Archiving the Sixth Edition APA Style Blog

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes, oh, look out you rock 'n rollers

—David Bowie, “Changes,” Hunky Dory

We launched the sixth edition APA Style blog in 2009 on the very day that the sixth edition of the Publication Manual was published. During the past 10 years, we’ve enjoyed talking about writing, research, grammar, and style. And, we’ve learned so much from you! Your questions informed us about how APA Style is taught and applied, you shared which of our examples and guidelines needed clarification, and we observed how language changed. We discussed all aspects of sixth edition APA Style, and we answered thousands of questions. These discussions informed our thinking as we worked on the seventh edition. Thank you for helping us make this blog a success!

With the new edition of the Publication Manual, we’re beginning a new blog. On October 1st, you’ll find the new blog at https://apastyle.apa.org/blog.

But not to worry! We know that editors, instructors, and students need time to learn the new style and begin applying it. With that in mind, we’ll be keeping an archive of the sixth edition APA Style blog. (We’ll share the link for that on the new site.) To keep things streamlined, we’ll be closing comments on the sixth edition posts as of today. We will continue to answer questions and discuss style points on the seventh edition blog. And, we’ll be happy to answer questions about sixth edition style via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and email ([email protected]).

You’ll find many other changes on our website soon, too! We’ll archive the FAQs and other sixth edition resources. On the APA Style website, you’ll find new pages that highlight seventh edition APA Style. On these pages, we’ll show what’s new, what’s revised or updated, and what’s unchanged in seventh edition style. Please visit the APA Style website on October 1st to see the changes!

Introducing the 7th Edition of the Publication Manual

The Seventh Edition of the Publication Manual Is Available for Preorder!

We are thrilled to announce that the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is available for preorder!

Many, many updates are included. But first, let us say thank you. Over the last 10 years, you’ve asked us more than 30,000 questions, here on the blog and via email, phone calls, and social media. And, you’ve made many great suggestions along the way. The APA Style team considered and incorporated all of your feedback into every decision we made about the seventh edition!

You can place your preorder now, and the Publication Manual (7th ed.) will be published and ready for delivery beginning in October 2019. You can choose from hardcover, paperback, and new tabbed spiral-bound formats! Ebook versions will also be available in October 2019 and are not part of the preorder.

Highlights include the following:

• full color throughout for the first time
• debut of a tabbed spiral-bound edition, in addition to the paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats
• an updated chapter on guidelines for writing without bias that addresses age, disability, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality, including the use of the singular "they"
• an all-new chapter about APA journal article reporting standards (JARS), which now include new guidelines for qualitative and mixed methods research as well as updated guidelines for quantitative research
• new student-specific resources, including a sample paper, guidelines for formatting an annotated bibliography, and recommendations for adapting a dissertation or thesis into a journal article
• best practices for ethical writing, including discussions on avoiding plagiarism and updated guidance on navigating the publication process and disseminating research findings
• 100+ new reference examples, with new templates that offer a uniform approach to referencing print and electronic sources
• corresponding in-text citations with all reference examples
• reference examples covering websites, social media, classroom resources, and much more
• simplified guidelines for writing in-text citations
• more than 40 new sample tables and figures

In the days and weeks to come, we will post much more about the new edition. But for now, let us just say this, we heard you: How many spaces should appear after a period at the end of a sentence? One!

Mastering APA Style

Do you teach students about APA Style guidelines? APA has two instructional aids that can help you get started.

Mastering APA Style: Instructor’s Resource Guide (6th ed.) "contains eight multiple-choice assessment surveys, correction keys, and answer sheets, along with informative instructions on how to incorporate this material into a curriculum." This guide is "designed to help improve students' understanding and use of APA Style before they begin writing term papers and research reports, allowing instructors in academic settings to concentrate more on course material and less on correcting style errors in students' papers."

 

 

Mastering APA Style: Student's Workbook and Training Guide (6th ed.) "is a self-pacing, self-teaching workbook that can be used to learn APA Style quickly and effectively." This training guide includes "instructional exercises and practice tests on various aspects and features of the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, including electronic references and citations, grammar, headings, italics and capitalization, numbers style, and table formatting."

 

 

You can order these and other APA Style products for your library or classroom.

If you are college faculty seeking an examination or desk copy, information can be found on our website.

The Updated APA Style JARS: Advancing Psychological Research

by David Kofalt

A (Very) Brief History of Journal Article Reporting Standards and APA Style

In one form or another, reporting standards have been a part of the APA Publication Manual. Although reporting standards have continued to develop with each edition of the Publication Manual, APA’s contribution to reporting standards were systematized and clarified in the December 2008 American Psychologist article "Reporting Standards for Research in Psychology: Why Do We Need Them? What Might They Be?" that was adapted as an appendix in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual.

Journal Article Reporting Standards Today: APA Style JARS

"Journal Article Reporting Standards for Quantitative Research in Psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board Task Force Report" Full-Text HTML | PDF
"Journal Article Reporting Standards for Qualitative Primary, Qualitative Meta-Analytic, and Mixed Methods Research in Psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board Task Force Report" Full-Text HTML | PDF

 

In January 2018, APA published an update to the reporting standards in two open-access articles in American Psychologist. Collectively referred to as APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards, or APA Style JARS, the articles provide standards for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research in psychology.

Whereas APA’s previous reporting standards focused solely on quantitative research, in response to the growth of qualitative research, the January 2018 update introduced standards for reporting qualitative and mixed methods research in psychology.

The update also involved a broad revision of the quantitative standards, which now include standards for clinical trials, replication studies, longitudinal studies, N-of-1 studies, and studies that use Bayesian statistics or structural equation modeling. In addition, the quantitative standards now separate hypotheses, analyses, and conclusions into primary, secondary, and exploratory groups.

APA Style JARS Tools

Last week APA launched a brand-new companion website for APA Style JARS that provides tools for students, authors, reviewers, and editors. Through this site, users can download the two open-access APA Style JARS articles as well as an editorial introducing the updated standards written by Anne E. Kazak, editor-in-chief of American Psychologist. Users can also find an APA Style JARS informational video, information on the history of reporting standards at the APA, frequently asked questions, and user-friendly printable checklists corresponding to each of the 15 APA Style JARS tables, adapted from the American Psychologist articles.

The APA Style JARS articles and companion site serve as tools to help students, researchers, and educators throughout the research process, enabling authors to more thoroughly and accurately communicate their research, and in turn, providing readers with information that is more accessible and easily understood.

 

The Publication Manual Is Available as an E-book

Note: This blog post is about sixth edition APA Style. For links to the ebook versions (including Amazon Kindle) of the seventh edition Publication Manual and Concise Guide to APA Style see this post about ebooks on the seventh edition blog.

We are thrilled to announce that the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association^® (6th edition) is available in electronic format from two outlets:

• RedShelf and
• VitalSource.

Introducing APA Style CENTRAL

We are proud to announce the launch of APA Style CENTRAL, a learning, writing, research, and publishing solution developed for academic institutions by the American Psychological Association!

Free trials are available today for institutions. Students and faculty: If you are interested, please contact your institutional library. For more, see this short video!



To learn more, see http://apastyle.org/asc!

Coming Soon: APA Style CENTRAL

Last weekend, we did something fun: At the American Library Association’s midwinter conference, in Boston, we gave librarians a sneak peek at APA Style CENTRAL!

To get a glimpse for yourself, check out the video below!

To receive additional updates about APA Style CENTRAL as they become available, just complete the form at http://apastyle.org/asc.

Kudos to the APA Style Award Winners!

A few weeks ago, Emelie Milnikel and Hunter Zuk achieved landmark status. They were the first recipients of Superior Awards for APA Style, established by Grand Valley State University’s Advertising and Public Relations program to recognize outstanding student work. The Superior Award for APA Style honors exemplary skill in the knowledge and execution of APA Style in student writing.

Emelie’s paper was titled "Effects of a Company’s Professional Sports Sponsorship on Brand Image," and Hunter’s was titled "The Impact of Televised Alcohol Advertisements on Youth's Drinking Behaviors." We found both papers to be engaging and insightful. Congratulations, Emelie and Hunter, on your outstanding work! We are thrilled to learn about this award and to have the opportunity to welcome two new APA Style mavens to the fold.

If your school has a similar APA Style award, we would love to hear from you!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

   

The word of the day is love. We love helping people write with clarity and concision. We love debating fine points of grammar and usage. And, we love that, more than 5 years later, you continue to ask us new and interesting questions about APA Style points, keeping us current and keeping us on our toes!

Without APA Style, we wouldn’t be here, sharing this forum with you. With that in mind, and in honor of the day, we’ve each written a heartfelt haiku: odes to our favorite aspects of APA Style.

	For Students Who Ask Why      Why APA Style?      Precision and clarity      —for those that follow
Anne Breitenbach

	Author–Date Format      Ideas to text      “From whom and when?” I wonder      Author–date replies
David Becker

	The Header      Oh, running header      Where would I be without you?      Lost amongst pages
Katie Ten Hagen

	Redundancy      They were both alike      Loved as one and the same, but      Cut for concision.
Mary Lynn Skutley

	Reference citations      Author, date, title, and source      Pathways to knowledge
Chelsea Lee

	(a), (b), and (c)      letters in series      help with parallel structure      and readers thank you
Timothy McAdoo

Valentine's Day card image source: Peter-J-Pann, "valentine hat pcard"