Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

APA Overview Why? Edition APA Seminar vs. Thesis and Dissertation Guide

Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together Abbreviations

Abbreviations/Acronyms Identify acronyms with first usage, and then use acronym consistently throughout dissertation (consult your committee chair—some want acronyms identified with first use in each chapter). Incorrect: The results of the studies of simple reaction time (RT) to a visual target have shown a strong negative relation between reaction time and luminance. Correct: The results of the studies of simple reaction time (RT) to a visual target have shown a strong negative relation between RT and luminance. (APA, 6th ed. pp )

Numbers and Symbols Common Problems with Numbers and Symbols Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

4.31 Numbers Expressed in Numerals Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, scores and points on a scale, exact sums of money and numerals as numerals Exceptions (APA, 6th ed., pp )

4.31 Numbers Expressed in Numerals Numbers that denote a specific place in a numbered series, parts of books and tables, and each number in a list of four or more numbers Example Chapter 5 (of your dissertation) (APA, 6th ed., pp )

4.34 Ordinal Numbers No superscript (2nd) See for examples (APA, 6th ed., p. 113)

4.32 Numbers expressed as words Begins a sentence, title or text heading Common fractions Universally accepted usage (APA, 6th ed., p. 112)

Percents Use the symbol for percent only when it is preceded by a numeral. Use the word percentage when a number is not given. (APA, 6th ed., p. 118)

Percents (APA, 6th ed., p. 118) Numbers (APA, 6th ed., pp )

Secondary Sources Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Secondary Sources Incorrect Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (1989) indicates that... (Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993). Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, and Haller (1993) quote Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (1989)... Correct Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993)... List only the Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993 reference (the secondary source) in the reference pages. (APA 6th ed., p. 178, #6.17)

et al. Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

et al. Latin abbreviation et al. Comma after et al. Parenthetical reference Follow author when there are multiple authors preceding et al. (6.12) (APA 6th ed., p. 175)

et al. Works of 3-5 authors List all with first use Use et al. with all usages afterward Throughout entire document (view as one document) See Table 6.1, p. 177 (APA 6th ed., p. 177)

et al. Works of 6+ authors Use et al. each time – even with first use Throughout entire document (view as one document) See Table 6.1, p. 177 Reference Pages Up to 7 authors: list all 7+: list first 6, followed by... Last author only (#2 on 198) (APA 6th ed., p. 177, 198)

(APA 6th ed., pp , 198)

Seriation Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Seriation Within a paragraph or sentence, identify elements in a series by lowercase letters (not italicized) in parentheses: The participant’s three choices were (a) working with another participant, (b) working with a team, and (c) working alone. (APA 6th ed., pp )

Seriation Separate paragraphs in a series, such as itemized conclusions or steps in a procedure, are identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a period but not enclosed in or followed by parentheses: Using the learned helplessness theory, we predicted that the depressed and nondepressed participants would make the following judgments of control: 1. Individuals who Nondepressed persons exposed to Depressed persons exposed to Depressed and nondepressed participants in the no-noise groups... (APA 6th ed., pp )

Seriation Notice that with numerical lists, the text is aligned under the text, not under the numbers. Make sure that the numbers are aligned on the decimal (you’ll notice a problem when you go from #9 to #10 since MS Word does not align on the decimal when you go from one digit to two digit numbers). Bulleted lists are acceptable in the 6 th edition of the APA manual. Refer to pp for rules regarding bulleted lists. (APA 6th ed., pp )

Back to Back Parentheses Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Incorrect: (e.g., defensive pessimism) (Norem & Cantor, 1986) Correct: (e.g., defensive pessimism; Norem & Cantor, 1986) (APA 6th ed., p. 94)

Ellipsis Points Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Ellipsis Use 3 spaced ellipsis points within a sentence to indicate that you have omitted material from the original source. Correct Anchor text “... text continues... text continues” Incorrect “…text continues…text continues” (APA 6th ed., pp )

Ellipsis Use 4 points to indicate omission between sentences Correct Anchor text “beginning text.... next sentence.” Incorrect “Beginning text….next sentence.” (APA 6th ed., pp )

Quotations Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Floating Quotations Floating quotes (also called dropped quotes) Incorrect “The ‘placebo effect’... disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner” (Miele, 1993, p. 276). Correct She stated, “The ‘placebo effect’... disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner” (Miele, 1993, p. 276).

Block Quotes A direct quote that contains 40 or more words are placed in a block quote (omit the quotation marks in a block quote). See last example in 6.03 on pg. 171 of 6th ed.

(APA 6th ed., pp )

Tables (common problems) Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Common Problems Aligning decimal places Matching Table Title to text and List of Tables Title Case Spacing Single spacing allowed, but consider readability Don’t single space just to condense size of table Table Titles: Italicized at top of table Continued Tables: (continued) at bottom and top of next page (italicized); Headings are repeated on continued pages

Common Problems Table Notes Bottom of table Word Note is italicized and followed by a. Acronyms are identified Sequence number of * according to need

(APA 6th ed., pp )

Figures (common problems) Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

Common Problems Picture Title (Caption) is at bottom of Figure Figure and Number: italicized and followed by. Figure 1. Caption: sentence case. Full caption must be in list of figures.

(APA 6th ed., pp )

Heading/Subheading Levels for Theses and Dissertations (APA 6th) Doctoral Support Center Putting the Formatting Style Pieces Together

APA and TDG Referencing tables and figures/ placement of tables and figures When incorporate tables or figures directly after the paragraph containing the initial reference. Do not use sentences such as Table 5 illustrates the responses of the two sets of sixth-grade students. Instead use The responses of the two sets of sixth-grade students varied little (Table 5). (UWF T&D Guide, “Illustrative Materials”)

Thesis and Dissertation Guide