Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020)

List of Tables and Figures

Editorial Staff and Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction (PDF, 94KB)

• Why Use APA Style?
• APA Style for Students
• Utility and Accessibility
• What’s New in the Seventh Edition?
• APA Style Online
• Notes to Users

Types of Articles and Papers

• Quantitative Articles
• Qualitative Articles
• Mixed Methods Articles
• Replication Articles
• Quantitative and Qualitative Meta-Analyses
• Literature Review Articles
• Theoretical Articles
• Methodological Articles
• Other Types of Articles
• Student Papers, Dissertations, and Theses

ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN PUBLISHING

Ensuring the Accuracy of Scientific Findings

• Planning for Ethical Compliance
• Ethical and Accurate Reporting of Research Results
• Errors, Corrections, and Retractions After Publication
• Data Retention and Sharing
• Additional Data-Sharing Considerations for Qualitative Research
• Duplicate and Piecemeal Publication of Data
• Implications of Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism

Protecting the Rights and Welfare of Research Participants and Subjects

• Rights and Welfare of Research Participants and Subjects
• Protecting Confidentiality
• Conflict of Interest

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights

• Publication Credit
• Order of Authors
• Authors' Intellectual Property Rights During Manuscript Review
• Authors' Copyright on Unpublished Manuscripts
• Ethical Compliance Checklist

Required Elements

• Professional Paper Required Elements
• Student Paper Required Elements

Paper Elements

• Title Page
• Title
• Author Name (Byline)
• Author Affiliation
• Author Note
• Running Head
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Text (Body)
• Reference List
• Footnotes
• Appendices
• Supplemental Materials

Format

• Importance of Format
• Order of Pages
• Page Header
• Font
• Special Characters
• Line Spacing
• Margins
• Paragraph Alignment
• Paragraph Indentation
• Paper Length

Organization

• Principles of Organization
• Heading Levels
• Section Labels

SAMPLE PAPERS

Overview of Reporting Standards

• Application of the Principles of JARS
• Terminology Used in JARS

Common Reporting Standards Across Research Designs

• Abstract Standards
• Introduction Standards

Reporting Standards for Quantitative Research

• Basic Expectations for Quantitative Research Reporting
• Quantitative Method Standards
• Quantitative Results Standards
• Quantitative Discussion Standards
• Additional Reporting Standards for Typical Experimental and Nonexperimental Studies
• Reporting Standards for Special Designs
• Standards for Analytic Approaches
• Quantitative Meta-Analysis Standards

Reporting Standards for Qualitative Research

• Basic Expectations for Qualitative Research Reporting
• Qualitative Method Standards
• Qualitative Findings or Results Standards
• Qualitative Discussion Standards
• Qualitative Meta-Analysis Standards

Reporting Standards for Mixed Methods Research

• Basic Expectations for Mixed Methods Research Reporting

EFFECTIVE SCHOLARLY WRITING

Continuity and Flow

• Importance of Continuity and Flow
• Transitions
• Noun Strings

Conciseness and Clarity

• Importance of Conciseness and Clarity
• Wordiness and Redundancy
• Sentence and Paragraph Length
• Tone
• Contractions and Colloquialisms
• Jargon
• Logical Comparisons
• Anthropomorphism

GRAMMAR AND USAGE

Verbs

• Verb Tense
• Active and Passive Voice
• Mood
• Subject and Verb Agreement

Pronouns

• First- Versus Third-Person Pronouns
• Editorial "We"
• Singular "They"
• Pronouns for People and Animals ("Who" vs. "That")
• Pronouns as Subjects and Objects ("Who" vs. "Whom")
• Pronouns in Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses ("That" vs. "Which")

Sentence Construction

• Subordinate Conjunctions
• Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
• Parallel Construction

Strategies to Improve Your Writing

• Reading to Learn Through Example
• Writing From an Outline
• Rereading the Draft
• Seeking Help From Colleagues
• Working With Copyeditors and Writing Centers
• Revising a Paper

General Guidelines for Reducing Bias

• Describe at the Appropriate Level of Specificity
• Be Sensitive to Labels

Reducing Bias by Topic

• Age
• Disability
• Gender
• Participation in Research
• Racial and Ethnic Identity
• Sexual Orientation
• Socioeconomic Status
• Intersectionality

Punctuation

• Spacing After Punctuation Marks
• Period
• Comma
• Semicolon
• Colon
• Dash
• Quotation Marks
• Parentheses
• Square Brackets
• Slash

Spelling

• Preferred Spelling
• Hyphenation

Capitalization

• Words Beginning a Sentence
• Proper Nouns and Trade Names
• Job Titles and Positions
• Diseases, Disorders, Therapies, Theories, and Related Terms
• Titles of Works and Headings Within Works
• Titles of Tests and Measures
• Nouns Followed by Numerals or Letters
• Names of Conditions or Groups in an Experiment
• Names of Factors, Variables, and Effects

Italics

• Use of Italics
• Reverse Italics

Abbreviations

• Use of Abbreviations
• Definition of Abbreviations
• Format of Abbreviations
• Unit of Measurement Abbreviations
• Time Abbreviations
• Latin Abbreviations
• Chemical Compound Abbreviations
• Gene and Protein Name Abbreviations

Numbers

• Numbers Expressed in Numerals
• Numbers Expressed in Words
• Combining Numerals and Words to Express Numbers
• Ordinal Numbers
• Decimal Fractions
• Roman Numerals
• Commas in Numbers
• Plurals of Numbers

Statistical and Mathematical Copy

• Selecting Effective Presentation
• References for Statistics
• Formulas
• Statistics in Text
• Statistical Symbols and Abbreviations
• Spacing, Alignment, and Punctuation for Statistics

Presentation of Equations

• Equations in Text
• Displayed Equations
• Preparing Statistical and Mathematical Copy for Publication

Lists

• List Guidelines
• Lettered Lists
• Numbered Lists
• Bulleted Lists

General Guidelines for Tables and Figures

• Purpose of Tables and Figures
• Design and Preparation of Tables and Figures
• Graphical Versus Textual Presentation
• Formatting Tables and Figures
• Referring to Tables and Figures in the Text
• Placement of Tables and Figures
• Reprinting or Adapting Tables and Figures

Tables

• Principles of Table Construction
• Table Components
• Table Numbers
• Table Titles
• Table Headings
• Table Body
• Table Notes
• Standard Abbreviations in Tables and Figures
• Confidence Intervals in Tables
• Table Borders and Shading
• Long or Wide Tables
• Relation Between Tables
• Table Checklist
• Sample Tables

SAMPLE TABLES

Figures

• Principles of Figure Construction
• Figure Components
• Figure Numbers
• Figure Titles
• Figure Images
• Figure Legends
• Figure Notes
• Relation Between Figures
• Photographs
• Considerations for Electrophysiological, Radiological, Genetic, and Other Biological Data
• Electrophysiological Data
• Radiological (Imaging) Data
• Genetic Data
• Figure Checklist
• Sample Figures

SAMPLE FIGURES

General Guidelines for Citation

• Appropriate Level of Citation
• Plagiarism
• Self-Plagiarism
• Correspondence Between Reference List and Text
• Use of the Published Version or Archival Version
• Primary and Secondary Sources

Works Requiring Special Approaches to Citation

• Interviews
• Classroom or Intranet Sources
• Personal Communications

In-Text Citations

• Author–Date Citation System
• Parenthetical and Narrative Citations
• Citing Multiple Works
• Citing Specific Parts of a Source
• Unknown or Anonymous Author
• Translated, Reprinted, Republished, and Reissued Dates
• Omitting the Year in Repeated Narrative Citations
• Number of Authors to Include in In-Text Citations
• Avoiding Ambiguity in In-Text Citations
• Works With the Same Author and Same Date
• Authors With the Same Surname
• Abbreviating Group Authors
• General Mentions of Websites, Periodicals, and Common Software and Apps

Paraphrases and Quotations

• Principles of Paraphrasing
• Long Paraphrases
• Principles of Direct Quotation
• Short Quotations (Fewer Than 40 Words)
• Block Quotations (40 Words or More)
• Direct Quotation of Material Without Page Numbers
• Accuracy of Quotations
• Changes to a Quotation Requiring No Explanation
• Changes to a Quotation Requiring Explanation
• Quotations That Contain Citations to Other Works
• Quotations That Contain Material Already in Quotation Marks
• Permission to Reprint or Adapt Lengthy Quotations
• Epigraphs
• Quotations From Research Participants

Reference Categories

• Determining the Reference Category
• Using the Webpages and Websites Reference Category
• Online and Print References

Principles of Reference List Entries

• Four Elements of a Reference
• Punctuation Within Reference List Entries
• Accuracy and Consistency in References

REFERENCE ELEMENTS

Author

• Definition of Author
• Format of the Author Element
• Spelling and Capitalization of Author Names
• Identification of Specialized Roles
• Group Authors
• No Author

Date

• Definition of Date
• Format of the Date Element
• Updated or Reviewed Online Works
• Retrieval Dates
• No Date

Title

• Definition of Title
• Format of the Title Element
• Series and Multivolume Works
• Bracketed Descriptions
• No Title

Source

• Definition of Source
• Format of the Source Element
• Periodical Sources
• Online Periodicals With Missing Information
• Article Numbers
• Edited Book Chapter and Reference Work Entry Sources
• Publisher Sources
• Database and Archive Sources
• Works With Specific Locations
• Social Media Sources
• Website Sources
• When to Include DOIs and URLs
• Format of DOIs and URLs
• DOI or URL Shorteners
• No Source

Reference Variations

• Works in Another Language
• Translated Works
• Reprinted Works
• Republished or Reissued Works
• Religious and Classical Works

Reference List Format and Order

• Format of the Reference List
• Order of Works in the Reference List
• Order of Surname and Given Name
• Order of Multiple Works by the Same First Author
• Order of Works With the Same Author and Same Date
• Order of Works by First Authors With the Same Surname
• Order of Works With No Author or an Anonymous Author
• Abbreviations in References
• Annotated Bibliographies
• References Included in a Meta-Analysis

Author Variations

Date Variations

Title Variations

Source Variations

Textual Works

• Periodicals
• Books and Reference Works
• Edited Book Chapters and Entries in Reference Works
• Reports and Gray Literature
• Conference Sessions and Presentations
• Dissertations and Theses
• Reviews
• Unpublished Works and Informally Published Works

Data Sets, Software, and Tests

• Data Sets
• Computer Software, Mobile Apps, Apparatuses, and Equipment
• Tests, Scales, and Inventories

Audiovisual Media

• Audiovisual Works
• Audio Works
• Visual Works

Online Media

• Social Media
• Webpages and Websites

General Guidelines for Legal References

• APA Style References Versus Legal References
• General Forms
• In-Text Citations of Legal Materials

Legal Reference Examples

• Cases or Court Decisions
• Statutes (Laws and Acts)
• Legislative Materials
• Administrative and Executive Materials
• Patents
• Constitutions and Charters
• Treaties and International Conventions

Preparing for Publication

• Adapting a Dissertation or Thesis Into a Journal Article
• Selecting a Journal for Publication
• Prioritizing Potential Journals
• Avoiding Predatory Journals

Understanding the Editorial Publication Process

• Editorial Publication Process
• Role of the Editors
• Peer Review Process
• Manuscript Decisions

Manuscript Preparation

• Preparing the Manuscript for Submission
• Using an Online Submission Portal
• Writing a Cover Letter
• Corresponding During Publication
• Certifying Ethical Requirements

Copyright and Permission Guidelines

• General Guidelines for Reprinting or Adapting Materials
• Materials That Require Copyright Attribution
• Copyright Status
• Permission and Fair Use
• Copyright Attribution Formats

During and After Publication

• Article Proofs
• Published Article Copyright Policies
• Open Access Deposit Policies
• Writing a Correction Notice
• Sharing Your Article Online
• Promoting Your Article

Credits for Adapted Tables, Figures, and Papers

References

Index