Apa what is it

APA format is the official style of the American Psychological Association APA and is commonly used to cite sources in psychology , education, and the social sciences. The APA style originated in a article published in Psychological Bulletin that laid out the basic guidelines.

So why is APA format so important in psychology and other social sciences? By using APA style, researchers and students writing about psychology are able to communicate information about their ideas and experiments in a consistent format.

Sticking to a consistent style allows readers to know what to look for as they read journal articles and other forms of psychological writing. If you have never taken a psychology or social science class before, then you are probably accustomed to using a different style guide such as MLA or Chicago style.

New college students are often surprised to find that after spending years having another formatting style drilled into their heads, many university-level classes instead require APA style. It can be a difficult transition, especially if you have to bounce back and forth between different styles for different classes. Getting a solid grasp of the basics and bookmarking a few key resources can make learning this new format a bit easier.

In most cases, your paper should include four main sections: the title page, abstract, main section, and references list. Your title page should contain a title, author name, and school affiliation. Then the page should display the course number and name, the instructor's name, and the due date of your paper. The purpose of your title page is to let the reader quickly know what your paper is about and who it was written by.

An abstract is a brief summary of your paper that immediately follows your title page. According to APA format, your abstract should be no more than to words although this can vary depending upon the specific publication or instructor requirements. For something like an essay, the main body of your paper will include the actual essay itself.

If you are writing a lab report , then your main body will be broken down into further sections. The four main components of a lab report include the introduction , method , results , and discussion sections. The reference section of your paper will include a list of all of the sources that you used in your paper. If you cited any piece of information anywhere in your paper, it needs to be properly referenced in this section.

One handy rule of thumb to remember is that any source cited in your paper needs to be included in your reference section. Using the APA language gives your ideas the credibility necessary to be taken seriously.

Further, if you pursue publication, APA citations allow your readers to cross-reference your sources easily. Any work of academic writing is based on the ideas that other people have shared through publication, and people working together in a field want to understand the origins of ideas.

Many universities provide APA services as a student resource. Audra Spicer, Ph. She earned her Ph. On the weekends, Audra enjoys traveling, walking with her dog, and boating with friends and family. Why it is important for a business person to know how to use APA style?

Why are internet sources and social media not the strongest sources for references? It is very important to know how to write papers in APA style in business, especially if it is in international business since APA is used worldwide. The APA format is important when writing because it helps with organization of what you are writing. With this comes the areas where you sight your sources this is Italy at the end of the book or paper you are writing.

However, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you sure concerning the source? Thank you for your comment! Please let me know and I will look into confirming for you! It would be enlightening to know why a psychological body became the authority on academic writing rather than a linguistic one.

Can that history be explained please? Thank you. Thank you for your comment, Kathy. See also Note However, there are also many good websites on APA style, which do an excellent job of presenting the basics for beginning researchers.

Here are a few of them. APA Style. Because science is a large-scale collaboration among researchers, references to the work of other researchers are extremely important. Their importance is reflected in the extensive and detailed set of rules for formatting and using them. At the end of an APA-style article or book chapter is a list that contains references to all the works cited in the text and only the works cited in the text. The references themselves are then listed alphabetically according to the last names of the first named author for each citation.

As in the rest of an APA-style manuscript, everything is double-spaced. Many different kinds of works might be cited in APA-style articles and book chapters, including magazine articles, websites, government documents, and even television shows. Here we will focus on formatting references for the three most common kinds of works cited in APA style: journal articles, books, and book chapters.

Author, A. Title of article. Title of Journal, xx yy , pp—pp. Adair, J. American Psychologist, 58 1 , 15— There are several things to notice here.

The reference includes a hanging indent. That is, the first line of the reference is not indented but all subsequent lines are. This is true even when there are only two authors.

Only the first word of the article title is capitalized. The only exceptions are for words that are proper nouns or adjectives e. In the journal title, however, all the important words are capitalized.

The journal title and volume number are italicized; however, the issue number listed within parentheses is not. At the very end of the reference is the digital object identifier DOI , which provides a permanent link to the location of the article on the Internet. Include this if it is available. It can generally be found in the record for the item on an electronic database e.

Kashdan, T. The upside of your dark side. Title of chapter. Editor, B. Editor Eds. Location: Publisher. Lilienfeld, S. Dissociative identity disorder: Multiple personalities, multiple controversies. Lohr Eds.

Notice that references for books and book chapters are similar to those for journal articles, but there are several differences too. APA Style covers the aspects of scholarly writing most pertinent to writing in psychology, nursing, business, communications, engineering, and related fields.

It specifically addresses the preparation of draft manuscripts being submitted for publication in a journal and the preparation of student papers being submitted for a course assignment. The Publication Manual does not cover general rules explained in widely available style books and examples of usage with little relevance to the behavioral and social sciences.

Style manuals agree more often than they disagree. Where they disagree, the Publication Manual , because it is based on the special requirements of psychology, takes precedence for APA publications. Bentley, M. Instructions in regard to preparation of manuscript.