Editing for APA Format

Introduction

APA stands for the American Psychological Association. Most papers that use APA formatting and citation style are those written in the Social Sciences: Psychology, History, Political Science, Economics, Geography, and Sociology.

In addition to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the APA maintains its own website with multiple examples of how to format your paper and cite your sources.

Papers constructed according to APA guidelines generally include the following elements:

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Body
• Subsections within the body, with headings
• Tables and Figures
• References

For specific types of reports, your subsections may need to be named with headings that reflect the type of report you are writing. For example, in reports on experiments or studies you’ll usually need to follow the IMRAD structure with Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. Be sure to check with your instructor to determine what the expectations are for your paper. It’s also important to remember that APA guidelines change over time, so it’s essential to stay current with the latest information.

Elements to Review for APA Formatting

Title Page

Like the rest of your paper, your whole title page should be double-spaced. The following information should be centered horizontally and vertically on the title page:

• on the first line, the full title of your paper
• on the second line, your name
• on the third line, the name of the institution you are affiliated with (e.g., the name of your school)

These elements should not be bolded, underlined, or italicized.

Running Head

The running head is an element unique to APA style. The purpose of the running head is to make the paper identifiable without using the name of the author; this style is commonly used in journal articles, since journals need to be able to evaluate a paper without bias toward the author.

Left-justified in the header (i.e., at the very top) of your title page, you should have the text “Running head:” followed by an abbreviated title of your paper in all caps. This is usually the first several words of your title and cannot exceed 50 characters in length (including spaces). The abbreviated title, still in all caps, should then appear at the same place—left-justified in the header—on every following page of your paper, but without the text “Running head:” preceding it (that should appear only on the title page).

Any word-processing program should allow you to edit the page header so that the same information appears on every page. You will have to change the options so that the first page is different, so you can include the text “Running head:” only on the title page. Your header and footer should appear 0.5 inches from the edge of the page—this is also an option you can change in your word-processing program.

Headings

In APA style, headings are used to organize your writing and give it a hierarchical organization. This is especially important in papers that present experimental research because they follow the particularly rigid structure of the scientific method.

If a heading is said to be in title case, that means you should format it as though it were the title of a book, with the first letters of most major words capitalized (e.g., A Study of Color-Blindness in Dogs).

If a heading is said to be in sentence case, that means you should format it as though it were a normal sentence, with only the first letter of the first word (and of any proper nouns) capitalized (e.g., A study of color-blindness in dogs).

You should always use heading levels in this order, beginning with Level 1. So, if you have a paper with two levels of headings, you would use Level 1 formatting for the higher level and Level 2 formatting for the lower level. Similarly, if you have a paper with five levels of headings, you would use Level 1 formatting for the highest level and Level 5 formatting for the lowest level.

Your headings should not begin with section numbers (e.g., your Methods section should be titled simply “Methods”, not “2. Introduction ”).

The introduction of the paper should not be titled “Introduction”; instead, the paper should simply begin with the title of the entire paper. Note that the “Abstract” title and the overall paper title do not actually count as headings, so they are simply centered and in title case, but not bolded as Level 1 headings would be. This means that the first heading you use in your introduction will follow Level 1 formatting, because it is the first and so at the highest level.

When to Use a Block Quotation

A typical quotation is enclosed in double quotation marks and is part of a sentence within a paragraph of your paper. However, if you want to quote more than 40 words from a source, you should format the excerpt as a block quotation, rather than as a regular quotation within the text of a paragraph. Most of the standard rules for quotations still apply, with the following exceptions: a block quotation will begin on its own line, it will not be enclosed in quotation marks, and its in-text citation will come after the ending punctuation, not before it.

For example, if you wanted to quote the entire first paragraph of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, you would begin that quotation on its own line and format it as follows:

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversations?’ (Carroll, p. 98)

The full reference for this source would then be included in your References section at the end of your paper.

Spacing and Alignment

The entire block quotation should be indented from the left margin the same distance as the first lines of your paragraphs (and the first line should not be further indented). As the rest of your paper, it should be double-spaced. And as with series and lists, to better visually distinguish a block quotation from the surrounding text, be sure to leave an extra (blank) line between the last line of the block quotation and the first line of the following paragraph.

Aligning in-text citations and references

Sometimes, the easiest way to think about your in-text citations and references (and how they must match) is to see them side by side. The following examples provide reference information and corresponding in-text citation information for common source types and situations you are likely to encounter while working with your sources.

And, remember, in your paper, your in-text citations and your references must match or correspond. This means that you must have an in-text citation for any source that appears on your References list, AND you must follow APA formatting guidelines so that the first part of each of your References entry matches up with your in-text citation.

Book

Reference

Larson, M.S. (1977). The rise of professionalism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Standard In-Text Citation

(Larson, 1977, p. 121).

In-Text Citation with Author Set Up

According to Larson (1977), insert quote or paraphrase here (p. 121).

Online Book

Reference

Austen, J. (1813). Pride and prejudice. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1342

Standard In-Text Citation

If the electronic book has page numbers, the citations would look as they look for a traditional book. However, if there are no page numbers, APA recommends paragraph numbers or names of the headings.

(Austen, 1813, para.35).

or

(Austen, 1813, Chapter 3).

In-Text Citation with Author Set Up

Austen (1813) writes, “insert quote here” (para. 35)

or

Austen (1813) writes, “insert quote here” (Chapter 3).

Web Page

Reference

Boyd, V. (2012). About Zora Neale Hurston. Retrieved from http://zoranealehurston.com/about

Standard In-Text Citation

(Boyd, 2012, para. 10).

In-Text Citation with Author Set Up

According to Boyd, (2012), insert quote or paraphrase here (para. 10).

Video

Reference

Ezekial, S. (Lecturer). (2012, March 21). MIT understanding laser and fiberoptics: Fiberoptics fundamentals [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtube.com/watch?v=0DCrIAxEv_Y

Standard In-Text Citation

(Ezekial, 2012).

In-Text Citation with Author Set Up

According to Ezekial (2012), insert quote or paraphrase here.

Source with Multiple Authors

Reference

(Any source type may have multiple authors. This example shows a book, but if you have a different source, simply model the author portion from this sample and the appropriate portion for your source from another sample).

Rivano, A.S., Hoson, A. & Stallings B. (2001). Regional integration and economic development. New York, NY: Palgrave.

Standard In-Text Citation

APA formatting categorizes in-text citations differently from reference formatting. For two authors, both authors are listed in the citation. For three to six authors, all authors are listed in the first citation, but the first author and et al. is used in any following citations.

First citation:

(Rivano, Hoson, & Stallings, 2001, p.42.)

Second or subsequent citations:

(Rivano et al., 2001, p. 42).

In-Text Citation with Author Set Up

First citation:

According to Rivano, Hoson, and Stallings (2001), insert quote or paraphrase here (p. 42).

Second or subsequent citations:

According to Rivano et al. (2001), insert quote or paraphrase here (p. 42).

Summary

All courses at The American Women’s College require APA as their citation format. It is critical to review your writing for proper use of APA to ensure you are maximizing your potential for a good grade. Many rubrics in our courses provide specific criteria for writing in APA as well. Finding an APA resource or guide that works for you will be imperative as you dive deep into the editing and revision process.

Items to review include title page, in-text citations, references, alignment of in-text citations to references, formatting, and headers.

Sources:

“APA Style | 6th Edition.” By Excelsior Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from: https://owl.excelsior.edu/citation-and-documentation/apa-style/ Licensed under: CC-BY

“APA: Structure and Formatting of Specific Elements.” By Lumen Learning. Retrieved from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-writing/chapter/apa-structure-and-formatting-of-specific-elements/ Licensed under: CC-BY-SA