Beth M. Schwartz - An Easyguide to APA Style

Fourth Edition

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schwartz, Beth M., author. | Landrum, R. Eric, author. | Gurung, Regan A. R., author.

Title: An easyguide to APA style / Beth M. Schwartz, Endicott College, R. Eric Landrum, Boise State University, Regan A. R. Gurung, Oregon State University.

Other titles: Easy guide to APA style

Description: Fourth edition. | Thousand Oaks, California : SAGE, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020025064 | ISBN 9781544323725 (spiral bound ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781544323701 (epub) | ISBN 9781544323718 (epub) | ISBN 9781544323732 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: PsychologyAuthorshipStyle manuals. | Social sciencesAuthorshipStyle manuals.

Classification: LCC BF76.7 .S39 2021 | DDC 808.06/615dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025064

Printed in the United States of America

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

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Traveling to a new place can be exciting, but going anywhere for the first time always has its challenges. Whether a new city, a new school, or a new job, it takes time to learn the ins and outs of the place, its rules and customs. It is a similar process learning to write in American Psychological Association (APA) Stylethat is, learning when to use italics, capitalization rules, and abbreviations; how to treat numbers; what citations and references should look like; how to set margins; and what headings, tables, and figures should look like as required by APA format. At first blush, APA Style is almost like a foreign language with its own syntax and grammar, and the manual with all its rules can be as tricky as a labyrinth for any newcomer to navigate. Rules for that foreign language (think syntax, perhaps?) changed a bit with the release of the seventh edition of the APA Publication Manual (hereafter PM; APA, 2020). With this EasyGuide in hand, you take a great step toward simplifying the process of learning how to write papers in APA Style. We will help you through the maze of rules, including the changes to those rules for those who used the earlier sixth edition (APA, 2010), and you may even have (some) fun along the way.

Over the years, we have witnessed the many problems our students have when confronting the numerous details involved in creating APA research papers, term papers, or lab reports. We see the frustration our students feel when trying to find the information they need in the PM amid the voluminous details that primarily apply to faculty members or graduate students submitting manuscripts for publication. Of course, there is also the problem of unlearning APA Style with the seventh edition, which includes some significant changes in some of the well-known formatting rules. Some of us who have lived with the sixth edition for about 10 years now need an EasyGuide more than ever. If your needs are similar to our students needs (i.e., writing papers for class), if you need to learn about the changes in APA Style based on the seventh edition of the PM, or even if you are preparing a traditional manuscript for publication, this EasyGuide will serve you well. As we noted in past editions of this EasyGuide, it is possible that if you are in need of a way to cite and report a rare type of reference or an uncommon ordinal scale statistic, then you may also need to also consult the PM.