Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style
APA's Publication Manual, 6th Edition, provides complete style guidelines and should be consulted first in all matters concerning APA Style, but these FAQs will help clarify frequent areas of confusion.
General APA Style Questions
- What is APA Style?
- Why is APA Style needed?
- Why is there a specific APA Style?
- Can you help with my research for my psychology paper?
- Does APA offer a workbook on APA Style?
References
- How do you reference a book review?
- How do you cite a newspaper article?
- How do you cite two or more references within the same parentheses?
- How do you cite a reference to a book when there is no author or editor?
- How do you cite e-mail communications from individuals?
- How do you cite Facebook?
- How do you cite Twitter?
- What is a digital object identifier, or DOI?
- When do you include a retrieval date in a citation?
- In referencing periodicals, what's the difference between using p. or pp. for page numbers?
- How do you format a bibliography in APA Style?
- How do you cite an entire website (but not a specific document on that site)?
- How do you reference a web page that lists no author?
- How do you cite website material that has no author, no year, and no page numbers?
- How do you cite an interview?
- How do you cite a source that you found in another source?
Punctuation
- When is it wrong to use a comma?
- When do you need to use a hyphen for compound words?
- What are the correct ways to use a colon?
- When is it wrong and/or inappropriate to use a slash mark?
- Do you use brackets the same way you use parentheses?
- When should you use a semicolon?
- When do you use double quotation marks?
- What is the correct way to use parentheses?
Grammar and Writing Style
- How can you check the agreement of subjects and verbs?
- How can you avoid dangling modifiers?
- How are verbs used most effectively?
- What are linguistic devices?
- What is the source for preferred spelling in APA Style?
- How do you avoid redundancy?
- When are numbers expressed in words?
- When is it appropriate to use abbreviations?
- What is the difference between the words subjects and participants?