Basics of APA Style Information taken from the following reference: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author

APA Writing Help From the left side list click on the Pages tab and scroll down to find the tab for:

Title Page The APA style help has information on the title page under the center column, Quick Answers – Formatting. Choose Title Page Title Page The title page includes five elements: title, running head, author, byline, institutional affiliation, and author note (which includes grant/funding information and a full correspondence address). The title page is numbered page 1.

Running Head If you are not publishing the “running head” is not really necessary, but check with your instructor to determine whether you need to include the running head on your title page and with the page numbers. Running Head The running head is a shortened title (no more than 50 characters, including spaces) that appears on every page. Use the automatic functions of your word-processing program to create a header that contains the running head and the page numbers for your paper. The header is located within, not below, the paper’s margin. There is no need to set the header at a specific distance from the top of the page. The words Running head: precede the running head on the title page only.

Following pages with running head

Body of the Document Preparing an outline is a good way to begin the writing process and helps to determine the headings for your paragraphs and the levels of headings you will require. Most papers utilize 1-3 levels. For information on levels access the APA Style Help and under the middle column, Quick Answers – Formatting, choose Heading Levels. Click on the Five Essential Tips for APA Style Headings.

Level 1 heading centered, bolded, upper and lower case Level 1 is centered, boldface, using upper and lower case. Your paragraph starts below the heading. Level 1 heading centered, bolded, upper and lower case CREATING SUCCESS 2 Getting Started Paragraph one is the introduction to the paper. It should begin with something that will grab the reader’s attention and provide a citation to support your opening sentence (Norwood, 2002). Next, support that opening sentence with discussion or explanation with one or multiple sentences which will make up the body of the introductory paragraph. The last sentence of the introduction should highlight areas to be covered in the paper. APA success requires knowledge of the format and skill in concise, clear written communication. Preparing to Write A key to quality construction of a systematic approach to writing is developing an outline that includes all assignment criteria (Hacker & Jones, 2009). Once the outline is created, one can build support by identifying resources that are applicable to the outline topics. The outline with sources identified and evaluated provides a framework which should make writing the paper easy. Level 1 heading

Level 2 headings are flush to the left, boldface, upper and lower case

In-text citations In-Text Citations In-text citations consist of the surname(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication. If there is no author, use the title (or a short form of the title, if it is lengthy) and the year. Titles that are italicized in the reference list are italicized in text; titles that are not italicized in the reference list appear in quotation marks. If there is no date, use “n.d.” (without quotation marks) instead.

Quotations Quotations Material quoted directly from another source (i.e., reproduced word for word from works by other authors, your own previously published work, material replicated from a test item, and/or verbatim instructions to participants) must always provide the author, year, and specific page(s) in the text citation

In-text citation for quote If the quotation includes fewer than 40 words, incorporate it in text and enclose it with double quotation marks. To better understand professional writing style, read journal articles and other professional writing. “There is no better teacher of writing than the act of reading good writers” (Cox, 2009, p.44). If material is paraphrased (i.e., restated in your own words), always provide the author and date in the in-text citation. It is not necessary to include the page number(s) in the citation, but it may be helpful, especially if the source is very long (e.g., a short passage from a whole book). The body of the paper must have multiple paragraphs. Every paragraph needs at least three sentences, and every paragraph needs a transition sentence to the next (Norwood, 2009).

Block Quotation If the quotation includes more than 40 words, it should be treated as a block quotation, meaning that it is displayed in a freestanding block of text without quotation marks. At the end of the block quotation cite the quoted source including the page or paragraph number in parentheses after the final punctuation mark. The skill of professional writing is valuable for all. Employers often judge future employees on how well their resume is written and look for employees with strong written communication skills. Public health professionals must master writing competencies essential to their profession including preparation of resumes, grant writing, portfolio development, and effective written communication. A report conducted by the National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges provided the findings from 120 human resource directors of major American corporations on the importance of workplace writing. (Hine, 2011, p. 1)

The Reference Page Reference List A reference list consists of all sources cited in the text of a paper, listed alphabetically by author’s surname. You may find it easier to make the reference page first and then create the matching in-text citations.

References Book For an entire book include the author, year, title of the work in italics, location, and publisher.

References Periodicals are items published on a regular basis such as journals, magazines, or newspapers. The reference should include the author/s, year in parentheses, title of the article, title of the periodical in italics, volume, issue, and page numbers.

Electronic Periodicals If the digital object identifier (DOI) is available it is included in the reference.

Electronic Periodicals If no DOI is assigned to content retrieved online, include the home page URL.

Websites The APA Style Help – quick references, has help for referencing websites. Websites When you are citing a particular document or piece of information from a website, include both a reference list entry and an in-text citation. The key to creating the reference list entry is to determine the type of content on the web page. Basically, provide the following four pieces of information: Author, A. (date). Title of document. Retrieved from http://xxxxxxx.xxxx.xx The in-text citation includes the author and date (Author, date), as with any other APA Style citation.

Website Samples National League for Nursing. (2011). Advancing care excellence for seniors . Retrieved from http://www.nln.org/aces (Links to an external site.) QSEN Institute. (n.d.). Quality and safety education for nursing. Retrieved from www.qsen.org Retrieval Dates When the material is subject to frequent change then you must include the date you accessed and retrieved the information you are referencing. American Nurses Association. (n.d.). Career center. Retrieved March 23, 2015 from www.nursingworld.org

Resources Utilize the APA Style Help from the Pages tab and check out the tutorial You may wish to invest in the APA 6th edition Publication Manual Another helpful resource is the Purdue University Online Writing Lab known as Purdue OWL. http://owl.english.purdue.edu

The Basics of APA Style Tutorial The APA Writing Help under the Pages tab has a tutorial provided by the American Psychological Association. Under the column, Most Popular Choose #3 The Basics of APA Style Click on View the tutorial This tutorial is more in depth than what you may need, but the samples may be very helpful.

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