APA Style is authoritatively defined and illustrated in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, currently in its 7th edition (2019).
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Students have raised a number of questions about why APA Style is as it is. A number of the requirements appear counter-intuitive and are labor-intensive.
On May 20, 2020 John Barker, Teaching Assistant in the School of Professional Studies spoke with Chelsea Bromstad Lee, a member of the APA Style team who authored and edited the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. Ms. Lee has worked for the APA since 2007.
Ms. Lee explained that a task force invested many hours in debating the changes from the 6th edition to the 7th edition. Many rules changed to increase the productivity of authors in a digital environment. COVID-19, which has reduced or eliminated access to print content, has made digital productivity more pressing for authors. Many rules that could have changed to accommodate digital workflows have not yet changed due to convention. What follows are some of the more specific questions addressed during their conversation.
Why should students be forced to follow APA when so many other styles exist, such as AMA or MLA? What are the inherent advantages of APA over other styles?
ANSWER: Inherent Advantages of APA Style
There are inherent advantages of APA Style. Some are exclusive. A principle underlying these advantages is that APA Style provides best practices beyond formatting and citation style. APA focuses on optimizing writing for the sciences. The APA has the following working groups and committees to develop these advantages:
Scholarly Writing & Publishing Principles: Chapter 1 of the APA Publication Manual, 7th edition covers
Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS): Chapter 3 of the APA Publication Manual, 7th edition & APA Style JARS website
Why are there so many rules (for both citations and overall paper formatting and style)? Many students perceive that searching for the rules distracts them from the clear and precise writing that APA style emphasizes.
ANSWER: Convention and a Large APA User Base Are the Logic Behind Many APA Style Rules
Many APA rules exist because of convention. For example, in 1929, when APA Style began, the APA team believed that the use of sentence case, instead of title case, for journal titles in references was easier to read. Even though the use of sentence case involves changing from title case when students copy and paste a title, the 7th edition team believed that due to the existing APA customer base, this convention should be retained. This logic persists for other rules, such as the rules for writing numbers versus numerals.
Why should students be forced to follow APA when most journals do not adhere to APA? Many students suggest that we adopt the style that emerges as the "consensus" style of most journals.
Some students (and many of our faculty) in the class are attorneys or individuals who have studied legal research techniques. For legal references, APA relies on The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Association, 20191001, p. xxi) yet modifies some of the rules. Why? What is wrong with the Bluebook standard?
ANSWER: "There is nothing wrong with Bluebook style. However, the vast majority of our users are not attorneys or individuals who have studied legal research techniques. To accommodate our audience, we decided that we would permit writers to put URLs at the end of legal references. This makes retrieving the legal source used much easier for writers and readers. Students who do not have the years of experience your students have assume they should include a URL when using an online resource. Thus, the guideline supports their instincts as well as does no harm. If your students want to use straight Bluebook style for legal references, that it fine with us." (C.Lee, personal communication May 14, 2020).
Why has the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual made changes to the format for in-text citations?
ANSWER: In the Preface/Introduction, the manual states that the new format for in-text citations is designed to make it easier for screen readers to read the content to persons with vision difficulties as well as assist readers and writers who use "other assistive technologies."
In addition to webpages guiding users on the application of APA Style, the APA also uses Social Media to provide assistance.
The APA responds to individual questions by email and estimates a 3-business day response time. StyleExpert@apa.org
This encyclopedia entry provides an overview of APA Style, its goals, characteristics, history, and controversies, with citations to additional works. The article discusses the 6th edition of the Manual.
Eckstein, Jessica J. "American Psychological Association (APA) Style." The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, edited by Mike Allen, vol. 1, SAGE Reference, 2017, pp. 26-28. Gale eBooks, Accessed 28 May 2020.
These articles, published by Robert J. Connors provide discussion of the development of citations and footnotes alongside the development of modern scholarship. For those who are really interested!
Connors, Robert J. The rhetoric of citation systems -- Part I: The development of annotation structures from the renaissance to 1900. Rhetoric Review, 17:1, 6-48, DOI: 10.1080/07350199809359230
Connors, Robert J. The rhetoric of citation systems -- Part II: Competing epistemic values in citation, Rhetoric Review, 17:2, 219-245, DOI: 10.1080/073501999359242