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Writing Center Newsletter Special Edition Using APA
Rust College
this issue
APA Basics and Deviations at Rust Colleges
APA Basics P.1 Purdue OWL and APA Online P.1 Headings & The Writing Center P.2 Running Headers P.3 Front Matter, Body, and Back Matter P.4
Coming in Special Edition 2: Citations & You.
Purdue OWL The best online resource for Rust College students concerning proper research and professional paper documentation and manuscript formatting is the Purdue Online Writing Center known as the OWL. Information on the OWL corresponds to APA 6th edition and MLA 7 edition. Follow this link: owl.english.purdue.edu
APA Online The APA manual6th edition is now available in electronic form for your Kindle reading device. You can purchase the Kindle version from Amazon.com and on the official APA website at: www.apa.org The following book is also useful for students and professionals:
APA Headings The following chart—taken from the APA Manual 6th edition and the Purdue OWL—clearly shows how headings are to be formatted in APA. APA Headings Level
Format
1
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period.
4
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.
5
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text
Writing Center Reminder The writing center has updated copies of the five major style manuals available for review in the writing (books cannot be removed from the writing center). The style manuals available are: MLA 7th edition
Note: Any deviation from this information must appear on the course syllabus and the instruction sheet for the assignment. The level 4 heading, as shown in the chart above, is an update to the chart that appears in the APA Manual. A PDF file showing all updates and corrects is posted online for your use.
APA 6th edition
Headings used to be italicized, and in previous decades underlined; however, these formatting styles are no long used. (See Level 4 & 5 headings for more information).
Turabian 7th edition (see note below)
APA Style uses a unique headings system to separate and classify paper sections. There are 5heading levels in APA. The 6th edition of the APA manual revises and simplifies previous heading guidelines. Regardless of the number of levels, always use the headings in order, beginning with level 1. The format of each level is illustrated above.
When students come to the writing center, it is vital they bring their course syllabus and all documents concerning the documentation style their current professor wants them to use.
Thus, if the article has four sections, some of which have subsections and some of which don’t, use headings depending on the level of subordination. Section headings receive level one format. Subsections receive level two format. Subsections of subsections receive level three format. For example: Method (Level 1) Site of Study (Level 2) Participant Population (Level 2) Teachers. (Level 3) Students. (Level 3) Results (Level 1) Spatial Ability (Level 2) Test one. (Level 3) Teachers with experience. (Level 4) Teachers in training. (Level 4) Test two. (Level 3) Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)
CSE 7th edition Chicago 16th edition
Documents must clearly state: The style manual to be used and notations of specific deviations from the style manual. Ie., if the Running Header is not to be used, then those instructions must be clearly stated.
In APA Style, the Introduction section never gets a heading and headings are not indicated by letters or numbers. Levels of headings will depend upon the length and organization of your paper. Regardless, always begin with level one headings and proceed to level two, etc. Reference: APA Manual 6th edition and Purdue OWL 2016 .
Note: Style manuals change every 24 years, so it is important to know which edition you are using.
Pagination in APA In APA Front Matter is paginated using lower-case Roman numerals. Note that this type of pagination differs from the regular research paper pagination, and usually appears in Theses and Dissertations.
Running Headers & Pagination
Regular pagination appears in numerals often beginning on the page number left off in the Front Matter. Ie., Front Matter stops at page vii; body picks up at page 8. Refer to your style manual for more information.
General Formatting As a rule APA suggests the following concerning manuscript format: 1” margins, Times New Roman 12 pt throughout the document. Page numbers inside the Header flush right. Running Header, flush left. Footnotes/Endnotes inside the Footer.
Running Headers in APA The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page. Please note that on the title page, your page header/running head should look like this: Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER After consulting with publication specialists at the APA, OWL staff learned that the APA 6th edition, first printing sample papers have incorrect examples of Running heads on pages after the title page. Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced. Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).
Ask your course instructor to provide you with any deviations from APA guidelines.
Tip: When using the Running Header, you must use two different headers. In Microsoft Word choose “Different page one” from the shortcut bar. In Header #1, you will place the header as shown on the sample page to the above left. When you go to page two, you will input the header as shown on the sample page to the above right (the page where the Abstract appears). First insert the page number, then type in the appropriate style of heading. For more information see page () of the APA or visit the Purdue OWL site. Page numbers appear in the Header flush right. (Some documents require the page number to appear in the footer. Ask your course instructor for more details).
OWL APA Youtube Many videos are available on youtube
Additional Information Please download the two PDF files appearing on the Rust College webpage for valuable information on how to make corrections to your 6th edition APA Manual.
Report and Thesis/Dissertation Layout Preliminaries: Title or cover page Letter of transmittal Acknowledgments Table of contents Lists of figures and tables Abstract Body Introduction Summary or Background Methods/Procedures Results Discussion of results Conclusions Recommendations References Attachments or Appendices Contributors:Elizabeth Cember, Alisha Heavilon, Mike Seip, Lei Shi, and Allen Brizee .
Note: Some reports, theses, and dissertations require less, or are organized differently. Ie., The Literature Review section, which normally appears in some Master theses and most Dissertations. However, some undergraduate theses are required to contain a Literature Review. The Letter of Transmittal is often replaced with a signature page to prove completion of a thesis or dissertation. Clear and specific instructions concerning the layout of all papers, reports, and theses must appear on the course syllabus and assignments documents.
Attachments or appendices An appendix is like a storage warehouse, the place to put material that needs to be included in the report, but is not essential. Putting material (such as raw data, processed data, analytical procedures, details of equipment, etc.) at the end keeps the report from being buried in a mass of detail, but keeps all that detail available if needed by any of your various readers. Each appendix is numbered or lettered consecutively and given a title.
Writing Center Newsletter Look for more special editions of the writing center newsletter for more information concerning the use of APA at Rust College. If you have an article from your department or division you would like to include in upcoming editions of this newsletter, send an electronic file to: mridge@rustcollege.edu