Summary
Highlights
This section introduces APA (American Psychological Association) style, specifically the 7th edition, and its application in academic writing, particularly for essays and research papers. It covers the basics of APA, how to create in-text citations, and how to create a references list. The video also emphasizes the importance of avoiding plagiarism, defining it as presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own, and explains that proper citation is crucial to acknowledge sources.
This part delves into the core aspects of APA style, stating its use in social sciences, pedagogy, and linguistics. It outlines what APA regulates: stylistics (how the manuscript looks), in-text citations, and the references list (not bibliography or works cited). It then discusses APA language characteristics, which should be clear (specific), concise (condensing information, using paraphrasing for long quotations), and plain (minimizing figurative language).
This segment highlights key changes from the APA 6th to 7th edition. Notable changes include using 'they' as a singular pronoun or for gender-neutral contexts, replacing italics with double quotation marks for linguistic examples, and updated guidelines for inclusive language. For instance, using 'person with a disability' instead of 'a disabled person,' and 'people who are blind' instead of 'the blind.' It also advises using specific labels (e.g., 'Chinese Americans' instead of 'Asian-Americans') and exact age ranges.
This section covers the fundamental formatting rules for APA papers. This includes double-spacing, standard letter-size paper, 1-inch margins, a 0.5-inch indentation for the first line of each paragraph, and using 12-point Times New Roman or a similar font. It also specifies including a page number in the upper right-hand side of every page and notes that running heads are no longer required for student papers. The video then details the five levels of headings, explaining their differences in centering, boldness, italics, and indentation for improved readability.
This part focuses on the student paper's title page, also known as the cover page. It outlines the required elements: full paper title, author's first and last names, university and department affiliation, course code and name, professor's name, and the due date (month, day, year). It also reiterates the placement of the page number (page 1) in the upper right corner and clarifies that a running head is not needed for student papers.
This section explains in-text citations, their purpose in linking to the reference list, and various formatting rules. It introduces parenthetical citations (author's last name, year of publication) and narrative citations (author's name in the text followed by the year). For direct quotations or close paraphrases, a page number (preceded by 'p.' or 'pp.') is required. The video also covers how to cite sources with multiple authors, using '&' for two authors in parenthetical citations and 'and' in narrative citations, and 'et al.' for three or more authors.
This part addresses more complex in-text citation situations. It explains how to cite multiple works in the same parenthetical citation (alphabetical order, separated by semicolons), multiple works by the same author (chronological order, author's name listed once), and multiple works with abbreviated author names and 'et al.' It also details citing specific parts of a source (paragraphs, sections, chapters, timestamps, slide numbers) and sources with unknown or anonymous authors. Additionally, it covers translated/reprinted works and distinguishing multiple references with identical author(s) and publication years or shared surnames.
This segment details the creation of the reference list, which should start on a new page, titled 'References' (centered, bold), double-spaced, and in alphabetical order. It emphasizes using a hanging indent (0.5 inches) for each entry. The four essential elements of a reference entry are author, date, title, and source. Punctuation rules are explained, with periods separating elements and commas/parentheses for parts within an element. It also advises against using punctuation at the end of DOIs or URLs.
This section focuses on formatting the author and date elements of reference list entries. For individual authors, it's surname first, followed by initials. Multiple authors are separated by commas, with an ampersand before the final author for two or more. Group authors require the full name. For more than 20 authors, list the first 19, then an ellipsis, then the final author. The date element is enclosed in parentheses and can include year, month, day, or season. Special considerations for online works, such as updated or retrieval dates, and handling unknown publication dates ('n.d.') are also discussed.
This part details the formatting of the title and source elements. For works that are part of a greater whole (e.g., journal articles), titles are in sentence case and not italicized or in quotation marks. For standalone works (e.g., books, web pages), titles are italicized and in sentence case. Title case is used for periodical titles which are also italicized. The source element identifies where the reader can locate the text. For periodicals, this includes the title, volume, issue number, and page range. For edited collections, 'In' precedes editor names. Specific guidelines for social media, websites (including when to omit the site name), and DOIs/URLs are provided, emphasizing them as hyperlinks and omitting a concluding period.
This final section covers less common reference list scenarios, such as translated, republished, or reissued works (including original publication dates and translator credits). It explains alphabetization rules, including 'nothing precedes something' and disregarding spaces/punctuation in two-name surnames. It also outlines how to order multiple works by the same author(s) chronologically, distinguishing entries with the same publication year using 'a,' 'b,' 'c,' etc. For texts with no official author, the title is used for alphabetization. The video concludes by emphasizing the APA Publication Manual and APA Style website as primary resources.