Writing in APA Style

Chapter 1—Writing Professionally

• How does Professional Writing Differ from Other Kinds of Writing?
• Using APA Style
• Making a Credible Argument
• Different Types of Communication
• Effective Communication
• Establishing Good Writing Habits
• Ethical Writing

Chapter 2—Elements of Style

• Recognizing the importance of good grammar and style
• Choosing Effective Wording 
• Using Inclusive and Appropriate Language 
• Deciding on the Use of Technical Language
• Avoiding Common Problems

Chapter 3—The Introduction Section

• Introducing the Topic
• Different Approaches to Starting the Introduction
• How to Begin
• Reviewing What Others Have Already Done
• Reasons for Reviewing the Literature
•  Clarifying Terms in Research
• Introducing your Research: Generating a Hypothesis

Chapter 4—The Method Section

• Participants and Subjects
• Materials and Apparatus
• Procedure
• Design

Chapter 5—Communicating Statistics

• Why do we use statistics?
• What point are you trying to make?
• Understanding your numbers
• Helping Readers Understand Your Statistics
• Differentiating Results and Interpretations

Chapter 6—The Results

• Your Hypotheses
• Deciding What to Present
• Reporting Significant and Nonsignificant Results
• APA Style and Presentation of Your Results
• Creating Tables
• Creating Figures
• The Connection Between the Text and the Tables and Figures
• The Difference Between Results and Discussion Sections
• Some Final Points About Presenting Results

Chapter 7—The Discussion Section

• Summarizing your Results
• Connecting Different Aspects of your Results
• Dealing with Nonsignificant Results
• Comparing your Results with Those of Others
• Stating the Importance and Implications of your Results
• Acknowledging the Limitations of your Study

Chapter 8—References: Citations in the Text and the Reference List

• Citing References in the Text
• Order of Citations in the Reference List
• Using Your Word Processing Program to Create the Citation

Chapter 9—Final Touches: The Abstract and Formatting Details

• The Abstract
• Formatting Details

Chapter 10—Creating Poster Presentations

• Differentiating Visual and Written Communication
• Reducing the Amount of Information
• Visual Style
• Your Behavior: The Ethic of a Poster Session
• Creating Your Poster Using PowerPoint^©

Chapter 11—Giving Oral Presentations

• The Difference Between Oral and Written English
• Adapting APA Style to Oral Presentations
• Preparing for Your Presentation
• Creating Graphics for Your Presentation
• Giving the Presentation

Chapter 12—Presenting your Work on the Internet

• Capabilities with Internet Publication
• Using a Word Processor to Create Manuscripts for the Internet
• Advantages of Internet Publishing Software
•  Publishing Your Poster on the Web
• Uploading your manuscript to the Internet

Appendix A—Sample Paper with Common Errors

Appendix B—Corrected Sample Paper

References