1. 6th Edition APA Writing Styles
Beth Gamble RN-BC, MSN, OCN
Presented for:
Fall Student Writing Workshop

2. What is APA?
APA is an editorial style recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA) for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers.
It is the standard format for papers, articles, and books in the social sciences.

3. APA Guidelines: The required APA source and formatting for many college programs:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Concise rules of APA style (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Major areas to consider when reviewing APA is knowing how to do the following:
Margins - 1 inch all around
Double spacing
Title page
Headings
Headers
Page numbers
Citing references (sources of information) in body of paper
Quoting and paraphrasing
Citing references in the reference list
Steps for writing an APA paper

4. Purposes of APA
Provides standardized rules for formatting a paper (margins, line spacing, etc…).
Provides a consistent method for citing or giving credit for ideas, quotations, facts, and paraphrases borrowed from other sources.
Avoids plagiarism of ideas by ensuring that other authors are given credit for their original thoughts and ideas.
Makes the paper credible and gives a professional appearance.

5. What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarize: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own; to use (a created production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

6. How to Avoid Plagiarism
Give credit whenever another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories are used by someone other than the author.
Give credit for facts, statistics, graphs, drawings– any pieces of information– that are not common knowledge that are used by someone other than the author.
Give credit for quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words that are used by someone other than the author. Direct quotes should have quotation marks around them.
Give credit for paraphrasing another person’s spoken or written words by someone other than the author.

7. How to Avoid Plagiarism
When taking notes, note the source and page number, and put quotation marks around direct wording from the source. Without quotation marks, you will forget which words were yours and which were not.
Try paraphrasing or putting ideas in your own words as you take notes or use simple key word notes, rather than writing down wording from the original.
Check all paraphrases against the original. Following the original sentence structure and substituting words here and there is unacceptable.

8. General Overview of APA Style
Cover Page
Margins
Font
Header & page numbers
Introduction (purpose)
Headings & subheadings
Body (main points)
Conclusion (summary of main points- no new ideas)
References (sources used in the paper)
Use APA formatting programs with caution!!

9. APA Formatting: Paper, Typeface, Spacing, Margins
Standard size is 8 ½ x 11 inches
Typeface
Times New Roman
Black, 12 point font
Spacing
All lines are double-spaced throughout the entire document, including long quotes and works cited. There should be no additional spaces/lines between paragraphs and between headings and paragraphs.
Margins
Uniform margins of 1” at the top, bottom, and sides

10. Page Numbers, Paragraph Indentions
Number pages consecutively in the right upper corner in the header beginning with the title page.
Use the header feature in Microsoft® Word to set the page number and to add the running head if one is included.
Paragraphs and indentions
Indent the first line of every paragraph 5-7 spaces, or ½”
A paragraph must have a minimum of 3 sentences
Formatting in Microsoft® Word
Go to “page setup” to format your paper.

11. Quotations
Three or four direct quotes in a 10-page paper is the upper limit. Two direct quotes is reasonable in a 3-4 page paper. Use direct quotes sparingly! Your paper cannot be entirely quotations.
Incorporate quotations of less than 40 words in the text with quotation marks. Cite source and page number at the end of the quotation.
Place quotations of 40 or more words in a double-spaced block, indented five spaces from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks with a blocked quotation. Following a blocked quote, provide works cited in parentheses with no punctuation following the parentheses.
(e.g. Invisible and concrete walls among people. (p. 543)

12. Example of a Short Quotation
If you are quoting fewer than 40 words, incorporate it into the text and use quotation marks: She stated, “The ‘placebo effect’…disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner “ (Miele, 2008, p. 274), but she did not clarify which behaviors were studied. Direct quotations must be ACCURATE. The quotation must follow the wording, spelling, and interior punctuation of the original source, even if the source is incorrect. Quotation marks go DIRECTLY after the quote followed by parenthetical citation and then end punctuation.

13. Example of a Quotation of 40+ Words
When quoting 40 or more words, begin on a new line and indent the entire quote ½” from the left margin (double-space block). End quotation with appropriate punctuation. Do not use quotation marks surrounding the quote or place punctuation at the end of the parenthetical citation: Miele (2009) found the following: The “placebo effect”, which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again even when reel [sic] drugs were administered…to a placebo effect. (p. 276)

14. What are Parenthetical Citations in APA?
Parenthetical citations are sources listed within the body of the paper that authenticate information presented (or discussed) in the paper.
If you are using someone else’s words or ideas you must give credit to the person who thought up the idea or said the words even if you paraphrase their ideas into your own words. Failure to do this is plagiarism.

15. When is it Okay Not to Provide a Citation?
When the work originates with you. This includes your original thoughts, opinions, ideas, and experiences. You must clearly indicate this by stating (for example); “The author believes that…”
When information is common knowledge. Common knowledge refers to information that is well known to general audiences and can be found in 3 to 4 undocumented sources.
General Common Knowledge is factual information considered to be in the public domain, such a s birth and death dates of public figures and generally accepted public events and facts.
If in doubt, it is always safer to cite the source.

16. How to Write Parenthetical Citations
When using a quote, a paraphrase, or a statistic cite the following within the text:
The author’s last name/organization’s name/website name (if no author)
The publication date
The page number if the information is a direct quote. If the source is an Internet source use paragraph (para) number.
DO NOT place URL/website hyperlinks as citations!
Examples:
(Jones, 2006, para. 2)
(Jones & Karl, 2008, p. 22)
(Nursing Universe, 2008)

17. Parenthetical Citation Examples
Garhart (2004) points out that even people who feel strongly about embryo research would believe in strong government control.
According to King (2008), “No one person should have the power to make decisions for patients “ (p. 45).
3 Ways to Write In-Text Citations:
As Childs (2008) reports, “the number of people suffering multiple personality disorder continues to grow” (p. 32).
Childs (2008) reports an increase in multiple personality disorders.
Mental health workers are warned that “the number of people suffering multiple personality disorder continues to grow” (Childs, 2008, p. 32).

18. Additional APA Resources:
American Psychological Association APA Tutorial
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Midway Library