 ustpsych@yahoo.com 12 July 2005 |
Research Report .PDF WRITING
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH REPORTS (APA
Style 5th ed.) Parts
of an article: 1. TITLE AND AUTHOR(S) ·
The manuscript page header is the first thing that
appears on the title page. It consists of the first two or three words of the
title and is followed by the page number. It is used by the editors and
reviewers to identify the pages of the manuscript. It is placed in the upper
right hand corner of all pages of the manuscript (except for any figures).
Thus, the manuscript page header should appear as the first line of the title
page, right justified with the number '1' either double spaced below it or 5
spaces to the right of it. If you are using a word processor, you can have it
put this manuscript page header on all pages automatically.
2. ABSTRACT ·
The abstract
page is Page 2. ·
Center the word Abstract
on this page, then begin typing on the very next double-spaced line (i.e., do
not insert any extra blank lines here). ·
Type this
section as a single (double spaced) paragraph in block format. ·
The purpose of
this section is to provide a brief (100-120 words, 960 characters with spaces),
comprehensive summary of the study. It is very important because it is all that
many people will read. ·
It should
include a brief description of the problem being investigated, the methods and
procedures used, the results, conclusions and their implications. ·
It is a good
idea to write this section last (after all of the other sections are written).
You might try taking the lead sentence or two from the introduction, method,
results, and discussion sections and integrate them to form the abstract. ·
Avoid citing
references in the abstract. 3. INTRODUCTION ·
The introduction
begins on Page 3. ·
Start this page
by retyping your title (centered), then begin typing the section (on the next
double spaced line) using normal (5 space indented) paragraphs. Do not type the
word Introduction. ·
The main purpose
of this section is to tell the reader why you performed the study. In other
words, you have to inform the reader of the research question and indicate why
it is important, and how it is unique when compared to previous studies. ·
It starts out
broad and becomes more and more specific. For example, you might begin by
defining any relevant terms. Then go on to review the relevant literature.
Avoid an exhaustive and historical review. Then go on to make clear the
connection between previous research and the present work. ·
You might
include any hypotheses and the rationale for them. ·
The final
paragraph usually contains a statement which clearly and explicitly states why
the study was performed, such as The
purpose of this study was to... or The
present study was designed to investigate the... Be especially careful not to use a sentence of this type earlier in your introduction. ·
Thus, this
section should contain an absolute minimum of four paragraphs: the general
introduction, the literature review, the connection of the present study to the
literature and the explicit statement of purpose. 4. METHOD ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Simply center the word Method
and continue typing on the very next double-spaced line (i.e., do not insert
any extra blank lines here). ·
The purpose of
this section is to describe in detail how you performed the study. Someone
should be able to replicate your study based on the information you provide in
this section. ·
Make it sound
professional, that is, do not make it sound like a class project. Assume you
are writing for submission to a scientific journal. ·
Avoid
unnecessary details like the data were displayed on the computer screen and
recorded on the data sheet(s). ·
For an
experiment, this section is typically divided into four subsections: subjects,
apparatus, design, and procedure. The order of design followed by procedure is
arbitrary. In other words, you could have the procedure come before the design.
Sometimes researchers combine the design and procedure sections, however, in an
experimental psychology or research methods class, a separate design section is
typically required. ·
For a survey
study (i.e., one in which the participants are simply asked a set of
questions), the design section is not necessary (and the survey itself may be
included as an appendix). ·
This section is
labeled as Subjects or Participants depending on whether animals or humans are used in
the study. If animals are used, use the term subjects. If humans are used, use
the term participants. ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Type the appropriate title for this
subsection flush with the left margin. On the next line, begin typing normal
paragraphs. ·
Indicate who
participated in the study, how many, and how were they selected. ·
Include any
details which are relevant to the study (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, strain,
weight, etc.). ·
If the subjects
were human, what type of reward or motivation was used to encourage them to
participate? Apparatus/Materials ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Type the word Apparatus flush with the left margin. On the next line, begin
typing normal paragraphs. ·
Apparatus
include equipment; Materials include questionnaires, surveys, tests. ·
Describe what
materials were used and how they functioned in the study. ·
If you use a
piece of equipment, you must give the model number, company, and state where
the company resides (as a two-letter abbreviation). ·
You must give
the dimensions (and perhaps other descriptive details) of any important items
used in the study. ·
Standard
equipment such as furniture, stopwatches, pencils and paper, can usually be
mentioned without providing a lot of details. In fact, you may often simply
mention these items in passing as part of the procedure. ·
Be careful not
to describe procedures in this section. You should make clear what purpose the
apparatus served, but do not give a lot of details on the use of the apparatus
at this point. One hint in this regard is to avoid using action verbs in this
section. ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Type the word Design flush with the left margin. On the next line, begin
typing normal paragraphs. ·
Describe the
design and clearly spell out the independent and dependent variables. Indicate
what the levels of the independent variables were, and whether the factor(s)
were repeated, matched, or independent. ·
Describe how the
subjects were assigned to groups. ·
Describe any
control procedures used. ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Type the word Procedure flush with the left margin. On the next line, begin
typing normal paragraphs. ·
Carefully
summarize each step in the execution of the study. ·
Indicate what a
typical test, trial, or session involved. ·
Describe any
phases that the study had or any instructions that the subjects received. · When referring to groups, try to use descriptive labels. For example, instead of saying Group 1 or the experimental group, you might say the drugged group. Another technique in this regard is to use abbreviations that emphasize meaning. For example, There were three groups, including, the control group which received 0 mg/kg of morphine (M0), a low dose group receiving 1 mg/kg of morphine (M1), and a high dose group receiving 4 mg/kg of morphine (M4). ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Simply center the word Results and continue typing on the very next double-spaced line
(i.e., do not insert any extra blank lines here). ·
Look carefully
at the results. That is, take a good hard look at all those numbers you
collect. Think of different ways to summarize them, as well as to make sense of
them. This section will be easier to write if you make any tables and/or
figures you intend to use first. ·
Briefly state
the main findings in words. That is, first give a general description, then go
into the details. ·
When presenting
the results of statistical tests, give descriptive statistics before the
corresponding inferential statistics. In other words, give means and/or
percentages (perhaps referring to a table or figure), before talking about the
results of any statistical tests you performed. ·
When presenting
means, it is reasonable to use one additional digit of accuracy than what is
contained in the raw data. In other words, if the raw data consisted of whole
numbers, then the means should contain one decimal place. ·
When presenting
nominal or ordinal data, give the percents rather than frequencies (since
percents are independent of the sample size). ·
The general
format for presenting an inferential statistics is: Statistics(df) =
value, probability = value. Note that if the statistics are generated
with a computer, you can give the exact p values. Also, if the computer output
says the probability is .0000, then report it as .001. ·
When actually
presenting the results, try to emphasize the meaning of the statistics. That
is, clearly describe what it is you are testing and what significance means for
the variables involved. ·
Do not discuss
the implications of the results in this section. ·
Do not talk
about the meaning of the alpha level or the null hypothesis, and what chance
factors have to do with it. Since you are writing for the scientific community,
you can assume the reader will have a working knowledge of statistics. ·
If you are
presenting a lot of material here, you may wish to employ subheadings (as is
done in the methods section). These subheadings should have meaning and relevance
to the data and should help to organize your presentation of it. In other
words, they should not be organized by the type of analysis employed. Since
this is not expected by the reader, it is a good idea to precede the
subheadings with a paragraph informing the reader of the logical organization
of this section. ·
In cases where
the reader would expect something to be significant and it is not, you should
address the issue. ·
Do not provide
raw data unless, for some reason, you require a single subject approach. ·
Be careful with
the word "prove". Since statistical tests are based on probability
and can be in error, they do not really prove anything. ·
You can only use
wording that implies causality if you actually manipulated the independent
variable (i.e., performed an experiment). For example, suppose you manipulated
whether subjects received a drug (while employing appropriate control
procedures, etc.) and found a significant difference in memory performance
(with the drug users performing more poorly than nonusers). In this case, you
would be able to conclude that the drug caused
the difference in memory ability; it impaired it. As another example, suppose
that you compared drug use (as determined from the results of a survey) with
memory ability and found a correlation (greater use went along with poorer
memory performance). Since correlation doesn't say much about causality, we
could only conclude that there is a relationship
between drug use and memory ability. 6. DISCUSSION ·
Do not purposely
start a new page for this section. Simply center the word Discussion and continue typing on the very next double-spaced
line (i.e., do not insert any extra blank lines here). ·
The purpose of
this section is to evaluate and interpret the results, especially with respect
to the original research question. ·
Start off with a
brief, non-technical summary of the results. In other words, tell the reader
about the main findings without using statistical terminology. ·
Then go on to
discuss the implications of the results. In other words, whatever was found
needs to be discussed. ·
It is also
important to discuss how the results relate to the literature you cited in the
introduction. In other words, emphasize any theoretical consequences of the
results. ·
You might (or
might not) also mention any limitations of the study and any suggestions for
future research in this section. ·
Finally, you
need an ending paragraph in which you make a final summary statement of the
conclusions you have drawn. ·
Thus, this
section should contain an absolute minimum of three paragraphs: the
non-technical summary, discussion of the results and their implications, and
the concluding paragraph. 7. REFERENCES
·
Authors: Authors
are listed in the same order as specified in the source, using surnames and
initials. Commas separate all authors. When there are seven or more authors,
list the first six and then use "et al." for remaining authors. If no
author is identified, the title of the document begins the reference. ·
Year of
Publication: In parentheses following authors, with a period following the
closing parenthesis. If no publication date is identified, use "n.d."
in parentheses following the authors. ·
Source
Reference: Includes title, journal, volume, pages (for journal article) or
title, city of publication, publisher (for book). Here are approved
abbreviations for use in a reference list: ·
chap. for
chapter ·
ed. for edition ·
rev. ed. for
revised edition ·
2nd ed. for
second edition ·
Ed. for Edited
by ·
(Eds.) for
multiple editors ·
Trans. for
Translated by ·
p. for page
number, with a space after the period ·
pp. for page
numbers in encyclopedia entries, multi-page newspaper articles, chapters or
articles in edited books, but not in journal or magazine article citations,
where numbers alone should be used (see examples of reference formats). ·
Vol. for Volume ·
vols. for
volumes ·
No. for Number ·
Pt. for Part ·
Suppl. for
Supplement, ·
Tech. Rep. for
Technical Report A.
Examples of sources [Note:
Italicize titles of books, titles of periodicals, and periodical volume
numbers.] 1.
Book Paloutzian, R. F. (1996). Invitation to
the psychology of religion.
(2nd ed.). Dennison, B. & Kirk,
R. (Eds.). (1990).
Do, review, learn, apply: A simple guide to
experiential learning. (Rev. ed.). 2.
Article or
chapter in an edited book Shea, J. D. (1992). Religion and sexual
adjustment. In J. F. Schumaker
(Ed.), Religion and Mental Health (pp. 70-84). (3rd
ed.). 3.
Journal article Murzynski, J., & Degelman, D. (1996).
Body language of women and
judgments of vulnerability to sexual assault. Journal of
Applied Social Psychology, 26(2), 1617-1626.
4.
Magazine article Cohen, A.
(2001, January 8). Economic
slowdown: This time it’s different. Time
magazine, 26-30. 5.
Unpublished
theses and dissertations Pambudi,
E. S. (1991). Stress
and job satisfaction in a sales
organization. Unpublished masteral thesis, Ateneo de Wagiu, S. B.
(1989). Determinants of job stress among middle-level
managers of commercial banks in Metro Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Tomas. 6.
Web document on
university program or department Web site Degelman, D., & Harris, M. L. (2000). APA
style essentials. Retrieved
Department
of Psychology Web site: http://www.vanguard.edu/
faculty/ddegelman/index.cfm?doc_id=796 7.
Stand-alone Web
document (no date) Nielsen, M. E. (n.d.). Notable people in
psychology of religion. Retrieved http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/psyrelpr.htm
8.
Stand-alone Web
document (no author, no date) Gender and society. (n.d.). Retrieved http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/gender.html 9.
Journal article
from database Hien, D., & Honeyman, T. (2000). A closer
look at the drug abuse-maternal
aggression link. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
15, 503-522. Retrieved 10. Abstract from secondary database Garrity, K., & Degelman, D. (1990).
Effect of server introduction
on restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 20, 168-172.
Abstract retrieved July 23, 2001, from PsycINFO database. 11. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic
and statistical
manual of mental disorders
(4th ed., text revision). B.
Electronic formats ·
Avoid dividing
an electronic address at the end of a line. If absolutely necessary, divide it
at a slash (/) or before a period. (Although it might seem more logical to
divide it after a period, APA style
specifically states before a period.) ·
For the titles
of books, use italics and "sentence-style" capitalization. This means
that for a title only the first word, all proper nouns, and the first word
after an internal colon are to be capitalized. (Example: How to make money in French and German stocks: Your personal guide) ·
For titles of
magazines and journals, use italics and "headline" style
capitalization. This means that the first letter of each important word should
be capitalized. (Example: U.S. News &
World Report) ·
For the titles
of magazine and journal articles, do not use underlining, italics, or quotation
marks. Use "sentence-style" capitalization. (Example for an article
in a magazine: Jobs in jeopardy. Management
Review) ·
APA suggests
that writers citing Web items refer to specific Web site documents rather than
to home or menu pages. APA also advises writers to strive to provide addresses
(URLs) that are typed correctly and that work. Continually check your
references to Web documents; if the addresses of any of those documents change,
update your references before you submit your paper. ·
If an Internet
document is undated, insert "(n.d.)" immediately after the document
title. ·
E-mail messages
may be cited in the text, but APA warns against listing them in the
"References" section because such messages are unrecoverable.
More companies today are using data mining to unlock
hidden value in their data. The data mining program “Clementine,” described at
the SPSS Web site, helps organizations predict market share and detect possible
fraud (SPSS, n.d.). Readers
of the preceding example will know to look for the complete citation under
"SPSS" in the "References" section. Web Sources for specific electronic formats for
specific kinds of electronic sources: http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.cfm?doc_id=796 http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/apa4b.htm http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_apa.html http://www.westwords.com/guffey/apa.html 8. AUTHOR NOTES
9. FOOTNOTES
10. TABLES ·
Write the table
number in regular font, no punctuation after it. On the next double space line, write the table
title, italicized. Both are flushed on
the left margin. For example: Table
1 Posttest mean scores of the
research groups ·
No vertical
lines ·
When using
columns with decimal numbers, make the decimal points line up 11. FIGURE CAPTIONS ·
Start on new
page. Center the phrase Figure Captions at the top ·
Figure number
and title (enumerated) ·
Figure number,
italicized and on the next double space line, figure title in regular font. For example: Figure 1 Graphical
representation of results ·
Each figure
caption is typed flush left in block format 12. FIGURES ·
Graphs, charts,
drawings, and pictures ·
One figure per
page ·
Figures (other
than pictures) may be drawn in black and white only (using a ruler and
preferably on graph paper) or they may be generated with a computer graphics
program (keeping it in two dimensions). ·
Center each
figure on the page vertically as well as horizontally and arrange for the
figure to use the bulk of the page. ·
If the figure is
a chart or graph, verbally label the axes (do not use “X” and “Y”) and provide
a key if necessary (e.g., explaining what open vs. filled circles are). ·
On the back of
each figure (with a pencil), put the manuscript page header, the figure number,
and the word TOP to indicate how the figure should appear on the page. ·
Do not put the
figure caption on the figure, that is what the figure captions page is for. APA STYLE ESSENTIALS (5TH Edition) General
Document Guidelines A.
Margins:
One inch on all sides (top, bottom, left, right) B. Font Size
and Type: 12-pt. font (Times New
Roman, Bookman Old Style or Courier are acceptable typefaces) C. Spacing: Double-space throughout the paper, including the
title page, abstract, body of the document, and references. D. Alignment: Flush left (creating uneven right margin) E. Paragraph
Indentation: 5-7 spaces F.
Pagination:
The page number appears one inch from the right edge of the paper on the first
line of every page, beginning with the title page. The only pages that are not
numbered are pages of artwork. G. Headings and
Subheadings: Main headings (when the paper has either one or two
levels of headings) use centered uppercase and lowercase letters (e.g., Method,
Results, Discussion, and References). Subheadings
(when the paper has two levels of headings) are italicized and use flush left,
uppercase and lowercase letters (e.g., Participants, Apparatus,
and Procedure as subsections of the Method section). Avoid hanging headings. Text citations: Source
material must be documented in the body of the paper by citing the author(s)
and date(s) of the sources. The underlying principle here is that ideas and
words of others must be formally acknowledged. The reader can obtain the full
source citation from the list of references that follows the body of the paper. A.
When the names
of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the sentence,
the year of publication appears in parentheses following the identification of
the authors. Consider the following example: Wirth and Mitchell (1994)
found that although there was a reduction in insulin dosage over a period of
two weeks in the treatment condition compared to the control condition, the
difference was not statistically significant. [Note: and is used when multiple authors are identified as
part of the formal structure of the sentence. Compare this to the example in
the following section.] B. When the authors of a source are not part of
the formal structure of the sentence, both the authors and years of publication
appear in parentheses, separated by semicolons. Consider the following example:
Reviews of research on
religion and health have concluded that at least some types of religious
behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health (Gartner,
Larson, & Allen, 1991; Koenig, 1990; Levin & Vanderpool, 1991; Maton
& Pargament, 1987; Paloma & Pendleton, 1991; Payne, Bergin, Bielema,
& Jenkins, 1991). [Note: & is used when multiple authors are identified
in parenthetical material. Note also that when several sources are cited
parenthetically, they are ordered alphabetically by first authors' surnames.] C. When the authors and year of publication are both
part of the formal structure of the sentence, there is no need to insert
parenthetical citations. Consider the following example: In 2002, Reyes concluded that formal training
is an effective strategy to control the stress levels of industrial employees. D. When a source that has two authors is cited, both
authors are included every time the source is cited. E. When a source that has three, four, or five authors
is cited, all authors are included the first time the source is cited. When
that source is cited again, the first author's surname and "et al."
are used. Consider the following example: Reviews of research on
religion and health have concluded that at least some types of religious
behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health (Payne,
Bergin, Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991). F.
When a source
that has six or more authors is cited, the first author's surname and "et
al." are used every time the source is cited (including the first time). G. Every effort should be made to cite only sources that
you have actually read. When it is necessary to cite a source that you have not
read ("Grayson" in the following example) that is cited in a source
that you have read ("Murzynski & Degelman" in the following
example), use the following format for the text citation and list only the
source you have read in the References list: Grayson (as cited in
Murzynski & Degelman, 1996) identified four components of body language
that were related to judgments of vulnerability. H. To cite a personal communication (including letters,
emails, and telephone interviews), include initials, surname, and as exact a
date as possible. Because a personal communication is not
"recoverable" information, it is not included in the References
section. For the text citation, use the following format: B. F. Skinner (personal
communication, Quotations: When a direct
quotation is used, always include the author, year, and page number as part of
the citation. ·
Add emphasis in
a quotation with italicizing, immediately followed by the words [italics added]
in brackets. ·
Brackets are not
necessary when changing the first letter of a quotation to upper case. ·
Use brackets if
introducing or altering material. ·
Reproduce a
quote exactly. If there are errors, introduce the word sic italicized and bracketed, for example, [sic] immediately after the error. ·
Use three dots
(ellipsis points) when omitting material, four if the omitted material includes
the end of a sentence. Do not use dots at the beginning or end of a quotation
unless it is important to indicate the quotation begins or ends in midsentence.
A.
A quotation of
fewer than 40 words should be enclosed in double quotation marks and should be
incorporated into the formal structure of the sentence. Consider the following
example: Patients receiving prayer
had "less congestive heart failure, required less diuretic and antibiotic
therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had fewer cardiac arrests, and were
less frequently intubated and ventilated" (Byrd, 1988, p. 829). B. A lengthier quotation of 40 or more words should
appear (without quotation marks) apart from the surrounding text, in block
format, with each line indented five spaces from the left margin. C. A quotation with more than 500 words requires a
written permission from the author Abbreviations ·
Avoid
abbreviations except for long, familiar terms (MMPI). ·
Explain what an
abbreviation means, the first time it occurs.
For example, University
of Santo Tomas (UST). ·
If an
abbreviation is commonly used as a word, it does not require explanation (IQ,
LSD, REM, ESP). ·
Do not use the
old abbreviations for subject, experimenter, and observer (S, E, O). ·
The following
abbreviations should NOT be used outside parenthetical comments: ·
cf. [use compare] ·
e.g. [use for example] ·
etc. [use and so forth] ·
i.e. [use that is] ·
viz. [use namely] ·
vs. [use versus] ·
Use periods when
making an abbreviation within a reference (Vol. 3, p. 6, 2nd ed.) ·
Do not use
periods within degree titles and organization titles (PhD, APA). ·
Do not use
periods within measurements (lb, ft, s) except inches (in.). ·
Use s for
second, m for meter. ·
To form plurals
of abbreviations, add s alone, without apostrophe (PhDs, IQs, vols., Eds). ·
In using
standard abbreviations for measurements, like m for meter, do not add an s to
make it plural (100 seconds is 100 s), and when referring to more than one page
in a book excerpt, use the abbreviation pp. (with a period after it and a space
after the period). ·
Do not use the
abbreviation "pp" for magazine or journal citations; just give the
numbers themselves. Do use "pp" for citations of encyclopedia
entries, multi-page newspaper articles, chapters or articles in edited books. ·
Use two-letter
postal codes for
Avoiding Biased and Pejorative Language In general, avoid anything
that causes offense. The style manual makes the following suggestions: DO NOT use... when you can use... ethnic
labels (for example, Hispanic) geographical labels (Mexican Americans) "men"
(referring to all adults) "men and women" "homosexuals" "gay
men and lesbians" "depressives" "people with depression" A.
Correct use of the terms "gender" and "sex"
·
Capitalize
formal names of tests (Stroop Color-Word Interference Test). ·
Capitalize major
words and all other words of four letters or more, in headings, titles, and
subtitles outside reference lists, for example, "A Study of No-Win
Strategies." ·
Capitalize names
of conditions, groups, effects, and variables only when definite. (Group A was
the control group; an Age x Weight interaction showed lower weight with age.) ·
Capitalize the
first word after a comma or colon if, and only if, it begins a complete
sentence. For example, "This is a complete sentence, so it is
capitalized." As a counter example, "no capitalization here." ·
Capitalize
specific course and department titles (GSU Department of Psychology, Psych 150).
·
Do not
capitalize generic names of tests (Stroop color test). "Stroop" is a
name, so it remains capitalized. ·
Capitalize nouns
before numbers, but not before variables (Trial 2, trial x). ·
Do not
capitalize names of laws, theories, and hypotheses (the law of effect). ·
Do not
capitalize when referring to generalities (any department, any introductory
course). Commas ·
Do not use
commas to separate parts of measurement (9 lbs 5 oz). Use the metric system, as
a rule. ·
Use commas
before "and" in lists, for example, height, width, and depth. ·
Use commas
between groups of three digits, for example, 1,453. ·
Use commas to
set off a reference in a parenthetical comment (Patrick, 1993). ·
Use commas for
seriation within a paragraph or sentence. For example, "three choices are
(a) true, (b) false, and (c) don't know." Use semicolons for seriation if
there are commas within the items. For example, (a) here, in the middle of the
item, there are commas; (b) here there are not; (c) so we use semicolons
throughout. ·
Use commas in
exact dates, for example, April 18, 1992 (but not in April 1992). Hyphenation ·
Do not hyphenate
-ly and superlative words (widely used test, best informed students). ·
Do not hyphenate
common prefixes (posttest, prewar, multiphase, nonsignificant) unless needed
for clarity (pre-existing). ·
Do not hyphenate
foreign, letter, numeral terms (a priori hypothesis, Type A behavior) when the
meaning is clear without it (least squares solution, heart rate scores). ·
Do not hyphenate
if a noun comes first (a therapy was client centered, results of t tests). ·
Hyphenate
adjectival phrases (role-playing technique, high-anxiety group, two-way
analysis). ·
Hyphenate
compound adjectives preceding nouns (client-centered therapy, t-test scores)
unless the compound adjective involves a superlative (best written paper). ·
Hyphenate if the
base is an abbreviation or compounded (pre-UCS, non-college bound). ·
Hyphenate if the
base word is capitalized or a number (pre-Freudian, post-1960). ·
Hyphenate if the
words could be misunderstood without a hyphen (re- pair, un-ionized,
co-worker). ·
If in doubt,
consult a recently published dictionary. Standards change. For example,
"data base" is now "database," and "life-style"
is now "lifestyle." Italics (Underlining) ·
Do not underline
common foreign abbreviations (vice versa, et al., a priori). ·
Do not underline
for mere emphasis. ·
Do not underline
for titles of books and articles, species names, introduction of new terms and
labels (the first time only), words and phrases used as linguistic examples,
letters used as statistical symbols, and volume numbers in reference lists. Miscellaneous: Colons, dashes, parentheses, numbering paragraphs ·
Do not use
"and/or." Write things out. For example, "Monday, Tuesday, or
both" is preferable to "Monday and/or Tuesday." ·
Do not use a
colon or other punctuation after an introduction which is not a complete
sentence such as this one, or any other sentence in the body of text which
flows into an extended quote. The quote "picks up where the sentence
leaves off" and provides the punctuation. ·
Use a dash
(rendered on typewriters and some word processors as a double hyphen) when
there is a sudden interruption like this one--zoiks!--in the flow of a
sentence. Overuse "weakens the flow of the writing." ·
Use parentheses
to introduce an abbreviation, for example, the galvanic skin response (GSR). ·
Use
"appendixes" (appendices) as the plural of "appendix." Use datum as
singular, data as plural. Use matrix as
singular, matrices as plural. Use schema as singular, schemas (not schemata) as
plural. ·
When listing
separate paragraphs in a series, use a number and a period, not parentheses. 1.
The first
paragraph goes here. 2.
The second
paragraph goes here. Numbers ·
Spell out common
fractions and common expressions (one-half, Fourth of July). ·
Spell out large
numbers beginning sentences (Thirty days hath September...). ·
Use numerals for
numbers 10 and above, or lower numbers grouped with numbers 10 and above (for
example, from 6 to 12 hours of sleep). ·
Spell out numbers
which are inexact, or below 10 and not grouped with numbers over 10 (one-tailed
t test, eight items, nine pages, three-way interaction, five trials). ·
To make plurals
out of numbers, add s only, with no apostrophe (the 1950s). ·
Treat ordinal
numbers like cardinal numbers (the first item of the 75th trial...). ·
Use combinations
of written and Arabic numerals for back-to-back modifiers (five 4-point
scales). ·
Use combinations
of numerals and written numbers for large sums (over 3 million people). ·
Use numerals for
exact statistical references, scores, sample sizes, and sums (multiplied by 3,
or 5% of the sample). Here is another example: "We used 30 subjects, all
two year olds, and they spent an average of 1 hr 20 min per day crying. ·
Use metric
abbreviations with figures (4 km) but not when written out (many meters
distant). ·
Use the percent
symbol (%) only with figures (5%) not with written numbers (five percent). Quotation Marks ·
Use quotation
marks for an odd or ironic usage the first time but not thereafter, for
example, "This is the "good-outcome" variable, but as it turns
out, the good-outcome variable predicts trouble later on... ·
Use quotation
marks for article and chapter titles cited in the text but not in the reference
list. [In Smith's (1992) article, "APA Style and Personal computers,"
computers were described as "here to stay" (p. 311).] Do NOT use quotes to... ·
...cite a
linguistic example; instead, italicize the term (the verb gather). ·
...hedge, cast
doubt, or apologize (he was "cured"). Leave off the quotes. ·
...identify
endpoints on a scale; italicize instead (poor
to excellent). ·
...introduce a
key term (the neoquasipsychoanalytic theory).
Prepared by: Glody T. Reyes July 2004 (Rev. ed.) |
