American Psychological Association Style for Final Manuscripts by Dr Abel Scribe PhD - January 2010 APA Lite for College Papers is a concise guide to crafting research papers in the style of the American Psychological Association (APA). It is based on the current edition of the APA Publication Manual (corrected printing, 2009) while incorporating guidelines for “Material Other Than Journal Articles” found in the last edition. APA Lite succeeds the APA Crib Sheet developed by Professor Dewey in the 1990s and revised by the Abel Scribe collaboration in the current century. Doc Scribe is not affiliated in any way with the American Psychological Association--this style guide is free! APA Style Lite for College Papers © Copyright 2010 by Dr Abel Scribe PhD.
APA LITE TOPICS
1.0. General Features. What is APA style? What’s most important to get right? 2.0. Title & Text Page. Getting started: the title and first text pages, headings and subheadings, seriation or lists. 3.0. Text Rules. Rules to observe as you write: abbreviations, capitalization, emphasis (italics), quotations. 4.0. Numbers & Statistics. Rules for presenting common numbers, precise measures, and statistics. 5.0. Tables & Figures. APA style tables require attention to detail, graphs and images less so. 6.0. Citations & References. You absolutely, positively--no exceptions!--must get this right! Appendix. Language Bias.
STUDENTS SHUNNED BY APA! - STYLE GOES UNDERGROUND
The last edition of the APA Manual advised students that “the Publication Manual is not intended to cover scientific writing at an undergraduate level” (APA, 2001, p. 322). They meant it! While the last edition devoted a chapter to “Material Other Than Journal Articles” as an aid for students (chapter 6), the current edition has eradicated all such guidance. Take this advice from the APA: “Not writing for publication? Not our problem!” Final manuscripts. The APA calls papers written for publication