Concise Rules of APA Style

295 Pages·2009·2.158 MB·English

by  American Psychological Association

The Official Pocket
Style Guide From the
American Psychological
Association
Sixth Edition
Concise Rules of
APA St yle
Contents at a Glance
1. Concise and Bias-Free Writing 7
Organization 7
Writing Style 13
Reducing Bias in Language 22
General Guidelines for Reducing Bias 23
Reducing Bias by Topic 27
Grammar and Usage 33
2. Punctuation, Spelling, and Capitalization 47
Punctuation 48
Spelling 60
Capitalization 66
3. Italicizing and Abbreviating 73
Italics 73
Abbreviations 76
4. Numbers, Metrication, and Statistics 85
Numbers 85
Metrication 90
Statistical and Mathematical Copy 92
Equations 103
5. Displaying Results 105
General Guidance on Tables and Figures 105
Tables 110
Figures 141
Presenting Electrophysiological, Radiological, and Other
Biological Data 154
6. Footnotes, Appendices, and Supplemental Material 163
Footnotes 163
Appendices and Supplemental Materials 167
7. Crediting Sources 171
When to Cite 171
Quoting and Paraphrasing 173
Citing References in Text 178
Reference List 188
Reference Components 194
8. Reference Examples 209
Types and Variations 210
Examples by Type 215
Appendix 8.1: References to Legal Materials 243
Concise Rules of
APA Style

Sixth Edition
Concise Rules of
APA St yle
(cid:34)(cid:78)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:1)(cid:49)(cid:84)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:80)(cid:77)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:1)(cid:34)(cid:84)(cid:84)(cid:80)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:66)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:80)(cid:79) (cid:114) Washington, DC
Copyright © 2010 by the American Psychological Association. All rights
reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of
1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in
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without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Electronic edition: May 2013
978-1-4338-1541-6
Published by
American Psychological Association
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Washington, DC 20002
www.apa.org
To order
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Typeset in Sabon and Univers by Circle Graphics, Columbia, MD
Printer: United Book Press, Baltimore, MD
Cover Designer: Naylor Design, Washington, DC
Production Manager: Jennifer L. Macomber
Editorial Director: Mary Lynn Skutley
Senior Editor, APA Style: Anne W. Gasque
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Concise rules of APA style. — 6th ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4338-0560-8 (spiral bound)
ISBN-10: 1-4338-0560-X (spiral bound)
1. Psychology—Authorship—Style manuals. 2. Social sciences—
Authorship—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. American Psychological
Association.
BF76.7.C66 2010
808'.06615—dc22
2009011709
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record is available from the British Library.
Printed in the United States of America
Sixth Edition
Contents
Introduction: A Pocket Reference for Writers 3
Organization 3
New in This Edition 4
1. Concise and Bias-Free Writing 7
Organization 7
1.01 Length 7
1.02 Organizing a Manuscript With Headings 8
1.03 Levels of Heading 9
1.04 Seriation 11
Writing Style 13
1.05 Continuity in Presentation of Ideas 13
1.06 Smoothness of Expression 14
1.07 Tone 15
1.08 Economy of Expression 16
1.09 Precision and Clarity 18
1.10 Linguistic Devices 21
1.11 Strategies to Improve Writing Style 21
Reducing Bias in Language 22
General Guidelines for Reducing Bias 23
Guideline 1: Describe at the Appropriate Level of
Specificity 23
v
vi CONTENTS
Guideline 2: Be Sensitive to Labels 24
Guideline 3: Acknowledge Participation 26
Reducing Bias by Topic 27
1.12 Gender 27
1.13 Sexual Orientation 29
1.14 Racial and Ethnic Identity 29
1.15 Disabilities 31
1.16 Age 32
1.17 Historical and Interpretive Inaccuracies 33
Grammar and Usage 33
1.18 Verbs 34
1.19 Agreement of Subject and Verb 35
1.20 Pronouns 36
1.21 Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers and Use
of Adverbs 38
1.22 Relative Pronouns and Subordinate
Conjunctions 41
1.23 Parallel Construction 43
2. Punctuation, Spelling, and
Capitalization
47
Punctuation 48
2.01 Spacing After Punctuation Marks 48
2.02 Period 48
2.03 Comma 49
2.04 Semicolon 51
2.05 Colon 51
2.06 Dash 52
2.07 Typing Hyphens, Dashes, and Minus
Signs 52
2.08 Quotation Marks 53
2.09 Double or Single Quotation Marks 55
2.10 Parentheses 56
2.11 Brackets 58
2.12 Slash 59
Spelling 60
2.13 Preferred Spelling 60
2.14 Hyphenation 61
Capitalization 66
2.15 Words Beginning a Sentence 66
2.16 Major Words in Titles and Headings 67
CONTENTS vii
2.17 Proper Nouns and Trade Names 68
2.18 Nouns Followed by Numerals or Letters 69
2.19 Titles of Tests 70
2.20 Names of Conditions or Groups in an
Experiment 70
2.21 Names of Factors, Variables, and Effects 71
3. Italicizing and Abbreviating
73
Italics 73
3.01 Correct Use of Italics 73
3.02 Incorrect Use of Italics 75
Abbreviations 76
3.03 Use of Abbreviations 76
3.04 Explanation of Abbreviations 77
3.05 Abbreviations Accepted as Words 78
3.06 Abbreviations Used Often in APA
Journals 78
3.07 Latin Abbreviations 79
3.08 Scientific Abbreviations 79
3.09 Other Abbreviations 83
3.10 Plurals of Abbreviations 83
3.11 Abbreviations Beginning a Sentence 83
4. Numbers, Metrication, and
Statistics
85
Numbers 85
4.01 Numbers Expressed in Numerals 85
4.02 Numbers Expressed in Words 87
4.03 Combining Numerals and Words to Express
Numbers 87
4.04 Ordinal Numbers 88
4.05 Decimal Fractions 88
4.06 Roman Numerals 89
4.07 Commas in Numbers 89
4.08 Plurals of Numbers 90
Metrication 90
4.09 Policy on Metrication 90
4.10 Style for Metric Units 91
Statistical and Mathematical Copy 92
4.11 Selecting Effective Presentation 92
4.12 References for Statistics 93
viii CONTENTS
4.13 Formulas 93
4.14 Statistics in Text 93
4.15 Statistical Symbols 95
4.16 Spacing, Alignment, and Punctuation 102
Equations 103
4.17 Equations in Text 103
4.18 Displayed Equations 104
4.19 Preparing Statistical and Mathematical
Copy 104
5. Displaying Results
105
General Guidance on Tables and Figures 105
5.01 Purposes of Data Displays 105
5.02 Design and Preparation of a Data
Display 106
5.03 Graphical Versus Textual Presentation 107
5.04 Formatting Tables and Figures 108
5.05 Table and Figure Numbers 109
5.06 Permission to Reproduce Data Displays 109
Tables 110
5.07 Conciseness in Tables 110
5.08 Table Layout 110
5.09 Standard Forms 112
5.10 Relation of Tables and Text 112
5.11 Relation Between Tables 116
5.12 Table Titles 116
5.13 Table Headings 117
5.14 Table Body 122
5.15 Confidence Intervals in Tables 123
5.16 Table Notes 124
5.17 Ruling of Tables 127
5.18 Presenting Data in Specific Types of
Tables 128
5.19 Table Checklist 140
Figures 141
5.20 Principles of Figure Use and
Construction 141
5.21 Types of Figures 142
5.22 Standards for Figures 144
5.23 Figure Legends and Captions 151