Tutorials and Webinars
Many of these Academic Writer tutorials and quick guides are being made freely available to support students and instructors during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will remain on this site through July 1, 2020. The Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style tutorial will stay on the site for free after that date.
Tutorials
These tutorials and quick guides were adapted from Academic Writer®, APA’s tool for teaching and learning effective writing. Academic Writer is intended for use by instructors with their students in courses that require papers to be written in APA Style. For information on or questions about Academic Writer, please visit the APA Digital Learning website.
Find more information on seventh edition APA Style in Academic Writer, the Publication Manual (7th ed.), and the Style and Grammar Guidelines section of the APA Style website.
Basics of APA Style
Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style
This tutorial is designed for writers new to APA Style. Learn the basics of seventh edition APA Style, including paper elements, format, and organization; academic writing style; grammar and usage; bias-free language; mechanics of style; tables and figures; in-text citations, paraphrasing, and quotations; and reference list format and order. The Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style tutorial will permanently stay on this site for free.
Paper Format
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Basic Paper Setup
Learn how to set up an APA Style paper, including the font, line spacing, margins, paragraph indentation and alignment, and page header.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Heading Levels
Learn how to use headings in an APA Style paper, including how to format the five heading levels and use them to effectively organize your paper.
In-Text Citations
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Citing References in Text
Learn how to cite references in the text, including how to implement the basic in-text citation formats, cite multiple works, achieve clarity, and format in-text citations with missing author and/or date information.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Direct Quotations and Paraphrasing
Learn how to cite and format direct quotations, including short quotations and block quotations; make and indicate changes to quotations; and cite paraphrased material.
Academic Writer Tutorial: How to Find Reliable Sources
Learn how to find reliable sources to use in your academic papers, including how to search for sources, evaluate sources, and organize sources with a reference management system.
Academic Writer Tutorial: How to Avoid Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism
Learn how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism, including how to identify plagiarism, understand its risks and consequences, cite sources properly, and develop sound writing practices.
References
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Reference Elements
Learn about the four elements of an APA Style reference: the author, date, title, and source.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Reference List
Learn how to create a References section, including how to ensure entries are accurate, complete, consistently styled, and up-to-date.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: DOIs and URLs
Learn how to use the two types of electronic retrieval information found in references, digital object identifiers (DOIs) and uniform resource locators (URLs), including how to cite documents retrieved from research databases and websites.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Journal Article Reference
Learn how to format references for journal articles, including those published in print, online, or retrieved from research databases.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Newspaper Article Reference
Learn how to format references for newspaper articles, including those published in print, online, or without an individual author.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Webpage or Website Reference
Learn how to format references for material found on webpages or websites, such as government websites or articles on news websites.
Academic Writer Quick Guide: Social Media Posts Reference
Learn how to format references for social media sites, including pages and posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
Webinars
Creating References Using Seventh Edition APA Style
The seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association streamlines and simplifies the process of creating references.
In this webinar, members of the APA Style team provide an in-depth look at the simplified reference system, describing the rationale behind it, how to format references using it, and why references are easier because of it.
The panelists answer one of the most frequent questions: how to cite a work found online. They also use real-life examples to walk through creating references for works with missing information; found via a database; needing DOIs, URLs, and retrieval dates; and more.
Navigating the Transition to Seventh Edition APA Style
The release of the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ushers in a new era of APA Style.
In this webinar, members of the APA Style team discuss the seventh edition of the Publication Manual, highlighting key updates in each of the manual’s 12 chapters.
The panelists provide insights into the rationale behind many of the changes and advice for navigating the transition to seventh edition style. They also address how students, faculty, and librarians can incorporate APA Style into the classroom and promote the teaching and mastery of the skills of effective scholarly communication.