Month: June 2014

Latest Information Regarding APA Citation Format on the Title Page

the writer and reader

The entire general information about APA format will be in accordance to the latest revised 6th edition of the APA manual as prescribed by the American Psychological Association. It will feature all the important aspects that would be needed when writing a research paper. You will be provided with the overall format that a research paper should look like when utilizing APA format, as well as, guidelines in formatting a reference page, an APA title page, in-text citations, and footnotes/endnotes. Naturally, when you want to have an in-depth know-how on the APA writing style, you should check out the 6th edition, second printing of APA’s Publication Manual.

General Instructions

The paper should be typed in a standard paper size which has an 11’ by 8.5’ measurement. It should have a 1’ margin on all sides. Also, it is important to utilize a font style that can be easily read. APA’s ideal font requirement is Times New Roman font style and 12 font size. In addition, your paper should have a Running Head, which should be included on top of each page. Running head or page header consists of the page number together with the paper’s title. The title should be written in capital letters. However, the running head should not go over 50 characters which include punctuations and spaces used. There are four major sections that comprise an essay paper namely: Title Page, Abstract/Summary, Main Body, and the Reference Page.

APA Title Page

An APA title page should present the following elements: the paper’s title, the name of the writer/author, and the institution where the author is affiliated. Also, the running head should be included in the APA title page as mentioned above. The header should be found in the left side of the paper while the page number is on the right part on the page’s topmost side.

When making your running head, there is a small difference between the header in the title page and the succeeding headers on every page of the paper. The running head for the APA title page should look in this manner:

 

Running head: PAPER’S TITLE

As to the running head of all the succeeding pages, they should look in this manner:

 

PAPER’S TITLE

 

You will notice that the term “Running head” is removed. This is the correct way to do this and this aspect is among the corrected parts of the latest 6th edition, 2nd printing APA Manual.

After taking care of the running head, you can now concentrate of the three elements of an APA title page.

 

Use both upper and lower cases when writing the title of the paper. The APA manual suggests that you do not use over 12 words as the title. There should no abbreviations and useless words. You can use one to two lines in writing the title and double-spaced.

Next, enter the writer’s name. It should be typed with the following arrangement: first name, middle initial/s, and the surname. Do not include title like Ph.D. or Dr. With regards to APA title page with multiple authors; arrange them alphabetically using the surname. Lastly, enter the institution’s or school’s name. This would reveal where the research has taken place

The APA Format Citation General Guidelines

the writer and reader

There are several available writing formats that are being utilized by researchers, students, and writers today and APA writing style is among them. APA format of writing is mostly used in studies like education, psychology, and social studies. This kind of writing format was introduced by a group called American Psychological Association in 1929 in order to provide helpful parameters and standards that will be used when arranging and organizing a paper. These guidelines will ensure that all works in this writing format will be readable, correct, and consistent with each other. Although the whole APA directions and recommendations are extremely broad, here are some of the most general and common rules that you need to know in order to make use of APA format.

  • Margin – All sides will have one inch in measurement.
  • Spacing – The whole document or research paper will use double-spacing.
  • Font – It is especially suggested that Times New Roman should be the font style used and 10 or 12 as the font size.
  • Title Page – This page should contain the research paper’s title, the running head, your complete name, and the institution where you are associated with. After the heading, the first line will have the paper’s title, the second will have the writer’s name, and then lastly, the institution or school. All these information should be centered both horizontally and vertically.
  • Header – The header should contain the following: “Running Head:” which will then be followed by the title of the paper and written in full capital letter. Also, ensure that every page of the paper will contain a header presenting the paper’s title as well as the number of the page.
  • Abstract – This is the part of the document that will follow the title page. It primarily consists of what the paper will present. For instance, you will find the methodologies used, the findings form researches made, and the conclusions. The recommended length of this summary is about 150 to 250 words.
  • Body’s Alignment and Spacing – In every paragraph, the first line should be indented always. After every period, there should be two spaces before the next sentence.
  • In-Text Citations – In-text APA citation texts should always be used in order to authenticate the sources and of course, to avoid any plagiarism issues. Using the proper APA format citation, the citations or references should be enclosed in parenthesis together with the date of publication and the last name of the author.

o   Example: (Lieber, 2003)

  • Reference Page – This page will be titled “References” and will follow APA format citation as recommended. It will contain more in-depth information about all sources. As indicated in APA format citation rules, the list of references should be arranged alphabetically. If the information cannot be contained within one line, according to APA format citation, the second line should be indented using the TAB key. Also, APA format citation regulations indicated that quoted references should be both included in the Reference page and the in-text citations. In order to have a proper understanding of how APA format citation should be done, make sure to check out samples and tutorial online.

Creating a Bibliography Page

the writer and reader

Every book or writing material has its own bibliography page. What is a bibliography? It is the systematic list of books, articles and other sources that a researcher or a student uses in his or her research paper. In the bibliography format, this page appears at the end of the manuscript. In the creation of a bibliography, there is also a need to create citations which involves formatting notes that would give acknowledgement to the researcher’s references.

Bibliography formats available

There are two commonly used bibliography format and they are the APA and MLA formats. These two formats usually include the following details: author’s name, book or article titles, publishers, publishing date and place, styles or type, book size and others. There is a need for a bibliography for it assists readers in finding the original sources of your references. You also need to remember that in the Chicago format and in any other formats, the bibliographies are alphabetically arranged.

 

Annotations

Furthermore, a bibliography is composed of annotations. Annotations are lists of concise notes that direct the research paper or give comments regarding the usefulness of an appended work. Now, it is very important that bibliographies are formatted properly. Scholars, literary writers and professional researchers need to consider the bibliography part as crucial to the paper for they are useful sources for many readers especially the serious ones.

 

Types of Bibliography

There are many bibliography examples available from various sources for everyone to check out. In fact, it is best to check the two types of bibliography. One is the analytic bibliographies and the other is the critical bibliography. Analytic bibliography is concerned with resources as material objects. This means that physical features such as the type of paper, printing features and more in order to establish that the sources are reliable and with a establish authorship. On the other hand, descriptive bibliography format pertains to the organized listing of sources, references and publications. This bibliography format is what APA and MLA formats use. It even has 4 categories: universal and general, bibliography and selective bibliography.

 

Listing according to subjects

In addition, bibliographies can also be listed according to several subjects, different countries of publication and different date of publication. There are times wherein researchers or students are instructed to limit their bibliographies based on any of the following: subject, country of origin, works of one author or on books for particular purpose or audience.

 

Listing according to type of source

It is a great strategy to list down each book, article and other sources that you utilize when doing a research for this will make the creation of bibliographies easier may it be under the APA or the MLA bibliography formats. What to take down? List the full title of your reference, author’s name, place and date of publication and the publisher.

 

Listing alphabetically

All in all, it is best to arrange your entries in alphabetical order when formatting your bibliography or works cited page. If you encounter materials without an author, you can list them on your bibliography based on the title. You can also utilize a citation maker to help you in formatting your sources.

How to create a Bibliography

the writer and reader

If you are required to alphabetically list all the sources you used in writing a paper, essay, article or research paper, then use the APA bibliography format. This is because some instructors would require students to pass an APA bibliography together with the paper. In case, you are not required to submit a bibliography, it is still best to create one for it can assist you in keeping track of all your references.

Basically, a bibliography such as the APA bibliography is somewhat same with a reference section of a paper. However, there are few differences between them. For instance, the reference section presents all the sources that were actually used in the paper while the bibliography page may add some sources that you have though of using but did not due to them being unrelated or obsolete.

So, if you are planning to create a bibliography using the APA format, you can follow the guidelines below:

The Bibliography should be started on a Fresh Page. Remember to separate your APA bibliography from the rest of your manuscript. Start it on a new page with the title “References” placed at the center.

Collect all the sources or references that you have utilized. Every source that you can possibly use in writing your paper should be gathered and compiled. Well, there might be some of them which may appear to be irrelevant while you are writing your paper but, at least in the end, it will be easy for you to make your reference section.

Each source used should have an APA Reference or citation. When using an APA bibliography format, you have to list the author’s last name in an alphabetical order and in double-spaced format. In addition, the first line of each source should be flushed on the left side while the second or third lines should be placed few spaces to the right of the left margin. This is known as hanging indent.

Each source should have an annotation. In the usual manner, a bibliography will just present the details of the references used by the writer. However, there are times when a writer decides to create an annotated bibliography. What is an annotation? Basically, it is a summary or an evaluation of a source.

So, while reading through each of your references, have some time to prepare a short annotation for each source. This annotation can be written in about 150 words and with the following contents: description of the source contents, your evaluation about the source credibility and describe how it is related to your subject matter. This will not only help you in determining which source is important but, it can also be an assessment guide for your instructor.

Finally, if you want to make your research or writing process easier, you should create an APA bibliography with the use of an APA bibliography maker. You will surely be having a hard time figuring out which details to include in your paper without an APA bibliography.

This is how an APA formatted Bibliography would look like:

References

21st century hunting rifle: the ambush 6.8 SPC redefines the “modern sporting rifle” concept. (2012, July 1).Guns Magazine, 5, 12-15

Austen, J., & Johnson, R. B. (1904).The novels of Jane Austen (Hampshire ed.). New York: George E. Croscup & Co..

Fanon, F. (1967). Black skin, white masks. New York: Grove Press.