APA Style Simplified: Writing in Psychology, Education, Nursing, and Sociology

APA Style Simplified: Writing in Psychology, Education, Nursing, and Sociology......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 13
1 Writing Professionally......Page 15
How Does Professional Writing Differ From Other Kinds of Writing?......Page 16
Using APA Style......Page 17
Making a Credible Argument......Page 19
Different Types of Communication......Page 20
Effective Communication......Page 22
Establishing Good Writing Habits......Page 23
Ethical Writing......Page 24
2 Elements of Style......Page 29
Recognizing the Importance of Good Grammar and Style......Page 30
Choosing Effective Wording......Page 31
Using Inclusive and Appropriate Language......Page 33
Deciding on the Use of Technical Language......Page 34
Avoiding Common Problems......Page 35
Verb Forms......Page 38
Specific Word Use......Page 39
3 The Introduction Section......Page 46
Introducing the Topic......Page 47
Different Approaches to Starting the Introduction......Page 48
Reviewing the Literature......Page 52
Introducing Your Research: Generating a Hypothesis......Page 54
4 The Method Section......Page 57
Participants and Subjects......Page 58
Materials and Apparatus......Page 66
Procedure......Page 70
Design......Page 72
5 Communicating Statistics......Page 73
Why Do We Use Statistics?......Page 74
What Point Are You Trying to Make?......Page 75
Understanding Your Numbers......Page 77
Helping Readers Understand Your Statistics......Page 79
Differentiating Results and Interpretations......Page 82
6 The Results Section......Page 83
Your Hypothesis......Page 84
Deciding What to Present......Page 85
APA Style and Presentation of Your Results......Page 88
Creating Tables......Page 91
Creating Figures......Page 96
The Difference Between Results and Discussion Sections......Page 101
Some Final Points About Presenting Results......Page 102
7 The Discussion Section......Page 105
Summarizing Your Results......Page 106
Connecting Different Aspects of Your Results......Page 108
Dealing With Nonsignificant Results......Page 109
Comparing Your Results With Those of Others......Page 110
Stating the Importance and Implications of Your Results......Page 111
Acknowledging the Limitations of Your Study......Page 112
8 References: Citations in the Text and the Reference List......Page 114
Citing References in the Text......Page 115
Using Your Word-Processing Program to Create the Citation......Page 119
Examples of How Different Types of References Should Be Laid Out......Page 120
9 Final Touches: The Abstract and Formatting Details......Page 128
The Abstract......Page 129
Formatting Your Manuscript......Page 130
Differentiating Visual and Written Communication......Page 149
Reducing the Amount of Information......Page 150
Visual Style......Page 151
Your Behavior: The Ethic of a Poster Session......Page 156
Creating Your Poster Using PowerPoint®......Page 158
The Difference Between Oral and Written English......Page 166
Adapting APA Style to Oral Presentations......Page 170
Preparing for Your Talk......Page 171
Creating Graphics for Your Presentation......Page 173
Giving the Presentation......Page 174
12 Sharing Your Work Electronically......Page 177
New Capabilities in Electronic Sharing......Page 178
Using a Word Processor to Create Manuscripts for the Internet......Page 179
Advantages of Internet Publishing Software......Page 181
Uploading Your Manuscript to the Internet......Page 183
Revisiting the Concept of Plagiarism......Page 184
Appendix A: Example of APA-Style Manuscript with Common Errors......Page 185
Appendix B: Corrected APA-Style Manuscript......Page 193
References......Page 202
Name Index......Page 209
Subject Index......Page 212