This document provides an overview of a presentation about APA style and writing. It begins with some jokes and then discusses what APA style is, why it's important, and how it is used. It also defines key terms like "education" and outlines the typical structure and formatting of academic papers, including dissertation chapters. Finally, it discusses specific APA elements within papers like sections, headings, citations, and references. The overall purpose is to familiarize attendees with APA style guidelines to help them with academic writing.

1. APA Style, Writing and You
A.P.A. DOESN’T MEAN
“AGGRAVATING PAPER APPLICATIONS”
Presenter: Nichole Hertel, M.Ed.
Doctoral Resident and Teaching Fellow
University of Houston

2. Tonight’s Agenda
 Jokes
 Some Questions about APA
 What is APA Style?
 Define “education”
 Helpful Advice to Survive Writing
 Brief Overview of the Dissertation Chapters
 APA Formatting of Your Paper
 Any Questions?

3. Jokes – In Honor of Halloween
 What is a Mummy's favorite type of music?
 Wrap!!!!!
 Why do demons and ghouls hang out together?
 Because demons are a ghouls best friend!
 What's a monster's favorite bean?
 A human bean.
 Why can't the boy ghost have babies?
 Because he has a Hallo-weenie.

4. About Me
 3rd year doctoral student – C&I
 graduate in summer (hopefully!)
 Bachelor of Journalism (UH )
 Master in Education, Secondary Instruction (HBU)
 Taught secondary and elementary grades
 Currently teach Class Mgmt to pre-service teachers
at Sugar Land and Main campuses
 Mom of two

5. So, Why Am I here?

6. And Because…

7. Before We Begin, Let’s Answer
Some Questions about APA…
 What is APA?
 Why is it so important?
 What does it do and do I benefit from it?
 Why do we use it in the field of education?

8. What is the APA?
 APA = The American Psychological Association
 a professional organization representing psychologists in the U.S.
 around 150,000 members
 an annual budget of around $70M
 Founded in July 1892 at Clark University by a group of
26 men
 First president was G. Stanley Hall
 There are currently 54 divisions and it is affiliated with
60 state, territorial, and Canadian provincial associations
(Note: Occasionally confused with the America Psychiatric Association)

9. APA Organization Mission Statement
 To advance psychology:
 as a science and profession and
 as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare by the
encouragement of psychology in all its branches in the broadest and
most liberal manner;
 by the promotion of research in psychology and the improvement of
research methods and conditions;
 by the improvement of the qualifications and usefulness of
psychologists through high standards of ethics, conduct, education, and
achievement;
 by the establishment and maintenance of the highest standards of
professional ethics and conduct of the members of the Association;
 by the increase and diffusion of psychological knowledge through
meetings, professional contacts, reports, papers, discussions, and
publications;
 thereby to advance scientific interests and inquiry, and the application
of research findings to the promotion of health, education, and the
public welfare

10. What is APA Style?
 A widely accepted style of documentation
particularly in the social sciences area
 Specifies multiple items within your paper:
 the names and order of headings
 paragraph formatting
 organization of citations and references,
 arrangement of tables, figures and appendices

11. What is APA Style? Cont.
 And it uses Harvard referencing keyed to a subsequent list of
References
 Harvard referencing is also referred to as the author-date system of
citations and parenthetical referencing
 The APA Publication Manual provides basic guidelines for
documenting both print and electronic resources.

12. Why is APA Style So Important?
 For You…
 Can make organizing your paper MUCH easier
 For Your Reader…
 Can make your paper easier to read for your intended audience

13. What Does it Do & Do I Benefit From It? -YES!
 If you wish to publish in a psychological or
educational journal, then this is the style you will
need to follow
 It allows for protection in your writing through the
use of references
 Protects sources/authors you are quoting from being plagiarized
 Protects you, the writer, from accusations of plagiarism

14. Why Do We Use It In the Education Field?
 Education is found under the social sciences
umbrella
 The social sciences are comprise academic disciplines
concerned with the study of the social life of human groups
and individuals
 A few examples: Anthropology, communications studies,
criminology, economics, geography, history, political science,
psychology, social studies and sociology

15. What is “Education” Anyway?
 Education encompasses teaching others (outward)
and learning specific skills (inward)
 It is the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment
and well-developed wisdom from the inward self to
and outward source

16. What is “Education” Anyway? Cont.
 “To educate” = to draw out
 From the Latin “educare”
 to facilitate the realization of an individual's potential and
talents.
 It is an application of pedagogy
 a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching
and learning
 specifically draws on disciplines such as psychology,
philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience,
sociology and anthropology

17. Why, again, is APA Style Used?
 Main reason: To give writers a standard format to
follow when preparing their manuscripts for
publication
 Makes the editorial process go smoother
 Provides editors with benchmarks against which to measure
the quality of writing
 Rules make converting writte work into published pages a
more consistent process

18. A Few Helpful Resources in Your Journey…
Let’s take a look
together

19. Now It’s Your Turn
 You will need these things for the next part:
 Something to write with
 This handout
 The second handout titled “Sample APA Style Used in A
Candidacy Paper”
 The third titled “Levels of Heading”
 The fourth titled APA Sample Paper
 The dissertation in front of you (to share)
 Your brains

20. INHALE DEEPLY
AND
LET’S BEGIN

21. General Formatting for Education Papers
 First, the words “papers,” “proposal,” “candidacy
paper,” “dissertation,” and “article” are going to
mean the same thing in terms of this discussion

22. The Real Dissertations
 Thumb through the dissertation in front of you
 What do you see?

23. How Are the Papers Set Up?
 Cover Page
 Table of Contents
 Abstract
 Body of Paper
 Chapters
 Headings
 Sections and Subsections
 Tables and Figures
 Citations
 References
 Appendices
 Tables
 Figures

24. Body Chapters Briefly
 5 main dissertation chapters:
 The introductory part
 The literature review
 The methodology
 The results
 The discussion
 All dissertation chapters have their specific
characteristics

25. Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
 Presents the main problems which will be discussed
in your dissertation
 Important to demonstrate that your work is
significant
 Ending of this chapter is a statement of your
research question
 Think: How you came to this topic

26. Chapter 2: LITERARY REVIEW
 Main points which were presented in other researches
on this topic
 Qualitative studies "talk to" the literature
 can be integrated throughout the paper, with advisor's approval
 Quantitive studies present the literature
 Relatively small compared to the rest of the chapters
 4-5 concepts/key terms presented (develop completely)
 Think: History of my topic

27. Chapter 3: METHOLOGY
 Describes the methods and investigation
 Try to prove your ideas by different references
 Present your own ideas and viewpoints
 include strong rationales
 Will lead-in to your conclusion in the next chapter
 AKA persuasive argument paper
 Think: Turn your reader into an agreer

28. Chapter 4: RESULTS
 Sum up all of your research
 Show that all the necessary questions have been
answered
 Be crystal clear and laconic
 Series of chapters/subchapters divided by logical and
natural layout of the inquiry
 Think: Scientific Method Syntax (not actual scientific
method used)

29. Chapter 5: DISCUSSION
 Compare your results with the results made by others
 Demonstrate your knowledge and skills in theory and
practice
 End with the new knowledge you are bringing to the
field (leads to Chapter 6)
 Think: The reason I should get an "A" on this
assignment is because…

30. Chapter 6: REFLECTION
 Optional Chapter
 but push in Education now is on the self-reflective
practitioner
 I call it the “I.E.S.” Chapter
 Think: What impact did my learning have directly
on me?

31. Last Words on Dissertation Chapters
 Very important to create a logical connection
 often happens slowly
 The more interesting your info is presented, the
more captivated your reader becomes in your paper
 Good for us because advisor/editors will read to enjoy and
learn rather than to critique 

32. APA Within Your Paper
 Covers mainly Chapters 2-5
 Specific Parts Are:
 Sections and Subsections
 Headings
 Tables and Figures
 Citations
 References

33. Sections and Subsections
 Typically include the following 7 sections
 Title Page
 Abstract
 Body
 References
 Tables (new page for each table)
 Figure captions
 Figures (new page for each figure)
 Also, avoid having one sub-section heading in a paper.
 Let’s look at Handout #2

34. Headings
 Aid in establishing the hierarchy of the sections of a
paper to help orient the reader
 Topics within a paper that have equal importance
will have the same level of headings throughout the
paper
 Can also function as an outline to reveal the papers
organization

35. Levels of Headings
 Consists of five possible formatting arrangements, each
according to the levels of subordination. The headings
are numbered Level 1, Level 2, and so forth to Level 5
 Level 1: Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
 Level 2: Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
 Level 3: Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with period.
 Level 4: Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with
period.
 Level 5: Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with period
 Let’s Look at Handout 3

36. Tables and Figures
 “table” = data that is entered in columns and rows
 “figure” = all other kinds of illustration or
representation of data
 Integrated throughout the paper where needed AND
attached at the end of the document
 Data should not be just left as a narrative
 Put into SOME kind of graphic or chart form -- either as a
table or as a figure (such as a bar graph or a pie chart)

37. Tables and Figures Cont.
 In the paper body, center table/figure and label all
information
 Describe table (pretend the table is not there and your are telling the
reader about it)
 At the end of the document after Appendices, one
table/ figure per page
 What you should use depends on what facts you are
trying to display
 Think: What is the most informative way to display the
information?

38. Hints About Tables and Figures
 Figures
 should not have tick marks for the measures
 should have titles for the x and y axis
 should not have outline around the graph
 should not have minor lines on the chart
 the legend should either not exist if the graph is simple or should be
inside the chart
 need to be on a figure captions page, with an explanation of the
data represented
 do not have page numbers, and should have penciled in, on the back
the top and the figure caption that corresponds to it.
 Tables
 do have page numbers
 do not have vertical lines

39. Citations
 Reference citations in text are done using
parenthetical referencing
 Involves enclosing the author's surname and the date of
publication within parentheses, separated by a comma,
generally placed immediately after the reference or at the end
of the sentence in which the reference is made.
 Also common for the authors to be the subject or object of a
sentence.
 In the case of a quotation, the page number is also included in
the citation.

40. Citation Examples
 Example 1 –
 Pauling (2005) writes that “after a successful experiment, I
discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism” (p. 123).
 Example 2 –
 Pauling (2005) discovered a possible genetic cause of
alcoholism.
 Example 3 -
 A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism
(Pauling, 2005).

41. Direct vs. Indirect Quotes
 Direct Quotation = exactly what the author wrote
 Indirect Quotation = a paraphrasing of what the
author wrote
 The same rules apply, the format being (Author,
Year, Page Number).

42. Direct vs. Indirect Quote Examples
 Example #1 –
 When asked why his behavior had changed so dramatically,
Max simply said he believed it was because of the
reinforcement (Pauling, 2004, p. 69).
 Example #2 –
 When asked why his behavior had changed so dramatically,
Max simply said, "I think it's the reinforcement" (Pauling,
2004, p. 69).

43. Statistical Expressions in APA
 There are certain ways to do this as well
 Don’t be concerned about it yet
 If needed, ask Dr. Ruban for assistance
 Take EDRS 8382

44. References
 Full bibliographic information
 Found at the end of the paper
 Can only include articles that are cited within the
body of an paper
 This is the distinction between a document having a Reference
section and a bibliography, which may incorporate sources
which may have been read by the authors as background, but
not referred to or included in the body of a document

45. Types of References
 Print sources
 Electronic sources

46. Handout #4 – The Complete Sample Paper
 Use this paper as a future reference

47. What Questions
Can I Help
Answer for You?