APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 1 APA Documentation Style and Writing Skills Joan Smith Red ...

64 Pages·2011·0.19 MB·English

Running head: APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 1

APA Documentation Style and Writing Skills
Joan Smith
Red River College
Scholarly Writing and Documentation
Instructor: Kim Mitchell
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 2

Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of both Karen Wall and Mary Stawychny of Red River
College whose earlier versions of this APA summary were of great assistance in producing the current
manual.
All material related to the American Psychological Association style format for referencing and
manuscript preparation, were drawn from:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American psychological
association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Please also refer to: http://apastyle.apa.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx for a brief tutorial on APA
style 6th edition (APA, 2010a).
The following book was also of great assistance in providing helpful examples of the rules of
English grammar:
Zilm, G. (2009). The SMART way: An introduction to writing for nurses (3rd ed.). Toronto:
Mosby Elsevier.
Cosette Taylor who does the writing assistance at U of M, has put together a great reference section on
APA and writing on the U of M Nursing Website which can be found at:
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/nursing/studentarea/110.htm
This site includes an example of the U of M required title page. Please follow this title page format for
all U of M Courses (e.g. Native Studies and fourth year JBN courses and other electives)

Kim McCormick RN MN
Nursing Instructor
Red River College
C608-2055 Notre Dame Ave.
Winnipeg, MB R3H 0J9
204-632-2920
[email protected]
© 2010 3rd edition
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 3

Contents
Structural Basics for APA Student Papers 4
APA Style Headings for Academic Papers 7
Information on Plagiarism and Penalties for Plagiarizing 9
Plagiarism definition 9
Self plagiarism 9
RRC Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities 10
Nursing Academic Honesty Policy 11

Synthesis of Data 13
Introduction and Conclusion 15
Common Grammatical Errors 16
Paraphrasing and Citing Source Materials 21
Basic citation styles 27
Secondary sources 28
Acknowledging multiple sources in one citation 28

Direct Quotation According to APA 29
Reference Lists: Where to find the information 33
Reference List Format 38
Reference List 47
Tables: Format in APA 52
Figures: Format in APA 53
Appendix A – Computer Instructions for MS Word 54
Appendix B -- Publication Locations and Abbreviations for States and Provinces 56
Sample Research Paper: Using Humor in Nursing Care Situations 59
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 4

Structural Basics for Student Papers According to APA Style

General format

1. TYPED and single sided.

2. Paper. Standard 8 ½ x 11inch (22 cm. x 28 cm.) white typing paper should be used.

3. Line-spacing. All lines should be double-spaced with no extra spaces between paragraphs.

4. Typeface. Times New Roman or Arial are the best to use, in 12 point font. Fonts lower than 12
point are usually difficult to read. Fonts higher than 12 point would increase the number of
pages in a paper artificially. This would be taken into account when papers have page number
requirements.

5. Margins. One inch (2.54 cm) margins on the top, bottom, right and left sides should be used.

6. Spacing. Punctuation rules for spacing.

6.1 One space should be left after all punctuation (commas, colons, semicolons)
6.2 One space follows all internal punctuation in reference lists including punctuation after
author initials in the reference list (Jones, K. M.)
6.3 An exception to the one-space rule is internal periods in abbreviations (a.m., p.m.).
6.4 Two spaces are left after punctuation at the end of sentences.

7. Justification. Only the left margin should be justified (aligned left). The right margin should
not be justified and remain ragged.

8. Indentation. Each paragraph should be indented 0.5 inches (1.27cm). The default set on the
TAB key on most computer programs is acceptable.

9. Page numbering. Arabic numerals should be used for numbering pages (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.)

9.1 The title page is number 1, and is numbered.
9.2 The pages are numbered sequentially from the title page.
9.3 The numbers should be placed in the upper right corner of the page.

10. Running head. Found flush left in the header portion of all pages of your paper; the title page
will include the running head with the words “Running head:” preceding it. The remainder of the
pages will show only the ALL CAPS running head. The Running head should be in ALL CAPS,
it should be reflective of the title of your paper and no more than 50 characters (see title page to
this manual and the title page to the sample paper beginning on p. 59 as well as the top of the
page on all pages of this booklet). See Appendix A (p. 54) for computer instructions.

11. Order of pages. Content of your paper should appear in the following order:
11.1 Title page
11.2 Abstract (if required – this is rarely used in undergraduate academic papers)
11.3 Table of Contents (Check with individual instructors as to their wishes. APA format does
not give specific instructions for table of contents.)
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 5

11.4 Text of paper
11.5 Reference List
11.6 Tables (See page 52)
11.7 Figures (See page 53)
11.8 Appendices (includes other documents referred to within the body of the paper. Labeled
A, B, C, D, etc. and each starts on a new page) – see pages 54-57

12. Citation. See pages 38-46. Throughout the nursing program you will draw information for your
paper and assignments from various sources. Consult with your instructor as to the number and
type of sources that will be acceptable for your assignment. The references you use in your paper
should be heavily weighted with the types found at the top of the list below. Some examples of
the types of sources you might be accessing in your papers (in order of importance and degree of
credibility) include:

12.1 Journal articles (peer reviewed)
12.2 Specific chapters from edited books (peer reviewed)
12.3 Reference books specific to your topic (peer reviewed)
12.4 Reputable organizational and government websites (often credible)
12.5 Generalized textbooks (peer reviewed)
12.6 Brochures (rarely considered peer reviewed but OK if they come from reputable
organizations)
12.7 Popular press such as newspaper or magazine articles including internet news services
(not peer reviewed)
12.8 Other Unmonitored Websites (not peer reviewed e.g. blogs, forums, personal websites,
websites with an agenda or something to sell)
12.9 Interviews and personal communications (not peer reviewed)

13. Use of numbers.
13.1 Numbers below ten are written out as words (one, two, three, four etc.)
13.2 Numbers above 10 are written as numerals (10, 11, 347, etc.)
13.3 Never start a sentence with a numeral.
13.4 There are exceptions to the use of words for numbers below ten including:
Numbers preceding units of measure (e.g., 3 mg)
Numbers representing vague time spans. (e.g., Approximately ten months ago)
Number ranges where one number is less than 10 (e.g., between 5 and 15 hours)
Ratios: 16:1 and Decimals 5.65
Dates: January 2, 2007
Page numbers: p. 5
13.5 Use a zero before the decimal only if the decimal number can exceed 1. (e.g. 0.3 mg;
r = .70 – correlation cannot exceed 1)

13. Tables and figures. See pages 52-53 for examples of how to present tables and figures.

14. Widows and orphans. Word processing programs are automatically set up to avoid creating
“widows and orphans.” A program will never leave one line of a paragraph at the bottom or the
top of a page. It will always adjust the text so that if a new paragraph is started at the bottom of
the page there needs to be room for minimum two lines or it will bump the whole paragraph to
the next page. The only time the widows and orphans function fails is with headings. If you type
a new heading at the bottom of the page it will remain at the bottom of the page even if the
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 6

paragraph under it starts on the next page. You will need to manually bump that heading to the
next page with your return key. This act may leave your bottom margin to be visibly larger than
one inch on some pages. Large bottom margins developing due to avoiding widows and orphans
is acceptable.

15. Bullets and numbered lists. Bullets and numbered lists can be used in APA in select
circumstances and for limited portions of a scholarly paper. Check with your instructor to see if it
is appropriate for a particular section of a particular assignment. It is still required that
referencing is clear for the bulleted or numbered list. This may mean placing a citation at each
bulleted point.

16. Italicizing. It is appropriate to italicize words you wish to emphasize in your writing. In addition
to the italicizing that you will do in your reference list, other places where italicizing is used is
when titles of books, movies, websites, or journals (but not journal articles) are written into the
body of your paper.

17. Page Break. Hitting the control key and the enter key at the same time will create an automatic
page break which is a more efficient option than hitting return to get to the next page.

The majority of the set up features for APA can be preset in your computer program. Instructions on
how to set Microsoft Word into APA format can be found in Appendix A (p. 54) of this manual.
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 7

APA Style Headings for Academic Papers
Headings will be required in your scholarly papers. APA describes five different levels of
headings but you will likely only use two or three at the undergraduate level. The first three levels of
headings are placed in bold type and are used consecutively depending on the hierarchy of the heading.
The idea of hierarchy will become clearer with the examples shown below.
The first heading in your paper will be the title of your paper (just as the title of this section of
the manual is APA Style Headings for Academic Papers) and will be set as a first level heading. It is
written in upper and lower case letters with important words capitalized (all words four letters and
greater) and less important words left in lower case. All major headings within your paper will be at first
level.
The first paragraph under the title of your paper is the introductory paragraph and it does not
require a heading of its own. It’s placement under the title automatically signals to the reader that it is
the introduction.
Headings for Subtopics at Second Level
If there are subtopics within your main topics, your next level of heading will be a second level
heading which is typed flush left, bolded, and uses upper and lowercase letters (again important words
starting with a capital letter and less important words remain lower case, as shown).
Further subtopics at third level. If you need to break a subtopic down into more subtopics then
you would move to a third level heading. Third level headings are indented, bolded, first letter of first
word capitalized with all other words lower case, and it ends with a period (or question mark as
appropriate). The paragraph you are typing under the fourth level heading starts immediately after the
heading as is shown at the start of this paragraph.
Confused?
If you were to write a paper about heart disease, a main heading in your paper may be “Risk
Factors for Coronary Artery Disease.” Under that title you may have two main subheadings: modifiable
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 8

risk factors and non modifiable risk factors and under those sub headings you may have discussion of
several of the risk factors that fit each category.
Conclusion
The last paragraph of your paper will be a conclusion. A conclusion does have a heading of its
own and it is at the first level.
Format for Levels of Headings Used in APA at the Undergraduate Student Level
Level of Format Example
Heading
1 Centred, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Risk Factors for Coronary
Artery Disease
2 Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Modifiable Risk Factors
Heading
3 Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph Smoking.
heading ending with a period. Sedentary lifestyle.
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 9

Plagiarism Definition
(From: Park, 2003, p. 475)
1. Stealing material from another source and passing it off as [your] own:
a. Buying a paper from a research service, essay bank or term paper mill (either pre-
written or specially written)
b. Copying a whole paper from a source text without proper acknowledgement
c. Submitting another student’s work, with or without that student’s knowledge (e.g. by
copying a computer disk).
2. Submitting a paper written by someone else (e.g. a peer or a relative) and passing it off as [your]
own
3. Copying sections of material from one or more source texts, supplying proper documentation
(including the full reference) but leaving out quotation marks, thus giving the impression that the
material has been paraphrased rather than directly quoted.
4. Paraphrasing material from one or more source texts without supplying appropriate
documentation.
Self-Plagiarism
1. Do not hand in assignments that have been submitted and graded in other courses. You may
not get credit for the same assignment in two different courses. Look closely at assignment
guidelines. Chances are they are not the same assignment after all. Each course you take is
expected to contribute to new learning, not repeat old learning in a new setting.
2. Typically it is also unacceptable to copy small portions of previously graded assignments as a
component of a new assignment. There may be small exceptions to this rule in clinical
assignments where two different patients have the same meds or the same medical conditions
or complications.
APA DOCUMENTATION STYLE 10

Red River College Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities (RRC, 2003)
Academic Integrity
http://www.rrc.mb.ca/files/File/policies/new/S4%20Academic%20Integrity.pdf
The information related to academic integrity (policy C7), the definition of all the forms of
academic dishonesty, a description of and the penalties for minor and major offences of academic
dishonesty are found in your Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities manual. Academic Dishonesty
forms will be completed for all forms of academic misconduct committed by a student and placed on the
affected student’s file.
Other Sources
For additional reading on plagiarism also consult:
University of Ontairo Institute of Technology. (2009). Nool. Retreived April 26, 2010, from
http://ow.ly/1y00l

Information related to correctly documenting and acknowledging sources using APA format is
found on pages 27, 38-46 of this booklet.