American Psychological Association (APA) style is commonly used for citing references in science and social science courses, such as Nursing, Psychology, Education, and Social Work.
This guide is based on the APA Manual (7th ed.), published in October 2019.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) by Below are a few useful one-sheet guides to creating both in-text and full citations.
The library provides access to the NoodleTools citation management system. NoodleTools helps you create, organize, and use citations in APA, MLA, & Chicago style.
APA Style provides a foundation for effective scholarly communication because it helps writers present their ideas in a clear, precise, and inclusive manner.
APA Style originated in 1929, when a group of psychologists, anthropologists, and business managers convened and sought to establish a simple set of procedures, or style guidelines, that would codify the many components of scientific writing to increase the ease of reading comprehension. They published their guidelines as a seven-page article in Psychological Bulletin describing a “standard of procedure, to which exceptions would doubtless be necessary, but to which reference might be made in cases of doubt” (Bentley et al., 1929, p. 57).
Since then, the scope and length of the Publication Manual have grown in response to the needs of researchers, students, and educators across the social and behavioral sciences, health care, natural sciences, humanities, and more; however, the spirit of the original authors’ intentions remains.
Uniformity and consistency enable readers to (a) focus on the ideas being presented rather than formatting and (b) scan works quickly for key points, findings, and sources.
Style guidelines encourage authors to fully disclose essential information and allow readers to dispense with minor distractions, such as inconsistencies or omissions in punctuation, capitalization, in-text citations, references, and presentation of statistics.
When style works best, ideas flow logically, sources are credited appropriately, and papers are organized predictably and consistently. People are described using language that affirms their worth and dignity. Authors plan for ethical compliance and report critical details of their research protocol to allow readers to evaluate findings and other researchers to potentially replicate the studies. Tables and figures present data in an engaging, consistent manner.
Whether you use APA Style for a single class or throughout your career, we encourage you to recognize the benefits of a conscientious approach to writing.
Although the guidelines span many areas and take time and practice to learn, we hope that they provide a balance of directiveness and flexibility and will eventually become second nature.
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. Among the most helpful general guides to editorial style are Words Into Type (Skillin & Gay, 1974) and the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.; University of Chicago Press, 2017).
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.
APA Style promotes consistency in writing, and the APA Style team values the same in developing APA Style guidelines. Consistency of style helps authors learn and apply the guidelines correctly over time. However, to reflect changing standards and new developments in research, writing, publishing, and more, any needed changes or updates to APA Style are documented on the Updates and Additions to APA Style page.
*The information on this page has been borrowed from the APA Style website, and it is cited in the reference list below.
American Psychological Association. (2023, March). About APA style. APA Style.https://apastyle.apa.org/about-apa-style
Bentley, M., Peerenboom, C. A., Hodge, F. W., Passano, E. B., Warren, H. C., & Washburn, M. F. (1929). Instructions in regard to preparation of manuscript. Psychological Bulletin, 26(2), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071487
Skillin, M. E., & Gay, R. M. (1974). Words into type (3rd ed. rev.). Prentice Hall.
University of Chicago Press. (2017). Chicago manual of style (17th ed.).
Here are some other resources that you may find helpful in learning how to appropriately cite materials using the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association​.
If you need more assistance, please ask a librarian.
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One of the most difficult parts of writing research papers is understanding what they really are. A research paper has to, at its most basic level, inform about the research on a topic. You can't simply pick a topic and say "I'm going to write a research paper about this topic," and then actually start writing it. You need to know what it is you're researching, why, what purpose it serves, and what type of research paper you are working on.
This might sound simple, however, people often get stuck coming up with a research question, or even really wondering what the difference between a research question and a regular question is. Research questions are those that can not be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A research question is "[N]ot any question we ask. Instead, it is a clear, specific, and goal-oriented query related to a problem that needs to be addressed" (Nassaji, 2019, 283).
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This guide is far from exhaustive, but it aims to inform you about what research papers are, what pieces are necessary, what formatting and citation style to use, and how to properly compile everything.
References
Nassaji, H. (2019). Good research questions. Language Teaching Research, 23(3), p. 283-286. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1362168819845322
A type of term paper in which you take a stand on a topic and justify it with evidence --either for or against. Both sides --pro and con-- of the issue are typically discussed.
A technique for properly attributing information to the appropriate author or source.
A type of term paper that describes the nature of a topic, allowing you to acquire a deeper knowledge of the subject or issue.
Specific questions that you hope to answer through your research that will form the basis for your overall paper.
RQs narrow your purpose statement into the fundamental questions in your overall topic.
A summary in one to two declarative sentences indicating what you hope to achieve through your research.
References
McAdoo M. L. (2015). The student's survival guide to research. Neal-Schuman.
The Student's Survival Guide to Research by .
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Except where otherwise noted, content in these research guides is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
