Concise Rules of APA Style » (6th Edition)

Where do you put the notes to a table? What is the difference between "g" and "g"? How do you cite a work discussed in a secondary source? Along with answering these and other questions that always seem to arise about six minutes before deadline, this reference also gives information on organizing ideas into an acceptable form and reducing bias in language. Compiled from the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, this pocket guide includes information on punctuation (for those who confuse slashes with hyphens), capitalization (for those who confuse newtons and watts with Newton and Watt), spelling (for all of us), italicizing, and abbreviating, as well as advice on presenting statistics, tables, figures, quotations, citations, footnotes and appendices (it prefers "appendixes"). It also provides very helpful reference examples, including those from electronic and audiovisual media, a cross-reference to the publication manual and a checklist for manuscript submission. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Nicholas Greco IV, MS, BCETS, CATSM(Abbott Laboratories)
Description:Authors will be most pleased with this sixth edition of a handy and portable guide to APA style.
Purpose:The purpose of this edition is to simplify APA heading style and make it more conducive to electronic publication. This edition also includes updated guidelines for reducing bias in language to reflect current practices and preferences. Good and bad language choices have been expanded and moved to the web.
Audience:Every researcher, clinician, and student who must use APA style in their papers, reports, and journal articles must have a copy of this pocket guide.
Features:This book targets only the rules that writers clearly need in order to choose the best words and format for their articles. It is an abridged, yet relevant guide to APA style. The convenient format makes it much simpler to use every day.
Assessment:This is a wonderful, handy desk reference that belongs on the desk of every writer using APA style.

Contents

Introduction: A Pocket Reference for Writers
 
1. Concise and Bias-Free Writing

General Guidance
  Orderly Presentation of Ideas
  Smoothness of Expression
  Economy of Expression
  Precision and Clarity

Grammar
  Verbs
  Agreement of Subject and Verb
  Pronouns
  Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers and Use of Adverbs
  Relative Pronouns and Subordinate Conjunctions
  Parallel Construction
  Linguistic Devices

Reducing Bias in Language
  Guideline 1:  Describe at an Appropriate Level of Specificity
  Guideline 2:  Be Sensitive to Labels
  Guideline 3:  Acknowledge Participation
  Gender
  Sexual Orientation
  Racial and Ethnic Identity
  Disabilities
  Age

Organizing Ideas
  Organizing a Manuscript With Headings
  Levels of Heading
  Selecting the Levels of Heading

2. Punctuation, Spelling, and Capitalization

Punctuation
  Period
  Comma
  Semicolon
  Colon
  Dash
  Quotation Marks
  Parentheses
  Brackets
  Slash

Spelling
  Preferred Spelling
  Hyphenation

Capitalization
  Words Beginning a Sentence
  Major Words in Titles and Headings
  Proper Nouns and Trade Names
  Nouns Followed by Numerals or Letters
  Titles of Tests
  Names of Conditions or Groups in an Experiment
  Names of Factors, Variables, and Effects

3. Italicizing and Abbreviating

 Italics
  Italicizing Words

Abbreviations 
  Use of Abbreviations
  Explanation of Abbreviations
  Abbreviations Accepted as Words
  Abbreviations Used Often in APA Journals
  Latin Abbreviations
  Scientific Abbreviations
  Other Abbreviations
  Use of Periods With Abbreviations
  Plurals of Abbreviations
  Abbreviations Beginning a Sentence
 
 
4. Numbers, Metrication, and Statistics

Numbers
 Seriation
  Numbers Expressed in Figures
  Numbers Expressed in Words
  Combining Figures and Words to Express Numbers
  Ordinal Numbers
  Decimal Fractions
  Roman Numerals
  Commas in Numbers
  Plurals of Numbers

Metrication
  Policy on Metrication
  Style for Metric Units
  
Statistical and Mathematical Copy
  Selecting the Method of Analysis and Retaining Data
  Selecting Effective Presentation
  References for Statistics
  Formulas
  Statistics in Text
  Statistical Symbols
  Spacing, Alignment, and Punctuation
  Equations in Text
  Displayed Equations

5. Tables
Tabular Versus Textual Presentation
 Relation of Tables and Text
 Relation Between Tables
 Table Numbers
 Table Titles
 Headings
 Body of a Table
 Presenting Data in Specific Types of Tables
 Notes to a Table
 Ruling of Tables
 Size of Tables
 Tables From Another Source
 Table Checklist

6.  Figures
Deciding to Use Figures
 Standards for Figures
 Types of Figures
 Line Art Versus Halftone
 Overall Size and Proportion
 Preparation of Figures
 Creating Graphs
 Using Photographs
 Identifying and Citing Figures
 Figure Legends and Captions
 Submitting Figures
 Figure Checklist

7.  Footnotes and Appendixes

Footnotes
  Footnotes in Text
  Notes to Tables
  Author Note

Appendixes
  Identifying and Citing Appendixes
  Body and Headings
  Tables as Appendixes
  Tests and Questionnaires

8.  Quotations, Reference Citations in Text, and Reference List

Quotations
  Quotation of Sources
  Accuracy
  Double or Single Quotation Marks
  Changes From the Source Requiring No Explanation
  Changes From the Source Requiring Explanation
  Citation of Sources
  Citations Within Quotations
  Permission to Quote
  Plagiarism

  Reference Citations in Text
  Agreement of Text and Reference List
  One Work by One Author
  One Work by Multiple Authors
  Groups as Authors
    Works With No Author (Including Legal Material) or With an
     Anonymous Author
  Authors With the Same Surname
  Two or More Works Within the Same Parentheses
  Classical Works
  Specific Parts of a Source
  Personal Communications
  Citations in Parenthetical Material

Reference List
    Construction of an Accurate and Complete Reference List
    APA Reference Style
  Order of References in the Reference List
  References Included in a Meta-Analysis
  Introduction to APA Reference Style
  General Forms
  Authors
  Publication Date
  Title of Article or Chapter
  Title of Work and Publication Information:  Periodicals
  Title of Work:  Nonperiodicals
  Title of Work:  Part of a Nonperiodical (Book Chapters)
  Publication Information:  Nonperiodicals
  Retrieval Information:  Electronic Sources
 
9. Reference Examples
 
 A. Periodicals
 B.  Books, Brochures, and Book Chapters
 C.  Technical and Research Reports
 D.  Proceedings of Meetings and Symposia
 E.  Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses
 F.  Unpublished Work and Publications of Limited Circulation
 G.  Reviews
 H.  Audiovisual Media
 I.  Electronic Media
  Sources on the Internet
  Periodicals on the Internet
   Internet Articles Based on a Print Source
 Article in an Internet-Only Journal
 Article in an Internet-Only Journal, Retrieved Via File Transfer
  Protocol
 Article in an Internet-Only Newsletter
   Nonperiodical Documents on the Internet
    Multipage Document Created by Private Organization, No Date
    Chapter or Section in an Internet Document
    Stand-Alone Document, No Author Identified, No Date
    Document Available on University Program or Department Web
     Site
   Technical and Research Reports on the Internet
    Report From a University, Available on Private Organization Web
     Site
    U.S. Government Report Available on Government Agency Web
     Site, No Publication Date Indicated
    Report From a Private Organization, Available on Organization
     Web Site
    Abstract of a Technical Report Retrieved From University Web
     Site
   Proceedings of Meetings and Symposia on the Internet
    Paper Presented at a Symposium, Abstract Retrieved From
     University Web Site
    Paper Presented at a Virtual Conference
   E-Mail
   Newsgroups, Online Forums and Discussion Groups, and Electronic    Mailing Lists
    Message Posted to a Newsgroup
    Message Posted to Online Forum or Discussion Group
    Message Posted to an Electronic Mailing List
   Other Electronic Sources
    Aggregated Databases
     Electronic Copy of a Journal Article, Three to Five
      Authors, Retrieved From Database
     Daily Newspaper Article, Electronic Version Available
      by Search
     Electronic Copy of an Abstract Obtained From a Secondary
      Database
     Electronic Version of U.S. Government Report Available
      by Search From GPO Access Database (on the Web)
    Computer Programs, Software, and Programming Languages
     Computer Software
    Computer Software and Manual Available on University
     Web Site
    Raw Data
     Data File, Available From Government Agency
     Data File, Available From NTIS Web Site
   
References

Appendix A.  Style Rules Cross-Referenced to the Fifth Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

Checklist for Manuscript Submission