APA Style Website Highlights

Have you had a chance to check out the new APA Style website? With the launch of the 7th edition of their Publication Manual, the APA revamped their style website, making it easier than ever before to access the help materials you need.

Here are a few highlights:
Bias-Free Language: Access this page to find general principles for reducing bias in your writing as well as a number of specific examples addressing individual characteristics such as racial and ethnic identity, disabilities, sexual orientation, and more.
Reference Examples: Connect to this page to see common reference examples in various formats such as textual works, audiovisual materials, online media, and even data sets.
Paper Format: Struggling with the minutia of formatting an APA paper? Check out this resource for guidance on things like margins, font size, creating a title page, and more. You’ll even find sample papers to help guide you through the process.
Instructional Aids: If you’re looking for quick reference guides to save or bookmark, be sure to check out the page with ‘handouts and guides’. You’ll find checklists, activities, guide documents, and infographics to help demystify all things APA.

If you’re having trouble finding the specific guidance you need, make sure to give the APA Style Blog a try. Style experts use this space to make posts about common questions or new formats so it’s a great supplement to the full site.

The Fielding Library can also help you find further resources. If you’re dealing with a persnickety citation issue, feel free to reach out and we’ll work to get you connected to the guidance you need.

Happy Styling!

The OWL To The Rescue

We’ve all been there.  It’s 3 a.m and you’ve been frantically working to finish a huge research paper; the only thing left is…the bibliography.

The hair-pulling and screaming ensues.

Photo by Jenny Kaczorowski. View CC license here.

Many academics find themselves frustrated by the conventions for creating citations, both in-text and in bibliographies.  The rules can feel tedious and arbitrary; a period here, an italicized number followed by an un-italicized number enclosed in parentheses there. It’s enough to make anyone want to give up…

Photo by papertrix. View CC license here.

One of the best resources to combat this frustration is the Purdue Online Writing Lab, or the OWL for short. While the entire site is chock-full of information, the research and citation resources section is a dream come true.

With guides for APA, MLA, and Chicago Style, the OWL provides clear explanations and examples of how to cite a variety of resources.

Busy researchers will be thrilled with the straightforward presentation style and clarity of examples.

If citation guidance isn’t enough for you, the OWL offers all the necessary details to format and style your paper correctly, including how to properly use tables and figures, statistics, abbreviations, and more.

Better yet, you can even view a sample paper to see how all of these rules come together in a single document.

The next time you find yourself stuck or unsure how to proceed with your citations, visit the OWL for answers.

Don’t forget to check out Fielding Library’s Quick Reference Guides—we have one which lists more resources for citation help!