You are probably concerned with writing according to a particular documentation style, such as the APA writing style, when you write papers. In this day and age, high school students are sometimes asked to write papers, while college students are required to write them for almost all their courses. Writing using a documentation style is required so that the writer can credit his or her sources. This means that some of the ideas, and findings that are not yours should be properly labeled as the original author's. The readers can use these source citations, which point to the original authors and titles for their own research.
The APA (American Psychological Association writing style) was originally created for psychology and some science documentation. However, the APA writing style is now being used by many other disciplines such as medicine, and education. In this writing style, the documentation is very rigorous. It also differs from other styles in in-text citation, which requires all authors and dates to be named in the parenthetical.
I'm not going to attempt to cover all of the specifics of the APA writing style in this article because they would fill a book. Let me give you a few of the most commonly used APA writing style conventions in this article. In the in-text citation of this documentation style, the writer must acknowledge the original author whenever he or she uses that particular author's language. This is usually done by putting the citation information inside a parenthesis.
You have to include the date of the publication in the parentheses when you use the APA writing style. It is also required that you use the author's name in the parentheses, followed by n.d., which means no date if you mention the author's name in your statement and no date is available.
The footnote is also used in a documentation that uses the APA writing style. Footnotes are now used less often although they were the singular way to cite sources fifty years ago. Nevertheless, writers should still know how to use them when assigned to or when asides are too intrusive in the main text.
The end notes are similar to the footnotes. They explain the document further and cite valuable sources. This way the reader can use the writer's paper when he or she begins a research. All notes can be placed on one page at the end of the paper in the APA writing style.
The references page is also an important element in documentation. It is also known as the works cited page or the bibliography. The references page thoroughly records or identifies each and every source that the writer used or quoted in the text. Every entry in this page includes the author, title, place and date of publication. The order of the entries must be alphabetical, and they must be punctuated, indented, and styled according to specific rules.
A number of students get perplexed when it comes to writing their academic papers in a particular referencing style such as APA. High school students are at times asked to write term papers, essays etc, where as college or university students have to indulge in academic writing for all their courses. A referencing style is required in all academic papers for the student to give credit to his sources of information. This means that all the ideas and findings mentioned in the paper which are not yours must be referenced as the original author's work. This also enables readers to use these sources to conduct their own research.
When to Use APA Writing Style?
The APA (American Psychological Association) writing style was basically created to cite sources in psychology and certain science documentation. But with time, APA format has started to be used by several others disciplines such as medicine and education. The documentation in this writing style is very rigorous.
Specification
It would be just about impossible to cover all the specification of the APA format as it just might fill up a book. A few of the most important specifications of the APA writing style can be mentioned in this article. Those are:
In-Text Citation
When using the APA format, in-text citations must be used to credit the original author. Citations are to be put in parenthesis. The name of the author as well as the publication date must be provided in the parenthesis. Mention 'n.d.' if the date of publication is not available.
Footnotes
Footnotes are also used in all academic papers that are referenced according to the APA writing style. Footnotes are not commonly used now, but were used as the only citation source a long time back. Still, it is important for writers to know how to use them in case they are required.
Endnotes/Bibliography
Endnotes are very similar to footnotes. They are used to provide information about the sources. All of the references must be placed on a page at the end of the paper. The bibliography page is extremely important. It identifies every single source that has been used for the production of the paper. All of the sources included in this page must consist of the author's name, title, place and date of publication. The entries must be put in alphabetical order, must be punctuated, indented, and styled according to specific rules of APA format citation.
Terence Reed is an Academic Writing Specialist, working with Essays Aid to serve a diverse body of students with their term papers.