APA style facts for kids
APA style is a way of formatting scientific publications. The style is moslty about the way citations are handled in such documents. Its is commonly used in social sciences and relies on a stlye guide written by the American Psychological Association.
A typical APA-style research paper fulfills 3 levels of specification. Level 1 states how a research paper must be organized by including a title page, an abstract, an introduction, the methodology, the results, a discussion, and references. In addition, formatting of abstracts and title pages must be as per the APA manual of style. Level 2 specifies the style of writing. It must be clear and formal without slang, pop culture references, biased language, and humor. It must minimize literary devices, use technical terms appropriately, and be direct. Level 3 specifies the mechanics such as double-spacing, using title case for headings, using numerals for numbers 10 and above, hyphenating compound adjectives, using in-text citations for sources, left aligning all tables and figures, and using footnotes sparingly.
Seventh edition of the Publication Manual
The seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the current one, published in October 2019. The goal of the book is to help people become better writers and communicators by promoting clarity, precision, and inclusivity.
The manual has new resources for students, including a student title page, student paper formats, and student-related reference formats such as classroom course pack material and classroom website sources. The book also includes new journal article reporting standards for qualitative and mixed methods research in addition to updated standards for quantitative research. The bias-free language guidelines have also been updated to reflect current best practices for talking about people's personal characteristics.
The manual addresses accessibility for people with disabilities for the first time. APA worked with accessibility experts to ensure APA style is accessible. For example, the in-text citation format is shortened so that the citations are easier to read for people who, for example, use screen readers or have cognitive disabilities.
Running heads are used in papers that follow APA Style. The running head is an abbreviated version of the paper title that is included in the header of professional papers along with the page number. In student papers, the page number is placed in the header but the page title is not, unless otherwise stated by the course instructor or educational institution.
The manual has hundreds of reference examples, including formats for audiovisual media, social media, and webpages. There are many sample tables and figures, including basic student-friendly examples such as bar graphs. There are also sample papers for professionals and students.
Since the seventh edition, APA also provides an APA Style website and APA Style blog to help people with APA style and answer common questions.
See also
In Spanish: Estilo APA para niños
