Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Macro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Planning and Formulating Papers
- Part II Micro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Presenting Your Ideas in Writing
- 7 A Word about Content, Language, and Style
- 8 Commonly Misused Words
- 9 American Psychological Association Guidelines for Psychology Papers
- 10 Guidelines for Data Presentation
- Part III Writing and Preparing Articles for Journal Submission
- Part IV Presenting Yourself to Others
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
9 - American Psychological Association Guidelines for Psychology Papers
from Part II - Micro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Presenting Your Ideas in Writing
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Macro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Planning and Formulating Papers
- Part II Micro-Challenges in Writing Papers: Presenting Your Ideas in Writing
- 7 A Word about Content, Language, and Style
- 8 Commonly Misused Words
- 9 American Psychological Association Guidelines for Psychology Papers
- 10 Guidelines for Data Presentation
- Part III Writing and Preparing Articles for Journal Submission
- Part IV Presenting Yourself to Others
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter summarizes the guidelines for preparing a psychology paper presented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition (2009). You should consult this manual for a complete list of guidelines. If you intend to submit a paper for publication, then you cannot afford to be without this manual. It can be obtained from any bookstore or online book retailer, or directly from the American Psychological Association at www.apastyle.org.
Journals of the British Psychological Society (BPS) adopted the APA style as of October 2001. Publications other than journal articles of the BPS follow the Style Guide that can be found online by entering the search words “BPS style” in a search engine. Many other non-APA journals will accept articles prepared in accordance with APA guidelines as well, even though there are minor differences in style. You should always consult the guidelines of the journal to which you plan to submit to make sure you are adhering to its style regulations.
All examples used to illustrate principles in this chapter are fictitious. Note that the formatting of this book, as printed, does not always follow the conventions described in this chapter. The conventions in the chapter are for preparing manuscripts, not for printed versions of books and articles.
FORMATTING THE PAPER
■ Margins
Set your margins to leave 1 inch at the top, bottom, and both sides of each page. Each line should be no longer than 6 1/2 inches. Use flush-left style. In other words, the right margin should be “ragged.” Do not use your word processor's automatic hyphenation option, and do not hyphenate words at the ends of lines yourself.
■ Vertical spacing
Double space between all lines, without exception. There may be times when you are tempted to single space – in writing references, footnotes, block quotations, and the like. Do not succumb to the temptation. Your paper should be double spaced throughout with the exception of tables and figures.
■ Horizontal spacing
Begin each new paragraph by indenting a half inch, or using a tab key, which you should set to default at a half inch. Type all other lines starting from a uniform left margin: (a) the abstract, (b) block quotations, (c) titles and headings, (d) table titles and notes, and (e) figure captions.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Psychologist's CompanionA Guide to Professional Success for Students, Teachers, and Researchers, pp. 196 - 224Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016