A good academic paper must be written clearly and on target. It highlights ideas, not artistic methods of presenting those ideas. Document structure, punctuation, word choice, graphics, and bibliography are selected to advance the idea with the utmost precision and minimum indentation.
To achieve this clarity and ease of communication, publishers have developed particular style guidelines to ensure that written material is presented clearly and consistently. For example, editorial style concerns the consistent use of punctuation and acronyms, table construction, choice of headings, cited literature, and descriptions of statistics.
When editors or educators ask you to format the paper in the APA style, they are referring to the editorial style adopted by many social and behavioral sciences to present the material. A group of sociologists developed this style in 1929. Their goal was to establish fundamental standards for communication. Since then, it has been adopted by pioneers in many fields of science and is used by authors worldwide.
APA style involves using reference in the text of the work every time you cite a source or a paraphrase, use a quote within a line, or a blockquote. Besides that, there are special requirements for the text elements formatting. For detailed information regarding APA headings formatting, see wr1ter.
General APA citation guidelines
1. Quotes within the text
Even if you present other people’s ideas or information in your own words (for example, paraphrase), you still need to indicate where the original was taken from. It is all an important academic writing process part.
When citing within the text of the work, indicate the name of the author/authors (or editor/editors) and the year of publication.
A quote within the text may look like this:
Water is an essential part of everybody’s diet. Out of the various nutrients our bodies require to function, it needs water most of all each day (Roldes & Whittney, 2014).
Or:
Roldes and Whittney (2014) state that our body requires various nutrients to function but note that water is of the greatest importance.
Or:
Water is an important element of every person’s diet, and Roldes and Whitney (2014) emphasize its importance over other nutrients.
2. Brackets when citing.
The APA guidelines state that when citing, the year of publication must be indicated in parentheses. This rule applies regardless of the style of the first quotation (part of the story or introductory words).
E.g., Among epidemiological samples, Wessler et al. (2013) have proven that early-onset social anxiety disorder appears in a more severe and potent course. … The experiment also showed a high rate of comorbidity with drug or alcohol dependence or abuse and major depression (Wessler et al., 2013).
3. When referring to a cited material, there are also some peculiarities:
- an example of a book reference:
Audrey, D. (2013). Logo design love: A handbook to creating an excellent brand identity. Berkeley, CA: Old Riders.
- an example of printed journal article reference:
Johnson, B. (2012). Facebook: Cautionary tales for medical staff. Tai Kati: Nursing Australia, 17 (6), 23.
- an example of remote access electronic resource reference:
Ministry of Health. (2020). COVID-19: Information for the public.
Retrieved from
Other guidelines and examples can be found in the latest APA style guide.
Story by Alex Turner
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