APA Format

1. APA Format Technical Writing in Biomedical Sciences at WCTA Created by V. Cummins, from APA Manual

2. Reference for this presentation: • (2010). Publication manual of the americanpsychological association. (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. DOI: www.apa.org

3. Why you need to know how to write • “Research is complete only when the results are shared with the scientific community.” • “Although such sharing is accomplished in various ways, both formal and informal, the traditional medium for communicating research results is the scientific journal.” • “The scientific journal is the repository of the accumulated knowledge of a field.” • “The findings and analyses, the successes and failures, and the perspectives of many investigators over many years are recorded in the literature.” • p. 9

4. Why you need to know how to write • “Familiarity with the literature allows an individual to avoid needlessly repeating work that has been done before, to build on existing work, and in turn to contribute something new.” • “Just as each investigator benefits from the publication process, so the body of scientific literature depends for its vitality on the active participation of individual investigators.” • “Authors of scientific articles contribute most to the literature when they communicate clearly and concisely.” • p. 9

5. Why use APA? • “The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has been designed to advance scholarship by setting sound and rigorous standards for scientific communication.” (p. xiii) • “[APA] sought to establish a simple set of procedures, or style rules, that would codify the many components of scientific writing to increase the ease of reading comprehension.” (p. xiii)

6. Why use APA? • “Uniform style helps us to cull articles quickly for key points and findings.” • “Rules of style in scientific writing encourage full disclosure of essential information and allow us to dispense with minor distractions.” • “Style helps us express the key elements of quantitative results, choose the graphic form that will best suit our analyses, report critical details of our research protocol, and describe individuals with accuracy and respect.” • “It removes the distraction of puzzling over the correct punctuation for a reference or the proper form for numbers in text.” • (all: p. xiii)

7. Preparing the manuscript for submission *Manuscript Elements

8. Format Guidelines - Typeface • “The preferred typeface for APA publications is Times New Roman, with 12-point font size.” • Uniform throughout! • p. 228

9. Format Guidelines – Line Spacing • “Double-space between all text lines of the manuscript.” • “Double-space after every line in the title, headings, footnotes, quotations, references, [table notes], and figure captions.” • p. 229

10. Format Guidelines - Margins • “Leave uniform margins of at least 1 inch (2.54 cm) at the top, bottom, left, and right of every page.” • p. 229

11. Format Guidelines – Line alignment • “Use the flush-left style, and leave the right margin uneven, or ragged.” • “Do not divide words at the end of a line, and do not use the hyphen function to break words at the end of lines.” • p. 229

12. Format guidelines - indentations • “For consistency, use the tab key, which should be set at…1/2 inch.” • “Indent the first line of every paragraph.” • Exceptions: abstract, block quotations, table titles and notes, figure captions. • p. 229

13. Format guidelines – page numbers • Use Arabic numerals. • “Identify the title page with page number 1.” • “The remaining pages should be numbered consecutively.” • p. 229

14. Format guidelines – order of pages • Title page (p. 1) • Abstract (p. 2) • Text (starts on p. 3) • References • Tables • Figures • pp. 229-230

15. Title page - title • A title should summarize the main idea of the manuscript. • It should be a concise statement of the main topic and should identify the issues under investigation and the relationship between them. • A title should be fully explanatory when standing alone. • Avoid abbreviations. • Recommended length is no more than 12 words. • Positioned in the upper half of the page, centered. • p. 23

17. Title page – author byline & Institutional affiliation • “Every manuscript includes the name of the author and the institutional affiliation of the author.” • Author’s name (byline) – preferred format of an author’s name is first name, middle initial(s), and last name. • Institutional affiliation – identifies the location where the author was when the research was conducted. • p. 23

19. Title page – author note • Place the author note on the title page, below the title, byline, and affiliation. • Center the label Author Note. • Start each paragraph of the note with an indent. • First paragraph – Identify the complete department affiliation at the time of the study for all authors. • Format - name of author as it appears in the byline, comma, department name, comma, school name, period. • Second paragraph – Person to contact. • Format – name, comma, department affiliation, school name, city, state, ZIP code, period. Email address, colon, not hyperlinked, no period. • pp. 24-25

21. Title page – Running head • Title page only uses the words • Running head, colon • Rest of header is all capitalized. • The running head is a shorted version of the paper’s full title. • Should be a maximum of 50 characters, counting letters, punctuation, and spaces between words. • Position – flush left within the margin, page numbers aligned on same line. • p. 229

23. abstract • “A brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article.” • Allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly. • “A well-written abstract can be the most important single paragraph in an article.” • “Most people have first contact with an article by seeing just the abstract, usually in comparison with several other abstracts.” • “Readers frequently decide on the basis of the abstract whether to read the entire artcle.” • “The abstract needs to be dense with information.” • “Word limits vary from journal to journal and typically range from 150-250.” • Format: Paragraph not indented • Keywords: Intended, italicized, 3-6 words; meant to enhance the user’s ability to find it. • pp. 25-26

25. Text – page 3 • Complete title is first written item on page 3, centered on page, not bold. • See sample paper.

26. introduction • “The body of a manuscript opens with an introduction that presents the specific problem under study.” • “Because the introduction is clearly identified by its position in the manuscript, it does not carry a heading labeling it.” • pp. 27-28

27. Headings • “In scientific writing, sound organizational structure is the key to clear, precise, and logical communication.” • “This includes the use of headings to effectively organize ideas within a study as well as seriation to highlight important items within sections.” • “Levels of heading establish the hierarchy of sections of sections via format or appearance.” • “Avoid having only one subsection heading and subsection within a section, just as you would in an outline.” • p. 62 • “Do not label headings with numbers or letters.” (p. 63)

28. Headings • p. 62

29. Seriation • Follow handout guidelines • Depends on type • NO INDENTATION with numbered lists or bulleted lists.

30. Seriation #1 – numbered lists p. 63-64

31. Seriation #2 – bulleted lists* *Use this format if the bulleted list is not within one sentence, but rather each item is considered a separate item (indicated by period at the end of each statement). p. 64

32. Seriation #3 – within a paragraph or sentence p. 64

33. Seriation#3 – bulleted lists 2* *Use this format if the bulleted list occurs within a sentence. p. 64-65

34. references • “Start the reference list on a new page.” • “The word References should appear in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered.” • “Double-space all reference entries.” • “APA publishes references in a hanging indent format, meaning that the first line of each reference is set flush left and subsequent lines are indented.” • p. 37

36. Displaying results Tables and Figures

37. Tables • Table number • Left-justified • No punctuation • Table title • Left-justified • Italicized, uppercase and lowercase • Table body • Aligned to both left and right • Items may be single spaced within body of table • Table note • The word note is left-justified, in italics, with a period. • Paragraph of the note continues on the same line after the period.

38. p. 52

39. Figures • Figure itself is the first item on the page, centered. • Figure number • Under figure • Italicized with a period • Figure title • Immediately following the period of figure number • Figure caption • Follows figure title • Includes any information needed to clarify the figure • Figure legend • If necessary, is part of the figure itself

40. p. 53

41. Subsequent pages under constructionTo be continued… • More APA fun coming your way soon!

42. Writing Style • “The prime objective of scientific reporting is clear communication. “ • “You can achieve this by presenting ideas in an orderly manner and by expressing yourself smoothly and precisely.” • “Establishing a tone that conveys the essential points of your study in an interesting manner will engage readers and communicate your ideas more effectively.” • p. 65

43. MANUSCRIPT LENGTH • “The optimal length of a manuscript is the number of pages needed to effectively communicate the primary ideas of the study, review, or theoretical analysis.” • “As a rule ‘less is more.’” • p. 61

44. CONTINUITY IN PRESENTATION OF IDEAS • p. 65

45. Smoothness of expression • pp. 65-66

46. tone • pp. 66-67

47. Economy of expression • pp. 67-68

48. Precision and clarity • pp. 68-69

49. Linguistic devices • p. 70