In my first quarter as a peer writing tutor, many of the writers I’ve worked with have asked for help with papers written in APA format. As a Psychology major, I have plenty of experience with APA, but for many writers (and tutors), it’s a new and unfamiliar style. In this blog post, I’ve compiled some tips on how to tutor writers in APA so that writers can feel confident in their work before submitting it.
Paper Format
When writing in APA, there’s a specific format tutors should look out for. Pages should be numbered, section titles should be bolded, and there should be no spaces in between each section, especially in in-text citations (“Paper Format,” 2019). One thing to keep in mind, however, is that non-science classes might use APA citations, but they may not be especially strict about the format. The writer will know best what their professor’s expectations are, so this is a good point to talk about with them and decide how strictly the paper will need to adhere to them.
Writing Style
Unlike other writing styles, APA encourages the use of varied verb tenses in order to give the reader a frame of reference for when an event occurred. For example, a literature review would be written in the past tense because it refers to experiments that have already been done. APA also allows the use of first person pronouns, as well as the singular pronoun “they.” These stylistic rules are designed to make APA style writing as specific, unambiguous, and unbiased as possible. APA’s emphasis on respectful, bias-free language is a good value for tutors to keep in mind (“APA Nuances,” 2019). When working with writers and attempting to match these stylistic expectations, you will want to review such things, briefing them on why such expectations are in place and what can be accomplished with them.
In-Text Citations
Because APA is generally used for scientific papers, in-text citations are used to credit the author and indicate the currency of a source (“APA,” 2019). In general, they should include the author’s last name followed by a comma, and the year the source was published. In the event that there is no author, the writer should use a phrase from the title of the source in quotes instead of the name of the author (“APA Style Guide,” 2019). If the writer is quoting directly from the text, the date should be followed by a page number. When paraphrasing, the date should appear in quotation marks directly after the author’s name in a sentence.
Moving Forward
Now that you have the basics, I hope that these help yourself and others work on their drafts, refining them to be as comprehensive and APA-aligning as possible!
References
American Psychological Association. (2019). APA style. Retrieved November 12, 2019, from https://apastyle.apa.org/
Harvard Guide to Using Sources. (2019). APA. Retrieved November 12, 2019, from https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/apa
UNC. (2019). APA style guide. Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://guides.lib.unc.edu/APA#s-lg-box-18721982
Walden University. (2019). Apa style. Retrieved November 12, 2019, from https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/apa