By Dr. Abel Scribe PhD
The APA Style Sheet is a concise guide to using the style of the American Psychological Association in writing research papers. It is based on the current fifth edition of the APA Publication Manual. The latest version is at www.docstyles.com. The Style Sheet is routinely updated; it is the product of many contributors. This version was revised in Fall 2004 by Dr. Abel Scribe PhD. Doc Scribe is not affiliated in any way with the APA--this style sheet is free! Freeware Copyright 2004 by Dr. Abel Scribe PhD.
Style Sheet Contents
General Style Notes
• Abbreviations
• Biased Language
• Capitalization
• Compound Words
• Emphasis (Italics-Quotes)
• Numbers
• Punctuation & Lists
• Quotations …show more content…
The style is documented in the APA Publication Manual (5th ed., 2001). APA style is the widely recognized standard for research writing in psychology and education.
Some of the more commonly used rules and reference formats from the manual are listed here. However, this style sheet is no substitute for the 440 page APA Manual, which should be purchased by any serious student of psychology or education. The APA Manual can be found in almost any college bookstore, as well as in many large general-purpose bookstores. The spiral bound edition is especially handy when formatting research papers.
The APA Manual draws a distinction between final manuscripts such as class papers, theses, and dissertations, and copy manuscripts to be submitted for review and publication. The APA Style Sheet follows the instructions given in chapter six for "Material Other Than Journal Articles" (APA, 2001, pp. 321-330). Final manuscripts differ from copy manuscripts in these ways:
• Spacing. "Double-spacing is required throughout most of the manuscript. When single-spacing would …show more content…
E. (Chair), Hunter, J. E., Harris, R. J., Wilkinson, L., Strouss, M. E., Applebaum, M. I., et al. (1996,
August). Significance tests—Should they be banned from APA journals? Symposium conducted at the
104th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.
Citation: (Shrout et al., 1996). APA references list up to the first six authors to a work. If there are more add et al. (and others) to the list of names. In text citations give just the lead author, et al.
Journal Articles:
Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John 's Wort) in major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 287, 1807–1814.
Citation: (Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group, 2002). Cite the full name of a corporate author.
Journal article, electronic facsimile:
Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John 's Wort) in major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial [Electronic version]. JAMA, 287, 1807–1814.
Many documents are now available online as exact facsimile copies of the print original (usually in Adobe 's PDF format). References to these facsimiles just add the note [Electronic version] to the reference. If the document