APA Report

APA Editorial Style
Style is the rules or principles or guidelines a publisher observes to ensure clear, consistent presentation of the printed word.
Editorial Style concerns uniform use of punctuation and abbreviation, construction of tables, selection of heading, citation of references, and other elements that are part of every manuscript.
This chapter is about the style for APA journals. In order to observe consistencies among journal articles or book chapters, an author who writes for a publication must follow the style rules established by the publisher.
Punctuation
Punctuation establishes the cadence of a sentence, telling the reader where to pause, stop, or take a detour.
Period
Use a period to end a complete sentence.
Comma
Use a comma
• Between elements in a series of three or more items;
• To set off a nonessential or nonrestrictive clauses;
• To separate two independent clauses joined by a conjunction;
• To set off the year in exact dates;
• To set off the year in parenthetical reference citation;
• To separate groups of three digits in most numbers of 1,000 or more.

Do not use a comma
• Before an essential or restrictive clause;
• Between the two parts of a compound predicate;
• To separate parts of measurement.

Semicolon
Use a semicolon
• To separate two independent clauses that are not joined by a conjunction;
• To separate elements in a series that already contain commas

Colon
Use a colon
• Between a grammatically complete introductory clause
• In rations and proportions
• In inferences between place of publication and publisher

Do not use a colon
• After an introduction that is not a complete sentence

Dash
Use the dash to indicate only a sudden interruption in the continuity of a sentence.
Quotation Marks
Use double quotation mark
• To introduce a word or phrase used as an ironic comment, as slang, or as an invented or coined expression.
• To set off the title
• To reproduce material from a test item or verbatim instructions to participants.

Do not Use double quotation mark
• To identify the anchors of a scale. Instead, italicized them.
• To cite a letter, word, phrase, or sentence as a linguistic example
• To introduce a technical or key term.
• To hedge.

Parentheses
Use parentheses
• To set off structurally independent elements
• To set off reference citations in text
• To introduce an abbreviation
• To set off letters that identify items in a series within a sentence or paragraph
• To group mathematical expressions
• To enclose the citation or page number of a direct quotation
• To enclose numbers that identify displayed formulas and quotations to enclose statistical values
• To enclose degree of freedom.
Do not Use parentheses
• To enclose material within other parentheses
• Back to back

Brackets
Use brackets
• To enclose parenthetical material that is already within parentheses
• To enclose material inserted in a quotation by some person other than the original writer
Do not Use brackets
• To set off statistics that already include parentheses

Slash
Use slash
• To clarify a relationship in which a hyphenated compound is used
• To separate numerator from denominator
• To indicate per to separate units of measurement accompanied by a numerical value
• To set off English phonemes
• To cite a republished work in text

Do not Use brackets
• When a phrase would be clearer
• For simple comparisons
• More than once to express compound units
Spelling
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is the standard spelling reference for APA journals and books.
Hyphenation
Compound words are two kinds: permanent compounds and temporary compounds.
If a temporary compound modifies another word, it may or may not be hyphenate, depending on a) its position in the sentence and b) whether the pairing of a compound with another word can cause the reader to misinterpret meaning.
Capitalization
• Words beginning a sentence
• Major words in titles and headings
• Proper nouns and trade names
• Nouns followed by numerals or letters
• Titles of tests
• Names of conditions or groups in an experiment
• Names of factors, variables, and effects
Italic
Use italic for
• Titles of books, periodicals, and microfilm publications
• Genera, species, and varieties
• Introduction of a new, technical, or key term or label
• Letter, word, pr phrase cited as a linguistic example
• Words that could be misread
• Letters used as statistical symbol or algebraic variables
• Some test scores and scales
• Periodical volume numbers in reference lists
• Anchors of a scale

Abbreviation
To maximize clarity, APA prefers that the authors use abbreviations sparingly.
Kinds of abbreviation
• Abbreviations accepted as words
• Abbreviations used often in APA journals
• Latin Abbreviations
• Scientific Abbreviations
• Other Abbreviations

Plurals of Abbreviations
To form the plural of most Abbreviations, add s alone, but not italicized.
Abbreviations beginning a sentence
Never begin a sentence with a lowercase abbreviation that stands alone.
Heading and series
Levels of heading establish via format or appearance the hierarchy of sections to orient the reader. All topics of equal importance have the same level of heading throughout a manuscript.
Quotation
Quotation of source
Material directly quoted from another author's work or from one's own previously published work, material duplicated from a test item, and verbatim instruction to participants should be reproduced word for word.
Incorporate a short quotation (fewer than 40 words) into text, and enclose the quotation with double question marks.
Display a quotation of 40 or more words in a freestanding block of typewritten lines, and omit the quotation marks.
Changes from the source requiring explanation
Omitting material. Use three spaced ellipsis points (…) within a sentence to indicate that you have omitted material from the original source.