APA Format

44 Pages·2013·13.83 MB·English

American Psychological
Association (APA) Writing
Format
Information Provided By:
American Psychological Association (2010).
Concise rules of APA style, 6th edition.
Washington DC: American Psychological
Association.
General Writing Rules
Goal in writing a research paper is to have

clear, precise, and logical communication.
Writing a research paper is much different

than writing a creative paper.
– LESS IS MORE in a research paper. Meaning
that you want to write concise and simple
sentences and remove extraneous words and
details.
Headings
Headings help the reader anticipate key points and track

the development of your argument.
Five Levels:

– Level 1: Centered, Boldface, Upper/Lowercase Heading
– Level 2: Flush Left, Boldface, Upper Lowercase Heading
– Level 3: Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph
heading ending with a period.
– Level 4: Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase
paragraph heading ending with a period.
– Level 5: Intended, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading
ending with a period.
Rule: Be sure to have at least two sub-section headings

and sub-sections within in a section, just like in an
outline (e.g., you can divide a section numbered I into A
and B; just an A sub-section cannot stand alone).
Heading Example
Depression in Older Adults (Level 1)

Introductory text… (there is no heading for “Introduction)
Symptoms of Depression (Level 2)
Somatic symptoms. (Level 3)
Changes in appetite. (Level 4)
Changes in sleep. (Level 4)
Cognitive symptoms. (Level 3)
Negative thoughts. (Level 4)
Perseverative thoughts. (Level 4)
Treatment Options (Level 2)
Therapy (Level 3)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy. (Level 4)
Person-centered therapy. (Level 4)
Medications (Level 3)
Selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors. (Level 4)
Conclusion (Level 2)
Seriation Options
Seriation helps organize key points of sections,

paragraphs, and sentences.
Rule 1: Separate paragraphs in a series, such as

steps in a procedure, are identified by an Arabic
numeral following by a period but not enclosed
or followed by parentheses.
Rule 2: Separate sentences in a series are also

identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a
period; the first word is capitalized, and the
sentence ends with a period or correct
punctuation.
Seriation Continued
Example of Rule 2:

– Using the learned helplessness theory, we predicted
that the depressed and nondepressed participants
would make the following judgments of control:
1. Individuals who… (paragraph continues).
2. Nondepressed persons exposed to… (paragraph
continues).
3. Depressed persons exposed to… (paragraph
continues).
Numbered lists may connote an unwarranted

ordinal position or order. If you do not want to
communicate ordinal status of items, use bullets.
Seriation Continued
Rule 3: Within a paragraph or sentence, identify

items in a series by lowercase letters in
parentheses.
– Caveat: If the items in the list have internal commas,
use semicolons to separate items.
Examples of Rule 3:

– The participant’s three choices were (a) working with
another participant, (b) working within a team, and
(c) working alone.
– We tested three groups: (a) low scorers, who scored
fewer than 20 points; (b) moderate scorers, who
scored between 20 and 50 points; and (c) high
scorers, who scored more than 50 points.
Transitional Words and Phrases
Time Links Additional Links
 
– Then – In addition
– Next – Moreover
– After Contrast Links

– While
– But
– Since
– Conversely
Cause-Effect Links
 – Nevertheless
– Therefore – However
– Consequently – Although
– As a result
Active vs. Passive Voice
Research papers are always written in ACTIVE

voice.
– Active Voice: In an active sentence, the subject
is doing the action. A straightforward example is
the sentence "Steve loves Amy." Steve is the subject,
and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object
of the sentence.
– Passive Voice: In passive voice, the target of the
action gets promoted to the subject position.
Instead of saying, "Steve loves Amy," I would say,
"Amy is loved by Steve." The subject of the sentence
becomes Amy, but she isn't doing anything. Rather,
she is just the recipient of Steve's love. The focus of
the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy.
Verb Tenses
Introduction/Literature Review

– Past tense – Smith and colleagues showed…
– Present perfect tense – Researchers have
shown….
Results

– Past tense – Anxiety decreased significantly…
Conclusion/Discussion

– Present tense – The results of Experiment 2
indicate…