APA style and citations for dummies - Joe Giampalmi 2021

Opening impressions: formatting front matter
Preparing appetizers and desserts: front and back materials
Perfecting presentation: beginnings, endings, and other writings

In this part …

Create an opening impression with your choice of APA’s multiple optional parts — abstract, executive summary, and table of contents.

Package your presentation with APA accent tools such as title page elements, page formatting, and page organization.

Examine one APA coordinated assignment that determines college success — the essay, dependent on source engagement and experts’ synthesis.

Put APA to the test with its review of literature and reports.

Chapter 13. Preparing appetizers and desserts: front and back materials

In this chapter

Tabling your contents

Abstracting highlights

Determining whether you need your appendix

Taking advantage of your options

Let the questions begin. Front and back materials represent the intersection of APA requirements and your professor’s requirements — and you know who assigns the grade. Where specific professor guidelines end, your student initiative begins. You’re unlikely to give yourself credit for the academic initiative and ingenuity that contributed to your being the successful college student you are today. But you’re the captain who navigated your course to academic success.

Somewhere after middle school, you took responsibility and developed the skills to become an independent learner. Now that you’re a college student, the point where APA requirements are either vague or nonexistent, you need to rely on your academic instincts to make good choices on inclusion of research parts. You also need to ask your professor a mouthful of questions.

Here’s a list of questions to ask your professor about front and back materials:

· Is a model of front and back materials available, or should I strictly follow APA guidelines and the online models?

· Is a numbered table of contents required?

· Are figures or tables required? May I use them? Are they required to be embedded?

· Are appendixes required? May I use them?

The best time to ask initial assignment questions is the day assignments are introduced, when your professor allocates time and expects student questions. Before asking questions, read the assignment directions that include a description of the assignment, the due date, and how to submit it. Always avoid questions with a nonacademic tone, such as, “What does this assignment have to do with the course?” Also avoid prefacing a question with, “I’m confused.” Instead, preface with, “Could you please clarify …?”

In this chapter I show you the periphery of the research assignment, the front and back sections that can improve your presentation and also improve your grade. I show you how to create an opening impression with a table of contents, abstract, and list of figures. Then I explain features to help you create a memorable lasting impression — appendix, glossary, footnotes, and endnotes. Professors’ preferences for front and back materials with assignments vary as much as your online shopping choices.

Opening impressions: formatting front matter

What do Broadway and your professor have in common? They both love good openings. Unlike Broadway, front matter for your research papers is optional — unless your professor designates them as required. As a professor who has graded thousands of research projects, I can tell you that organizational features that clarify content influence grading. The following sections take a closer look at what constitutes front matter.

Previewing your paper: table of contents

APA doesn’t require a table of contents, but why not take advantage of an opportunity to clarify your presentation, show your professor how organized you are, and highlight your inclusion of assignment requirements? If your table of contents could speak, it would say, “I am a preview of the organization and content sequence within this research paper. My purpose is to make a good impression on my professor and begin the process of earning a good grade.”

As a real-life example, how disoriented would you feel if this book lacked a table of contents to search for the location of “Front and Back Materials”? It would be like trying to find your parked car “somewhere in New York City.” This For Dummies book shows the importance of a table of contents by containing two: the traditional one and a Contents at a Glance.

Begin your table of contents by identifying the major topics of your paper, followed by the headings, such as introduction, literature review, argument, discussion, conclusion, reference, and appendix.

Don’t include an abstract or list of figures in the table of contents.

Keep these formatting guidelines in mind for your table of contents:

· Center and bold “contents” (without quotation marks) at the top of a new page. Don’t underline or italicize.

· Use title case, capitalizing key words, and double space all lines.

· Avoid the word “page” above page numbers. Readers know the number at the end of the dotted line is a page number.

· Align page numbers flush right.

· List only the page number where the content begins, not the range of pages that contain the content.

Some professors may require that you number content and include subheadings, as in Figure 13-1. Note: Endnotes and appendixes are optional sections and not required by APA.

If your professor follows strict APA guidelines, and requires numbering and subheadings, then your contents page should look like Figure 13-2.

Also use numbered contents if APA instruction is part of your course content.

FIGURE 13-1: A sample table of contents that most professors will accept.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 13-2: Contents page with numbering and subheadings.

Listing figures and tables

Figures in an academic paper enhance text and add to the professionalism of your presentation. Figures represent a large category of visuals, including photographs, images, signs, clip art, drawings, diagrams, graphs, and charts. Contrary to the belief of many students, figures don’t speak for themselves. They need context and the companionship of nearby sentences.

The role of figures depends on the course and topic. Figures enhance text for any topic, including education, business, art, and science. They infrequently appear in literature and other humanities topics. In a history paper, for example, figures include artifacts, maps, and historical photographs. Examples in business include bar graphs, comparison data, and mission statements.

The purpose of tables in research writing is to display large quantities of numerical data. Tables are rare in undergraduate research writing, unless you’re reporting on extensive scientific data. Information on constructing tables is available online. When tables are used, they’re referenced in the text, similar to figures. APA recommends including a list of tables in an appendix on the page immediately following the reference list. Many professors (and department guidelines) prefer tables and figures to be embedded in the text and not in an appendix. Ask your professor what they prefer.

Formatting figures

Four to six well-formatted images can improve your paper and your grade. But one misaligned figure can make your paper look as unprofessional as a misaligned resume. Many online images are adaptable to copying and pasting inside a text box, with a citation. As I discuss in Chapter 10, a parenthetical citation for images requires an author and date — and a page number for quotations.

Guidelines for utilizing figures include

· Legible and limited text

· Size and content adaptable to a text box

· Colors that avoid clashing

Figures require a number and title, and are written in title case. Bold the word “figure” and the number. Italicize the figure name. Here are some examples:

· Figure 1: Johnson’s Hierarchy of Academic Skills

· Figure 2: James’ Steps for Team Designing

· Figure 3: Photo of Civil War Sword

· Figure 4: Map of Category 5 Hurricanes

Figures also require reference within the text. When figures are referenced within the text, don’t bold the word “figure.” Here are some examples:

· Figure 1 compares the cost of college in the ’80s with costs today.

· Figure 2 identifies Albertson’s steps for achieving financial independence.

· Figure 3 shows a 1950s kitchen coffeemaker.

Occasionally, a figure requires a brief explanatory note, as in the following example:

Hurricane tracking in 1960 consisted of identifying the path travelled.

Placing the list of figures

APA’s order of pages recommends placing the list of figures in front of the appendixes, or as the last page if no appendix is used. Your professor may prefer the list of figures immediately follow the table of contents. Ask your professor what they prefer. Begin your list of figures on a new page, as shown in Figure 13-3.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 13-3: A list of figures.

This is why you need to ask your professor questions to clarify the following:

· APA recommends placing figures and tables in an appendix, and it offers you the option of combining them in one appendix.

· Many professors (and department guidelines) prefer that you embed figures and tables within the text where they have more relevancy, rather than placing them in an appendix.

· If figures and tables are embedded, many professors prefer a list of figures and a list of tables, which are usually located after the table of contents.

Focusing on abstracts

Think of the abstract (usually associated with published articles) as the “about us” page of your research project. Unless your professor provides other guidelines, your abstract begins with the purpose of the research and highlights major topics in your report. The length is a paragraph or two, about 200 words at the undergraduate level. Generally, as an undergraduate, you don’t reveal study results or disclose new information in your abstract.

Depending on the course or topic, professors usually require an abstract or executive summary. At the thesis level and above, abstracts include a summary of the problem, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. If you’re writing a thesis or above, this book is a warm-up for the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Seventh Edition), which describes a half-dozen variations of abstracts.

Write the abstract after completing the research report. It’s written in the past tense and frequently contains the first-person plural pronoun “we.” Formatting guidelines for the abstract include the following (Figure 13-4 shows an example):

· Position the abstract on a new page following the title page.

· Center and bold the word “Abstract” (no quotation marks) at the top of the page. Avoid quotation marks, italics, and underlining. Don’t indent. Write paragraphs in block style.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 13-4: A sample abstract.

· Double space.

· Follow the chronological organization of the report.

Including an executive summary

An executive summary, serving a similar purpose to an abstract (which I discuss in the previous section), is a frequent requirement of government and business reports. In the workplace, the audience of the executive summary are decision makers who determine their interest in the topic. Executive summaries are frequently required in business courses in place of abstracts.

The real-world goal of the executive summary is to entice the decision maker to read the report. Executive summaries include multiple variations because they serve multiple purposes — unlike abstracts. Their business purposes, for example, include previewing business proposals, business plans, investment proposals, recommendation reports, sales pitches, and product introductions. Executive summaries in college business courses usually preview reports on topics such as introducing a new policy implementing a change of procedure, and analyzing a workplace issue.

Unlike abstracts, executive summaries frequently include graphic organizers such as headings, subheadings, and bullets, strategies that are common to business writing. Their length, a little longer than an abstract, ranges from three-quarters to a full page, and they frequently contain four or five paragraphs.

Here’s a look at a typical organization of an executive summary (see Figure 13-5):

· Begin with an anecdote that engages the reader with the business issue.

· Transition into a statement of the problem.

· Describe the urgency of solving the problem at this time.

· Identify financial implications of the problem.

· Offer solutions to solve the problem.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 13-5: A sample executive summary for a business topic.