Faculty Guide to APA 6th edition

2012-2013

What is APA?

• APA = American Psychological Association• A formatting style to be applied to formal

and academic writing.• Examples of other styles that you or your

students may be familiar with include MLA and Chicago.

• APA is the style of choice for the three fields of study DU offers (business, technology, and health), and thus we teach it University-wide.

Why Do We Use the 6th Edition of APA?

• Because we need to teach and write in an accepted and uniform format.

• Because APA style is the accepted writing style for most Davenport graduates’ careers.

Components of an APA Paper

• Cover page (also called a title page)• Abstract (approximately half a page)• Body/text (with in-text citations)• References page• Optional: Figures, charts, photos

General APA Format

• Double-spaced• 12-point Times New Roman font• One-inch margins on all sides• Two spaces after all end-of-sentence

punctuation• Left-hand justification margins (no right-

hand justification)• Tab key paragraph indentations• Running header flush to the left margin (if

required)• Page numbers in header, flush to the right

margin

Technological Barriers with APA Format

• Students often struggle with the technological aspects of creating an APA-style cover page—especially in lower-level classes.

• Common issues include:• How to get the running head in the header

area (not in the main text area)• How to make the second page running head

different from the cover page• How to ensure that the font is consistent

throughout• How to insert a page number (instead of just

typing “1,” which would then show up on every subsequent page)

• How to change line spacing and remove extra space between paragraphs

• Demonstrate it in class, or have an English instructor or tutor briefly visit your class.

Title/Cover Page in APA Format

Each title page should have:

• A running head• A page number• Identifying

information (title, student name, university name)

Title/Cover Page in APA Format (Optional Info.)

NOTE: The first three lines are required; the last three lines are optional. As an instructor, you decide which additional information you would like your students

to include.

Details of an APA Title Page

• In APA 6th edition, information such as the name of the course, the instructor’s name, and the date the assignment was turned in are not required.

• If you choose to include this information, it would be helpful to let students know that not all instructors require this and it is extra information, above and beyond APA requirements, specifically for you and your class.

• The words “Running head:” are NOT in all caps; only the “R” is capitalized. The short title that follows it IS in all caps.

Details of an APA Abstract

• Note that this is now page 2 of the paper; students should remove the words “Running head:” from their header, leaving only the all-caps portion.

• The word “Abstract” is centered on the page, with no font changes.• The abstract begins without indentation on the second line of text.

Details of the Body in an APA Paper

• The title of the paper is restated at the top of the page, centered with no font changes.

• If the paper uses section headings, there are specific formatting guidelines for them.

In-Text Citation Basics

• In-text citations are shorthand representations of the longer reference page listings, and should be included whenever source material is used (regardless of whether it’s a summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation).

• All in-text citations should have a corresponding reference page listing; likewise, all reference page listings should have at least one corresponding in-text citation.

• In-text citations only need the last name of the author and the year of publication (add page or paragraph numbers for direct quotations).

The APA Reference Page

• The Reference page begins on its own page (not included at the end of the last page of the essay). (Hit CTRL-ENTER to start a new page.)

• The word “References” is listed at the top and centered, with no font change.• Listings are put in alphabetical order by author’s last name (if no author is

available, use the title). The date will never begin a reference on this page.

Reference Page Basics

Different types of sources have different requirements for what needs to be included, but the basics are:

• Author(s)• Date of publication• Title• Title of periodical (if necessary) with volume

and issue numbers• Page numbers (if part of a periodical)• Website retrieval information (if a web

source)• DOIs (if available)

Reference Page Basic Examples

Book

Author. (Year). Title. City, State: Publisher.

Example:

Bradshaw, C. (2012). Foreplay and the suburbs: A prequel to Sex and the City. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Reference Page Basic Examples

Simple Website Citation

Author. (Date published if available; n.d.--no date-- if not). Title of article. Title of Website. “Retrieved” date, “from” URL.

Example:

Jones, H. (n.d.). Why did it have to be snakes? Raiders of the Lost References. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http:www.indyrefs.com/snakes.htm(Notice, there is no period after a URL when ending the reference)

(A date is only required if there is a belief that the webpage will disappear in the future; otherwise state, “Retrieve from URL”)

Reference Page Basic Examples

General Journal Citation

Author. (Year). Article title. Title of Journal, volume(issue), page numbers.

Example:

Summers, B. (2002). Stake your claim: Innovations in vampire slaying. Journal of Modern Demonology, 42(3), 149-159.

*Include the DOI if it is on the article:doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9351-2

Citation Assistance

• www.apastyle.org• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/• www.citationmachine.net• www.bibme.org• NoodleTools (DU library resource)• APA handbooks are available from English

Associate Dept. Chairs on each campus

• DU’s APA Brief Overview document is available under Instructional Resources>Writing Resources on the Faculty Connections site - http://www.davenport.edu/academics/instructional-resources

Academic Integrity Office on Plagiarism

• Zero tolerance for plagiarism• Proper references• Correctly cited references• Proper in-text citations

• Direct quote• Paraphrase• Summary

• Turnitin.com submission for all papers using resources

Bringing APA to the Classroom

• Even if you don’t teach English classes, all disciplines have writing assignments.

• Establish early on that this is an important skill to learn.

• Devote class time to teaching it• Include it in your grading rubric• Provide comments to students on how to

improve (i.e. correct formatting errors)• Provide them with resources (DU’s APA Brief

Overview Reference Guide, handbooks, APA.org, etc.)

• Keep yourself up to date with the newest edition and familiarize yourself with the technology to create it so you can show students.

APA Final Thoughts

• Consistency in APA across disciplines helps our students (whereas lack of consistency promotes stress and anxiety).

• All disciplines employ written assignments; therefore, all disciplines can easily include APA style.

• All instructors should stay up to date with APA edition changes to ensure they’re teaching the correct style (and there are many resources to help you do this).

• DU has a new APA handbook for the fall, so please request a copy from your English Associate Dept. Chair on your campus.

• Use APA as a small portion of your grading rubric to encourage students to continue to hone their skills.

Questions?