Writing in APA Style
Mirisse Foroughe, M.A.
Ph.D. Candidate
Graduate Program in Psychology
Overview
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What is APA and why do we need it?
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Form and Content
– Form is the structure, universal and objective
– Content is meat of your paper: Language
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Resources
What is APA?
Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 5th edition
 Rules for preparation of manuscripts
 Drawn from psychological literature
 Examples: Journal articles and theses
 Every aspect of writing is discussed

Why do we need APA?
Clear communication
 Universal rules
 Uniformity (consistent form) means
readers can focus on content
 Familiar format used internationally
 Profs. and T/A’s use it as a standard for
marking papers
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Three Important Areas

Style/format
– Sentences, paragraphs, tables, etc.

Unbiased language
– Not so rhetorical
– Reduces logical fallacies (e.g. appeals to
emotion)

Referencing
– Citing sources within your paper
– Bibliography
Style and Format

Easiest part of writing in APA style:
– Read the manual!
– “monkey see, monkey do”

Proofreading:
– Once for each main area (serial)
– Simultaneously with different colour pens
(parallel)

Cannot hide poor content
– There is nowhere to hide!
How to Improve Content
 Literature reviews
– Critically examine and integrate the research:
• Did they ask a good question?
• How did they measure their variables?
• How they did define their variables?
• Who were the research participants?
• What else could they have considered?
• How did they interpret their findings?
• Did the results support their hypotheses?
• What could be improved about this study
or done in a future study? BE SPECIFIC!
The Abstract

Brief, comprehensive summary of the content
 When should you write it?
 DOSK
– Dense, Well organized, Self-Contained, Keywords

Nothing that is not in the paper
 Nothing that you need to read the paper to
understand
 Max: 120 words
– Use digits for numbers (unless…)
– Abbreviate (vs. for versus)
– Use the active voice (except…)
Language: What to do

Organization
– Aim for continuity in words, concepts, and
themes.
– Use punctuation to show relationships
between ideas.

Linking words and phrases
– Pronouns that refer to previous sentences
– Time links: then, next, after, while, since
– Cause/effect links: therefore, consequently,
as a result.
– Contrast links: but, conversely,
nevertheless, however, although, whereas
What NOT to do:

Creative writing
– Setting up ambiguity (“The Riddler”)
– Leaving out the expected (as if it’s too obvious)
– Suddenly shifting topic, tense, or person (“The
Time Traveler” “Presto Chango”)
– Building suspense until the “punch line” (big
one)

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Avoid boilerplates (fillers)
Do not use “since” when you mean
“because” (since refers to time)
Do not use two links (“and thus”)
Noun strings (examples?)
Avoid Noun Strings
“commonly used investigative expanded issue
control question technique”
Write it for a different audience (high
school students, non-native speakers)
 Untangle the string
 Use dashes
 Move the last word to the beginning and
fill in with verbs and prepositions:

“Early childhood thought disorder misdiagnosis”
4 Reasons to Forget Jargon
Big words: small ideas
 Annoys the reader
 Clouds communication
 Wastes space

– Using technical vocab when it’s not needed
– Substitution of a euphemistic phrase for a
familiar term
• “monetarily felt scarcity”
Be Economical with Words

“based on the fact that”

“at the present time”

“for the purpose of”
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“there were several students who
completed”
No need to repeat yourself
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“because of this reason”
“the reason is because”
“the reason why” (my pet peeve!)
“they were both alike”
“a total of 68 participants”
“four different groups saw instructions which
were exactly the same as those used”
“Absolutely essential”
“period of time”
“one and the same”
Resources

The manual! (BF 76.7 P83 2001)
 Sample papers
– Journals
– BSB undergraduate theses room
– BSB graduate theses and dissertations

APA Style Helper (software)
 The Centre for Academic Writing
– Individual instruction, etutoring, credit courses,
– Workshops, in-class visits, great website
http://www.arts.yorku.ca/caw/