
writes a more readable paper.
 Word Choice

• Use terms like "participants" or "respondents" (rather

than "subjects") to indicate how individuals were
involved in your research
• Use terms like "children" or "community members" to
provide more detail about who was participating in
the study
• Use phrases like "The evidence suggests ..." or "Our
study indicates ..." rather than referring to "proof" or
"proves" because no single study can prove a theory
or hypothesis
Reducing Bias in Language
 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

Avoiding Bias Avoiding Bias

Singular usage of “they” Singular usage of “they”
 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

Avoiding Bias Avoiding Bias

Disability Disability
 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

Avoiding Bias Avoiding Bias

Gender and noun/pronoun usage Gender and noun/pronoun usage
 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

Avoiding Bias Avoiding Bias

Race and ethnicity—Latin@ Race and ethnicity—Latin@

Avoiding Bias Avoiding Bias

Race and ethnicity—Latinx Race and ethnicity—Latinx
Layout
What will you include ?

Title page with page numbers

Lines that are double spaced

1 inch margins on all sides

Times New Roman 12-point font

Headings (per instructor guidelines)

Citations

Reference page
 Manuscript Structure

Title Page: Title, Author(s) and Institutional Affiliation

Abstract (instructor may deem this optional)

Introduction : presents the specific problem and describes the research strategy

Method: describes in detail how the study was conducted

Results: summarizes the collected data and the analysis performed

Discussion: evaluation and interpretation with respect to hypotheses

References : acknowledges the work of previous scholars and a reliable way to locate

Appendices: materials that supplement the article

Title Page
The OLD
way
The NEW way

Notice that the

Running head
has been
omitted and
that the Title is
in Bold
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
Paper-Specific Formatting Paper-Specific Formatting
Title Formatting Title Formatting
 Spacing, Margins and Headers

1 Inch margins

Double Spaced

Change the default line spacing setting from “after 10

point” to “0 point” Line spacing to Double.
 Page Numbers

• Click on Page number and select the

option for Top Page, Flush Right
 Title Page & Body

Do not use “Introduction”

Indent
All topics of equal importance have the same level of heading throughout the
manuscript. Level 2 are
subsections of
Level 1, and so on.
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
Paper-Specific Formatting Paper-Specific Formatting
Heading levels 3, 4, and 5 formatting Heading levels 3, 4, and 5 formatting
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

General Formatting/Mechanics General Formatting/Mechanics

Italics vs. quotation marks Italics vs. quotation marks
 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

General Formatting/Mechanics
General Formatting/Mechanics
Numbers
Numbers
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
General Formatting/Mechanics General Formatting/Mechanics
Spacing after punctuation marks Spacing after punctuation marks
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
General Formatting/Mechanics General Formatting/Mechanics
Preferred spellings of technology terms Preferred spellings of technology terms
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
Paper-Specific Formatting Paper-Specific Formatting
Paper title length Paper title length
 HOT TIP

Writing From an Outline

• Ensures that the flow of your paper reflects the logic of your research or ideas.
• Helps to:
• Identify main ideas
• Define subordinate ideas
• Focus your writing
• Avoid tangential excursions
• Find omissions
• Helps to designate headings and subheadings you will use in you paper
Things to Know

PARENTHESES
ABBREVIATIONS
QUOTATIONS
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
CITATION FORMATTING
 Parentheses

 Use parentheses to set off structurally independent

elements
Examples:
 The patterns were significant (see Figure 5).
 (When a complete sentence is enclosed in
parentheses, place punctuation in the sentence
inside the parentheses, like this.)
 If only part of a sentence is enclosed in parentheses
(like this), place punctuation outside the parentheses
(like this).
 Abbreviations

 When abbreviating a term, use the full term the first

time you use it, followed immediately by the
abbreviation in parentheses.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA),
abbreviations are best used only when they allow for clear
communication with the audience.
 Exceptions: Standard abbreviations like units of
measurement and states do not need to be written
out. APA also allows abbreviations that appear as
words in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary to
be used without explanation (IQ, REM, AIDS, HIV).
 Abbreviations

 Do not use periods or spaces in abbreviations of all

capital letters, unless it is a proper name or refers to
participants using identity-concealing labels:

MA, CD, HTML, APA

P. D. James, J. R. R. Tolkien, E. B. White or

F.I.M., S.W.F.
APA Citation Abbreviations
 Job Titles and Positions

 Capitalize a job title or  Do not capitalize a job

position when the title title or position when the
precedes a name: title follows the name or
 Registered Nurse Paul T. refers to a position in
Lo general:
 Nurse Lo  nurse, registered nurse,
 Executive Director of advanced practice nurse,
Marketing Carolina nurse practitioner
Espinoza led the meeting.  Carolina Espinoza,
executive director of
marketing, led the
meeting.
 Diseases, Disorders, Therapies, and Related Terms

 Do not capitalize the  Capitalize personal

following: names that appear within
 autism spectrum disorder the names of diseases,
 major depression disorders, therapies,
 diabetes treatments, theories,
 leukemia concepts, hypotheses,
 cognitive behavior therapy principles, models, and
 applied behavior analysis statistical procedures.
 immunotherapy  Alzheimer’s disease
 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
 Down syndrome
 Freudian theory
 Appropriate Level of Citation

Cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly
influenced your work.

Cite primary sources when possible and secondary sources sparingly.

Both paraphrases and direct quotations require citations.

For most papers, cite one or two of the most representative sources for each
key point.
 Short Quotations

If the author is part of the narrative:

Standard in-text citation:

APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes

Citations Citations
In-text citation format for three or more In-text citation format for three or more
authors authors
  When citing a secondary source, provide a
reference list entry for the secondary source
Secondary that you used.
Resources
 In the text, identify the primary source and
A primary source presents then write “as cited in” the secondary source
information gathered
firsthand, such as the that you used.
results of an experiment or  For example, if you read a work by Lyon et al.
data from a survey.
Secondary sources present (2014) in which Rabbit (1982) was cited, and
information secondhand— you were unable to read Rabbitt’s work for
an example would be a
textbook summary of a your self, cite Rabbitt’s work as the original
topic or a Wikipedia article. source, followed by Lyon et al.’s work as the
APA recommends citing
primary sources whenever
secondary source.
possible, because this  Only Lyon et al.’s work appears in the
allows you to verify the
accuracy and completeness reference list.
of the information yourself  (Rabbit, 1982, as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)
rather than rely on
someone else to do this for
you.
 And or &

If the information for the in-text citation is included in the body of the text
and there are multiple authors, the word and is spelled out, Jones, Smith,
and Black (2010)…..

If the information for the in-text citation is all included in a parenthetical

phrase an ampersand is used to separate the next to last and last authors,
e.g. (Jones, Smith, & Black, 2010).
Long Quotations
Personal Communication

Cite in text only, give initials as well as the surname of the

person involved, and give as precise a date as possible.
 Research Interviews

Qualitative Data: Part of the research on which you are reporting that does not
constitute the work of others. Example: Participants you interview in your own
research.
They should never be individually cited or treated as personal communications in APA
Style, because this could compromise confidentiality.
How then should you handle the need to quote from
participant interviews? Some authors quote participants
without distinguishing them at all, like this: “Indeed, a
comment by one of our participants illustrates some of these
complex issues: [quote follows without other attribution].”

Others identify participants by demographic or other data: “At my age I think we know
who we are and what we are. (Female participant, 69 years of age).”
You can also identify participants with letters (Participant A, Participant B), nicknames
(Sonny, Tracey), or by role (Doctor, Patient).
Conducting Research

CINAHL HEADINGS
SAVING CITATIONS
EBSCO
ZOTERO
 Why use a subject heading when keyword searching
works just fine?

A subject heading search helps when the keyword selected has many meanings.

e.g. I need information on AIDS, the disease.

Because a computer simply reads a string of letters, and not the meaning of the actual
word, the search will often pick up results that are not relevant to the topic.

For example, if a search is run using the word aids, the computer will pick up
handicapped aids, visual aids, diabetes aids, etc.—but you meant AIDS, the disease.

However, if a researcher looks up the word aids in MeSH, it will direct them to a number
of choices with the word aids in them, one of them being the MeSH heading,
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
 Narrow your search
with CINAHL Headings.

4 minute video
CINAHL
headings open
(tree view)
 When you activate the
Explode function, you
are searching for the
subject heading you
originally selected, PLUS
all of the subject
headings in its family
hierarchy.

By selecting the various checkboxes you can

build and restrict/expand your search.
Scope Notes

A scope note might

delineate the meaning
itself. It might tell you
the range of topics
covered by the term; it
might be instructions
for use
 QUICK TIP

When you need an article written by a R.N. click on Advanced Search

 Special Limiters

Scroll halfway down to the Special

Limiters section and select either
limiter.
 Full-Text

It is also a good idea to select Full Text to

ensure that the results will be available for
download from CONAH subscriptions.

Selecting Academic Journals will limit the

search further and will help you find the
most suitable article for your paper.
Sign-In when using EBSCO
Research
 As you review articles save
them into your personal
folder (register your account)
 Organize your folders into
different categories to
correspond with
 Subject Headings
 Class Number
 Assignments
 Over time you will have a
variety of resources that can
be recycled
 Share your research
 Zotero.org Download

For a demonstration click here or copy and paste this link into your browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm0TboOcAuM
 Export to Zotero

Ready to write your paper? Start by exporting your saved CINAHL references to
Zotero. Select the articles in your folder that you will reference in your paper. Click
the export button on the right-hand column.
 Step 1: Set
In-text Citations cursor at in-text
citation location

Step 2: Open
Zotero tab and
select Add/Edit
Citation

Step 3: Type a
few letters of the
publication title

Step 4: Scroll to
select the
correct
publication,

Step 5: “Enter”
to set
 References

REFERENCE LIST
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
ZOTERO
APPENDICES
Reference List
Reference List Basic Rules

Ellipsis is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots

 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
References References
Number of author names listed in a reference Number of author names listed in a reference
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
References References
Publisher location Publisher location
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
References References
Reference for online work with no DOI Reference for online work with no DOI
◦ 9.34: If an online work (e.g., a journal
◦ 6.32: If an online work has no DOI, article) has no DOI and was found
provide the home page URL of the through an academic research database,
journal of the book/report publisher. generally, no URL is needed. The
reference will look just like the print
version.
APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
References References
Hyperlinks in DOI and URL formatting Hyperlinks in DOI and URL formatting
 APA 6 and 7 Comparison Changes
References References
URL retrieval information in references URL retrieval information in references
 Zotero Reference List

You have completed your paper with all the in-text citations placed and set.

When you reach this point and would like to create your References page

Go to References page on the template, or begin on a fresh page

Open the Zotero tab and select Add/Edit Bibliography

Make sure to read over the citations to confirm that they have been alphabetized
correctly. Alphabetize by the author’s surname.
 Appendices
Begin each appendix on a new page

Use an identifying capital letter (e.g. Appendix A, Appendix B)

May include headings and subheadings as well as tables, figures and displayed
equations.

Examples:
• A list of stimulus materials (e.g., those used in psycholinguistic research
• A detailed description of complex piece of equipment
• A list of articles that provided the source data for a meta-analysis* but
are not directly referred to in any other way in an article
• A detailed demographic description of subpopulations in the study

*Meta-analysis is a quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to systematically assess the results of previous research to derive
conclusions about that body of research. Typically, but not necessarily, the study is based on randomized, controlled clinical trials.
More Resources

APA Style student sample https://apastyle.apa.org/style-

paper 7th Edition
grammar-guidelines/paper-
format/student-annotated.pdf

APA Style professional https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-

sample paper 7th Edition guidelines/paper-format/professional-
annotated.pdf Ctrl+Left Mouse
Click to open

APA Style Paper Format

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-
grammar-guidelines/paper-
format/index
APA Style Blog https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/

https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-
Changes Overview
aids/whats-new-7e-guide.pdf
Videos to help you understand the 7th
edition changes

https://youtu.be/zeSIXD6y3WQ https://youtu.be/jOVZp8m0PCM

You may have to copy and paste the link to your browser to view.
FREE ACCESS TO THE
PUBLICATION
MANUAL
During the Coronavirus Pandemic
https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/coronaviru
s-response
Final Hot Tip- Google
When searching
in Google you
may use a 3
letter identifier
followed by a
colon and your
search terms.
Results will
include that
format.

Works for: .ppt,

.xcl, .doc, .jpeg,
.pdf, etc.

Also for sites:

.edu, .org
 Thank You

Sources used for this presentation include (Not in APA format ):

https://www.apastyle.org/

https://blog.apastyle.org/

https://owl.purdue.edu/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=apa+format

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.

American Psychological Association. (2005). Concise Rules of APA Style.

Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.