Best of the APA Style Blog: 2018 Edition

Each fall we put together a “best of” post to highlight blog posts and apastyle.org pages that we think are helpful both for new students and to those who are familiar with APA Style. You can get the full story in our sixth edition Publication Manual (also available as an e-book) and our APA Style Guide to Electronic References, in addition to the pages linked below.

Getting Started

What is APA Style?
Why is APA Style needed?
Basics of APA Style Tutorial (free)
FAQs about APA Style

Sample Papers

Sample Paper 1
Sample Paper 2
Sample meta-analysis paper
Sample published APA article

APA Style Basics Principles

How in-text citations work
How reference list entries work
What’s the difference between references and citations?
How to handle missing information
How to find the best example you need
in the Publication Manual
“Cite what you see, cite what you use”
How to avoid plagiarism

Grammar and Spelling

The use of singular “they”
Punctuation Junction
 (what happens when punctuation marks collide)
Use of first person
Spelling tips
Grammar tips

Student and Researcher Resources

Line spacing recommendations for each part of an APA Style paper
How to format your CV or resume
Citing a class or lecture
School intranet or Canvas/Blackboard class website materials
Classroom course packs and custom textbooks
Quoting and discussing research participant data
Reference lists versus bibliographies
MLA versus APA Style (in-text citations and the reference list)
Student Research Webinars From APA and Psi Chi
Updated APA Style JARS: Advancing Psychological Research

References to Electronic Resources

Website references and in-text citations to websites
Citing multiple pages from the same website
E-books
Mobile apps
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Google+) pages and posts
Hashtags
Blog posts and blog comments
Online-only journal articles
YouTube videos and TED Talks
Software
New DOI display guidelines

Copyright

Understanding copyright status
Determining whether permission is needed to reproduce a table or figure
Securing permission
Writing the copyright permission statement for reproduced tables and figures
Attributing data in tables

Other “How-To” Citation Help

Translated sources (vs. your own translation)
Secondary sources (sources you found in another source) and why to avoid them
illustrators and illustrated books
Interviews
Legal references
Paraphrased work

Paper Formatting

Direct quotes and Block quotations
Paraphrasing
Capitalization
Fonts
Headings
Lists (letterednumbered, or bulleted)
Margins
Running heads
Spelling
Numbers

Statistics
Keywords (vs. key terms)
Hyperlink formatting

Reposted with permission from APA Style Blog

About the Author

The APA Style Blog is the official companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. It's run by a group of experts who work with APA Style every day. We publish weekly posts to talk about what we love—writing, publishing, and APA Style. We explore what APA Style is and how it works in a variety of areas, including reference citations of every sort, grammar and usage, the publication process, and social media. Occasionally we feature guest bloggers who write about more technical issues.