Publication manual of the American Psychological Association : the official guide to APA style by If you are looking for a shortened guide to APA, with an overview flavor to it, you should look here.
This guide, on the other hand, grabs hold of the new seventh edition and teases out the stuff on the minds of many students, all the while offering them cheerful explanations, examples, and mini-workshop ideas professors can integrate into their classrooms.
Wishing you good luck, and good style!
Yesterday, (April 1) I ordered my very own personal paperback copy of the 7th edition, due to arrive on my doorstep early next week. Once it arrives, we can really get rolling along! It's a good use of $47, right? (Can you tell the pandemic is keeping me "at home" just a little too long?)
A few notes just to clear the air...
1. While not officially endorsed by the American Psychological Association, this guide will endeavor to take APA seriously enough, most of the time.
2. If you saw APA in the title and thought American Poolplayers Association, you may experience disappointment.
3. Within the pages of this guide, I wanted to get back to good ol'fashioned reading. To that end, I will keep the glam and glitz to a minimum. If you start missing the audio & visual experience, I recommend giving yourself a break by checking out the Poolplayers Association!
4. In reference to the third point above, I am just trying to keep it real! After all, when is the last time you heard the words APA and fun used in the same sentence? As my kid would say, "That's what I thought."
After just three days, my shiny new copy of the PMOTAPA (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) arrived! and its beautiful cover is stamped as "The Official Guide to APA Style." With the official guide in hand, there will be no confusion, and no imposters to steer us down a dark, dark rabbit hole.
Let's not forget the APA Style website and blog.
If you are new to APA, or even if you have grown fond of the sixth edition, published in 2010, you are in luck! The new guide is sure to remain the APA style currency for a long, long time, almost as long as the lifespan of a new puppy!
Early in my career as a professional librarian I had the good fortune to practice my trade in New York City, in the Borough of Queens, to be precise. The famous library in NYC, at least the one featured in a few block-buster films is protected by two marble lions, Patience and Fortitude. Over the years, these lions went through a couple of name changes. However, "During the 1930s, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia named them Patience and Fortitude, for the qualities he felt New Yorkers would need to survive the economic depression." (Library Lions, 2020, para. 4)
While the back-jacket of the APA Style manual encourages us to write with clarity, precision and inclusion, I am going to rename and re-purpose the back-jacket, so that we will write with Clarity and Honesty!
These will be the twin descriptors that will shape our academic writing and our engagement with APA Style for the next ten years!
