The following formatting issues often give students trouble. Most of these issues are covered in Chapter 4, which is assigned for next week. Rather than reading every word in this chapter, study the headings and know what is in this chapter. When you arrive at a formatting question, you can go to Chapter 4 to look it up.Abbreviations, Italics & Quotations
· Define all abbreviations with full title before using
Music Aptitude Profile (MAP).
After defining an abbreviation, use the abbreviation throughout rest of document. Information about abbreviations can be found on pp. 106-111 in your APA Style Manual.
· Common Latin abbreviations:
e.g., means "for example"
i.e., means "in other words".
These two Latin abbreviations are commonly confused/misused.
· Italicize most statistical abbreviations
n = number of participants
M= mean
p = probability.
If in doubt, consult the table on pp. 119-123 in the APA Style Manual.
· If quoting over 40 words, use a block quote (indented). An example of correctly formatted block quote is on p. 92 of APA Style Manual.
· In APA, page numbers are only used when quoting directly
“Miele (1993) found…in this manner” (p. 276).
Note: The period of the sentence comes after the page number. If paraphrasing, use an in-text citation (covered in Reference Lesson).
Headings & Sub-headings
Headings in the new APA Style Manuel (2009) are changed from previous editions. Examples of headings can be found on pp. 62-63 in the APA Style Manual.
You will likely need only three levels of headings (Main heading: bold, centered, upper/lower case; 1st sub-heading (level 2): bold, left justified, upper/lower case; 2nd sub-heading (level 3): bold, indented from left, first word only capitalized, ends with period.
Numbers
Information about numbers can be found on pp. 111-114 in the APA Style Manual. Key things to remember:
· Numbers below 10 are written out (one, two, three…)
· Numbers over 10 are figures (11, …. 154 ….)
· Numbers beginning sentences are written out (Forty musicians…., One hundred children…)
Examples - Number Formatting
Correct
The researcher interviewed 40 musicians about their memorization.
Incorrect
The researcher interviewed forty musicians about their memorization.
Correct
The researcher interviewed ten musicians about their memorization.
Incorrect
The researcher interviewed 10 musicians about their memorization.
Correct
Ten musicians answered questions about their memorization.
Incorrect
10 musicians answered questions about their memorization.
Correct
Forty musicians answered questions about their memorization.
Incorrect
40 musicians answered questions about their memorization.
· Times, dates, ages, size, measurement, etc. are expressed as figures (2 weeks ago, 9 rats, March 5, 2003, 5% of students, 2-year-olds). See p. 112 in the APA Style Manual.
· When reporting a number as part of an equation (such as one that contains an = sign), put spaces around the = sign.
Correct
The researcher interviewed musicians (n = 10) about their memorization.
Incorrect
The researcher interviewed musicians (n=10) about their memorization.
Use consistent decimal places throughout document (e.g., 4.002 & 5.000 or 4.00 & 5.00). Can round numbers to 1, 2, or 3 decimal places, just be consistent.
Tables & Figures
Information about formatting tables and figures can be found on pp. 127-161 (Chapter 5) in the APA Style Manual.
· Tables expresses information in rows & columns for clarification.
. Tables should always be referenced in the text i.e., (see Table 1).
. Each table needs a caption that makes sense independently of text
. Decimal points must line up – use decimal tab. The decimal tab should be a tab formatting option. It often looks like an upside-down T with a dot. This tab forces all decimals to line up. (See picture at top of this page. Decimal tab can be seen in upper left corner. Also notice the tab marks in the ruler bar.)
In Microsoft Word, view ruler, tabs are on far left, click on tab box until decimal tab appears, drag decimal tab to ruler where you would like decimal place.
See help menus in individual word processing programs for additional help.
· Figures include graphs, pictures & diagrams used to clarify data
. Figures should always be referenced in the text i.e., (see Figure 1).
. Each figure needs a caption that makes sense independently of text. See examples in APA pp. 152-153. Notice the captions for figures is below the figure (while it is above a table) and the italicization differs also.
. If the figure is a graph, label both x (horizontal) and y (vertical) axes
Complete the Editing Question in "test"In this exercise you are given an excerpt from a research article with many errors. There are dozens and dozens of errors. I'm looking for you to find at least 20.
Continue with Next Page: Reference Formatting
