APA 6 th Edition Formatting and Style Guide Lakehead University Writing Center Workshop
Presentation Overview Why document? Research tips Formatting quotations General APA guidelines Specific guidelines: First page format Section headings In-text citations Works Cited page
First Rule of Formatting? Always Follow your instructor s guidelines!!!!
Why document? Ø In Canada, authors are considered the owners of their intellectual property their ideas and writings. As an academic writer, when you use the words and ideas of another person, you are expected to follow the conventions of the academy. Ø Specifically, you must: Ø Ø Set off any quoted material* using quotation marks (or indentation) and reference the source you took the quote from. Provide a reference for any material from another source whose ideas you have summarized or paraphrased. *Be careful to copy accurately the words you quote from the work of another author. Source (APA Documentation Style): Lunsford, A.A. (2010). Easy Writer (4 th ed.). Canadian ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s.
Prevent unintentional borrowing A challenge for students who are writing their first academic papers is to keep tabs on all their research. Choose to work with saved copies: photocopies, printouts and electronic files allow you to mark or highlight or colour-code passages of interest. Record all the information you need for the References page at the end of your paper. Keep all the material for the paper in one location. As soon as you read something you think you can use, mark the passage so you can go back to it. Use quotation marks to indicate anything you take verbatim.
Avoid unintentional plagiarism Organizing your material allows you to check your work so that you don t waste time looking for material and then wondering if it s your brilliant original thought or one that is borrowed from another! Ø PARAPHRASE OR SUMMARIZE: Put the passage in your own words. You will still identify the source of the theory/idea/fact, but the information will fit your writing style since it is in your own words. Ø TAKE SHORT PASSAGES VERBATIM FROM THE SOURCE: Use quotation marks to separate the author s words from yours. Put them around any words and phrases that you have taken directly from the text. Keep the marks in if you adopt the words or phrases into your text, even if the rest of the sentence is in your own words; e.g.: Although writers sometimes think the internet is public property, A Canadian Writer s Reference (2011) says you should treat web sources in the same way you treat print sources (p. 363). Reference: Hacker, D. & Sommers, N. (2011). A Canadian Writer s Reference (5 th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s.
List of Terms In-text citation information enclosed in parentheses after a passage when you have summarized or quoted the ideas of another. In the APA style, you give the author s name and the year. If it s a direct quote, also include the page or the paragraph number. Reference a separate page at the end of your paper where you list all the information a reader needs to find the source you used in your paper: author, year, titles, publication information. Academic reference a scholarly source that is from a researched publication or peer-reviewed journal (as opposed to a website or popular magazine). If in doubt about material, check with your prof, GA or a Reference Librarian. Paraphrase rewording of a passage from a source in your own words. Usually, a writer paraphrase to explain or clarify a point. Summary a brief restatement from a source.
APA General Guidelines 8.5 x 11 paper Double space everything 12 point Times New Roman (Arial) 1 margins all sides (2.54 cm) Every new paragraph is offset with one indent Begin with a title page Running head is flush left on every page Page numbers are in the upper right on every page
Title Page* Set up a Header on Word Type Running Head: Key words from the title in CAPITAL LETTERS Set up page numbers in top right corner: title page is 1 Center the following information in the mid about 3/5 of the way down the page. Order: Paper title (main words capitalized) Your name Course number Prof s name Date of submission *Shown in sample APA paper
Headings Ø Check to ensure you need to use headings. Ø APA has five levels; in order 1-5, they are: Centred, Boldface, Upper and Lower Case Flush Left, Boldface, Upper and Lower Case Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. Indented, boldface, italicized lowercase paragraph Heading ending with a period. Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading.
What s in a Citation? APA uses an author/date style, except when you quote directly, in which case you should include the page number from the text To reference in the text of your essay, include the author s last name and the date of publication If you don t have a date, use the Abbreviation n.d. (no date) Include the date of retrieval of the article from the web source If you don t have an author s name, you can either use: The title of the work and the date, or A corporate author and the date
Citations: Author-Date Style* In-text example: In a study done on teens and depression, A. Mushquash (2010) found that social isolation was a major contributing factor to their negative mental states. Or Social isolation is a major contributing factor to depressive states during teenage years (Mushquash, 2010). Or Responding to negative comments about psychiatric facilities for teenagers, the Minister of Health responded that Public health education and promotion is a community matter. The government is not solely responsible; everyone has to contribute (Ferris, 2011, p. 91). Reference example: Mushquash, A. (2010). Facing the enemy: depression and teenagers. Journal of Family Psychology 7(3), 125-129.
Citations: Single Author In-text citation of a quotation: Burke (1999) describes human beings as symbol-using animals (p. 22). Another way to use/cite a quotation: Human beings are symbol-using animals ; language is considered the main symbol (Burke, 1999, p. 22). References entry: Burke, L. (1999). Language as symbolic action: Essays on North American social communication. Vancouver: UBC Press. Note that only the first word, proper nouns, and the word after the colon in the book s title are capitalized in APA book titles.
Citations: Unknown Author In-text example: We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change... ( Impact of Global Warming, p. 6). Note that the article title in the citation is in quotation marks and important words are all capitalized: this is different from the References entry where only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. As well, there are no quotation marks around the title in the References entry. Corresponding References entry: The impact of global warming in the Canadian Arctic. (2007, 23 March). The Globe and Mail, p.55.
Citations: Multiple Works by the Same Author In-text example: Lightenor (2008) has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children (p. 38). However, Lightenor later (2009) acknowledged that early exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill development in a child's second and third year (p. 17). References example: Lightenor, A. (2008). Electronic babysitter: Why computer games hurt our children. Scientific American, 287(1), 36-39. Lightenor, A. (2009). Computer games reconsidered: How gaming can help our children develop important skills. Scientific American, 288(4), 17-18.
Citations: Indirect Sources You may find a passage you want to use in a book where the author has cited another authority. Ideally, you can find the original source and use it, but if you cannot, cite an indirect source. In-text example: Alden Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as social service centers, confirming this is the least successful role for them (as cited in Weisman, 2010, para. 2). Reference example: Weisman, K. (2010, June 11). Who believes in high schools anymore? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://schoolspeak.net/highschoolforum.php/site/ 2010/06
Other Documentation Resources: APA Style: We have a print copy or you can go to the Writing Centre Website: www.writingcentre.lakeheadu.ca APA website: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/index.aspx and the book, 6th edition OWL Purdue (Online Writing Lab): http:// owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ APA Handout printed from the SSC website or a recently published handbook that has a documenting sources section Find these resources at the library reference desk or order them at the university bookstore