Description
Book SynopsisWrite right in for scholarly success While world-renowned for the precision and clarity it lends to scholarly writing, keeping track of APA style's exacting standards can be demanding (at times even excruciating!) for initiates and seasoned writers alike. Created and governed by the American Psychological Association, it provides a universal style for formatting, citations, and footnotes in psychological research, behavioral and social science journals, and beyond. Getting up to speed is tough stuff, but once you've got it, your work will have that easy-to-follow scholarly authority that will get high marks from your professors and peers alike. Your friendly, frustration-free guide for this adventure in simplifying APA style is Joe Giampalmi, who has taught more than 100 APA-style composition courses to college students. He takes the pain of following APA style away by breaking it down to its essential elements and focusing on the important stuff students encounter most. You'll work through specific, real-life examples of using APA style for psychology, criminology, business, and nursing papers. In addition to demystifying the intricacies of formatting and citation, APA Style & Citations For Dummies has got you covered in all matters of grammar and punctuationas well as guidance on how APA style can help you negotiate issues around the ethics of authorship and the importance of word choice in reducing bias. Develop conciseness and clarityPay attention to flow, structure, and logic in your writingKnow when, why, how, and what to citeKeep your writing ethically conscious and bias-free Writing in APA style is something that almost all students will need to do at some point: APA Style & Citations For Dummies is a must-have desk reference to know how to win the approval of your professorsand earn the marks you need for success!
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Conforming to Standards: APA and the Academic Environment 5
Chapter 1: Capitalizing on Consistency: APA and the Academic Classroom 7
Understanding APA and Academic Standards 8
Standardizing how you handle topics 10
Respecting the academic environment 10
Comparing APA and MLA 13
Identifying Your Role in Academic Process 15
APA and high school classrooms 16
APA and college courses 17
APA and comp courses 18
APA and content courses 19
APA and online courses 20
Confronting Cultural Differences — APA and Nonnative English Students 21
Seeking a professor who supports language learning 22
Understanding that English isn’t easy 23
Making the transition seamlessly 24
Chapter 2: Updating and Debugging: APA Seventh Edition 27
Transitioning from the Sixth: APA for Today 28
Focusing on the Title Page and Page Organization 29
Running heads 30
Period spacing 30
Levels of headings 30
Font options 30
DOI and URL Formatting 31
Paper length 31
Bold section headings 31
Writing improvement plan 31
Page order 31
Eyeing the Changes with Citations and References 32
Addressing Bias-Free Writing Style and Updated Mechanics 34
Approaching APA Updates: Mindset 35
Student Publishing: Your Goal As a Serious Writer 37
Chapter 3: Understanding Expectations: APA and Discourse Communities 39
Understanding Academic Expectations in College 40
Figuring out what you want to achieve in college 41
Fulfilling your professors’ expectations: Your needs 42
Examining APA Expectations 47
Overcoming Adversity 48
Identifying Discourse Communities You’ll Encounter in College 49
College communities 50
Course communities 52
APA community 53
Graduation community 53
Chapter 4: Protecting Scholarship: Plagiarism 57
Academic Integrity: Get Your Sheepskin 58
Defining academic integrity 58
Looking at the research 59
Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: You Know Better 60
Cheating 60
Self-plagiarism 60
Patchwriting 61
Conflicts of interest 61
Unauthorized collaboration 61
Falsification 61
Plagiarism 62
Avoiding Plagiarism: Your Responsibilities 63
Manage your time wisely 63
Advocate academic integrity 64
Identify assignment limitations 64
Detail your research 64
Practice responsible citing 65
Utilize APA feedback resources 65
Steer clear of unreliable strategies 66
Closing Cultural Gaps: APA Strategies for Nonnative English Students 68
Grasping cultural differences in education 68
Utilizing additional APA strategies for non-native English students 69
Part 2: Earning Applause: APA Writing for the Academic Audience 71
Chapter 5: Writing for Success: APA Writing Style 73
Focusing on the Why and How: Audience and Purpose 74
Academic and assignment audience 75
Purpose 76
Zeroing In: Assignment Approach and Focus 77
Approach 78
Focus 79
Smooth Sailing: Transitions and Flow 80
Organizational flow 81
Transition strategies 82
Writing with Attitude: Tone 83
Recalling Sandbox Lessons: Respectful Language 86
Racial and ethnic references 87
Age and disability references 87
Gender and sexual orientation references 88
Socioeconomic references 90
Chapter 6: Creating a Foundation: The Principal Parts of Speech, Structure, and Usage 91
Shining the Spotlight on the Stars of the Show: Action Verbs 92
Using your voice 92
Being in agreement 94
Focusing on tense 95
Avoiding Anonymity: Nouns 96
Designating Replacements: Pronouns 97
Staying in agreement 97
Eyeing APA person preferences 98
Using the singular “they” 99
Building Basics: Structures 99
Sentences and paragraphs 100
Parallelism 101
Reducing Confusion: Problem Pairs 103
Problem pairs 103
Problem pronouns 104
Misplaced description 105
Chapter 7: Navigating Pages: Conventions of Style 107
Marking Cadence: Punctuation 108
End punctuation and spacing 108
Comma 109
Semicolon and colon 109
Dashes and slashes 111
Quotation marks 112
Parentheses, brackets, and ellipses 113
Seeking Attention: Special Conventions 115
Italics 115
Abbreviations 116
Numbers 117
Perfecting Appearance: Spelling 117
Spelling strategies 118
Possessives 119
Foreign forms 120
Hyphenation 120
Standing Tall: Capitalization 122
Proper nouns 123
Titles and headings 124
Chapter 8: Covering All Bases: Three-Level Revising 127
Revising: Why Rewriting Is So Important 129
Seeking feedback when revising 130
Rewriting in action: A real-life example 130
Streamlining: Structural Organization 133
Opening: Working title, first sentence, and introduction 133
Middle 137
Closing 137
Paring: Paragraphs and Sentences 140
Sentence starters 141
Spoken-language wordiness 142
Wordy phrases and clauses 143
Whittling Words 144
Unnecessary and overused words 144
Verb and ly-adverb combinations 147
Superfluous verb endings 148
Chapter 9: Achieving Your Personal Best: Student Improvement Plan 151
Understanding What Makes a College Reader 152
Developing Lifetime Literacy Skills: Reading for Success 154
Reading to learn 154
Improving your reading plan 158
Writing As a Skill for Lifetime Success 162
Developing Lifetime Literacy Skills: Writing for Success 163
Writing to learn 163
Putting together your writing improvement plan 165
Part 3: Practicing Safe Cites: Writing and Citing Sources 169
Chapter 10: Gaining Insight: To Cite or Not to Cite 171
Crediting Sources: General Guidelines 173
Full and partial quotations 174
Block quotations 174
Summarizing and paraphrasing 175
Statistical data within the context of research 176
Terms specific to a field 176
Tables, Internet images, and clip art 176
Facts and figures that aren’t common knowledge 177
Controversial information that contradicts generally accepted truths 177
No citations required 178
Coordinating Citations: Common Elements 178
Citing author-date format 179
Citing repeated narratives 180
Sections of a source 180
Citing an unknown author 181
Citing numerous authors 181
Citing same author, same date 182
Citing authors with the same surname 182
Citing organization authors 182
Addressing Special Approaches: Personal, Authoritative, and Legal 182
Personal communication 183
Academic authorities 183
Legal reference 183
Citing Electronic Sources: Websites, Periodicals, Software, and Visuals 184
Evaluating Sources 185
Determining what makes a reliable source 185
Assessing the quality of the sources cited 186
Chapter 11: Preparing for Conflict: Source Engagement 191
Pre-Gaming: Gathering Sources 192
Rehearsing: Preparing Sources 193
Using signal phrases 195
Summarizing and citing correctly 196
Paraphrasing and citing correctly 197
Quoting and citing correctly 198
Synthesizing: Engaging with Sources 199
Author and source 200
Source and source 201
Source, source, and author 201
Source, source, and source 202
Primary sources as engagement 202
Post-Gaming: Verifying Information 203
Chapter 12: Formatting Last Impressions: Reference List 205
Playing by the Rules: General Guidelines 206
Coordinating Reference Elements: Author, Date, Title, and Source 208
Author 209
Date 210
Title 211
Source 212
Clarifying Elements: Reference Conventions and Abbreviations 213
Punctuating your references 213
Capitalizing references 214
Playing by the Rules: Specifics for Formatting Periodicals 215
Seeing Is Believing: Real-Life Reference Items 216
Books and reference works 217
Edited book Chapters and works in reference books 218
Periodical and journal articles 219
Reports 221
Audiovisual media and works 222
Online media 224
Conferences and presentations 225
Webpages and websites 225
Legal reference 225
Extending References: Annotated Bibliography 226
Part 4: Perfecting Presentation: Beginnings, Endings, and Other Writings 227
Chapter 13: Preparing Appetizers and Desserts: Front and Back Materials 229
Opening Impressions: Formatting Front Matter 230
Previewing your paper: Table of contents 231
Listing figures and tables 232
Focusing on abstracts 234
Including an executive summary 236
Closing Remarks: Formatting Back Matter 238
Wrapping up with appendixes 238
Ending with a glossary 239
Including footnotes and endnotes 241
Chapter 14: Acing a First Impression: Formatting Title Page and Page Layout 243
Naming Writes: Title Page and Titles 244
Recognizing title page elements 245
Strategizing for writing titles 247
Packaging Appearance: Formatting and Organization 249
Page formatting: Consistency is key 249
Page organization: Sequence is essential 251
Chapter 15: Understanding First Year Writing: APA Essays and Reaction Papers 257
Conquering College Comp: Essay Basics 258
Differentiating essays from research writing 258
Identifying the fundamentals of writing an essay 259
Focusing on Essay Structure and Formatting 262
Writing a memorable essay title 263
Starting your essay with a bang 263
Giving the body what it needs: Figurative language 265
Avoiding crash endings 266
Formatting your essay 266
Formatting your essay citations 267
Implementing Essay Variations: Common College Essays 268
Narrative 268
Cause and effect 269
Comparison and contrast 270
Expository 270
Persuasive 271
Descriptive 272
Reading and Responding: Reaction Paper Basics 272
Writing a successful reaction paper 273
Organizing a reaction paper 275
Formatting a reaction paper 276
Chapter 16: Mastering Advanced Writing: APA Review of Literature 279
Reviewing Literature: Searches and Steps 280
Starting the search 281
Focusing on the topic 284
Sequencing the process in four steps 285
Studying Samples: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion 289
Starting with the thesis: The introduction 289
Developing the thesis: The body 289
Ending with significant findings: The conclusion 293
Determining other major sections 295
Laying Out Pages and the Title Page of the APA Literature Review 296
Chapter 17: Perfecting Specialized Writings: APA Reports 299
APA Report Writing: Creating and Organizing 300
Eyeing the purpose and benefits of reports 300
Examining report characteristics 301
Writing Reports in Six Easy-to-Follow Steps 303
Step 1: Plan and focus 304
Step 2: Search for information 305
Step 3: Analyze the information 305
Step 4: Organize major and optional sections 305
Step 5: Write the report 305
Step 6: Revise 307
Adapting APA Formatting to Reports 307
Studying Report Samples: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion 309
Introduction 309
Body 309
Conclusion 311
Organizing Your Report: Other Essential Sections 311
Acknowledgments 311
Glossary 312
Executive summary 312
Transmittal memo 313
Table of contents 313
Methodology 313
Recommendations 314
Appendixes 315
Discussion 315
APA Report Writing: Specializing and Personalizing 316
Business reports 316
Education reports 317
Science reports 317
Periodic reports 317
Sales and marketing reports 317
Proposal reports 317
Feasibility studies 318
Recommendation reports 318
Technical reports 318
Academic reports 318
Project progress reports 319
Field reports 319
Research reports 319
Part 5: The Parts of Ten 321
Chapter 18: Ten Priorities for Proficient Academic Writing 323
Analyze Assignments 323
Focus on Audience and Purpose 324
Begin Assignments with Background Reading 325
Plan Projects 325
Focus on Specific Nouns and Action Verbs 326
Reference Sources Beyond Professors’ Expectations 326
Write Tight and Revise 326
Read and Read Some More 327
Write, Write, and Write 328
Develop a Writer’s Work Ethic 328
Chapter 19: Ten Strategies for Creative Source Engagement 331
Look for Power Language within Sources 332
Think Critically to Analyze Sources 332
Utilize Professors as a Source 333
Extend Conversations 334
Master a Variety of Signal Phrases 334
Use Source Engagement with Every Applicable College Paper 335
Engage Exclusively with Classic Sources 335
Engage with Anecdotes 336
Learn from Sources 337
Turn to Primary Sources 337
Chapter 20: Ten Tips for High-Scoring Research Papers 339
Form a Study Group 339
Peer Up 340
Include a Few Optional Parts 340
Schedule Reviews with Your Writing Center 341
Perfect Your Reference List 342
Select a Local Topic with a Global Application 342
Contact an Expert for an Interview 343
Create Checklists 343
Attend to Details 343
Utilize the Professor’s Office Hours 344
Index 345
