Locating and Critically Analyzing Primary Research Articles

© 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 1 of 7 Common APA Style and Formatting Challenges The following guidelines are followed by most faculty members on most Walden coursework, theses, and dissertations. Occasionally, Walden faculty will ask for slight variations on these rules. 1. Font : Use a 12 -poin t serif font, such as Garamond, Times Roman, Palatino, or Century Schoolbook . Tit les, headings, and table titles and copy should also appear in the same 12 -point type. 2. Spacing : Double -space all of your work , per guidelines in the 6 th edition of the APA s tyle manual . Per APA, you should insert two space s after a sentence ending period, although many Walden members allow a single space after a period. 3. Margins and page numbers: All margins should be 1 ” from the edge of the paper. Page numbers go in the uppe r right corner, 1 ” down and 1 ” in from the edge of the paper. The first line of text should start 1.5 ” down. ( Note: MS Word defaults the first line of text at 1 ”.) 4. Italics : Use italic s, not underlines. The APA manual offers guidance on the use of italics in Chapter 4. 5. Punctuation: The APA nuance most commonly missed by students follows: In a series of three or more nouns or noun phrases, you must insert a comma before the word and or or , as in the following examples: bacon, lettuce, and tomato; Tom, Dic k, or Harry; eating lunch, going to the gym, and heading home. Use a semicolon to combine two independent clauses or to separate elements of a list that contains a comma, as in the past example. Add an apostrophe + s for possessives of names: Smith ’s; Jo nes ’s. 6. Capitalization and spelling: Job titles are not capitalized unless immediately preceding a person ’s name: the superintendent, but Superintendent Williams; the president of the school board; Vice President Agnew. Use a lowercase letter after a colo n unless you ’re introducing a complete sentence. In general, words with prefixes are not hyphenated: pretest, posttest, antidiscrimination, bilingual, codependent, multinational, underserved, overextended , semistructured, nondenominational, multimedia, ant isocial. © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 2 of 7 7. Lists (Seriation) and Bullets . Within a paragraph, list items using (a), (b), (c), and so on. The teachers identified three challenges: (a) teaching hungry children, (b) making do with outdated books, and (c) organizational bureaucracy. In a v ertical list, the items would be listed like this: 1. Teaching hungry children . 2. Making do with outdated books. 3. Organizational bureaucracy. The 6 th edition of the APA manual allo ws for the use of bullets. See C hapter 3 for guidance. 8. Numbers and percentages . The rules for numbers are tricky and should be studied. In general, numbers 10 and higher appear as numerals; nine and lower are written out. There are exceptions: elements of time, distance, ratios, and percentages always appear as numerals, unless at the start of a sentence. Use a percentage sign with numer als unless at the start of a sentence: There was a 4% increase in the price of lettuce. Seventy percent of the children were malnourishe d. 9. Use respectful language. Chapter 3 in the APA ma nual presents important information on language use with respect to gender, race, disabilities, and so forth. Avoid the generic pronouns he and she , or he/she , when possible, by using they: Wrong: When a teacher has a bad day, she feels like screaming. Better: When teachers have a bad day, they feel like screaming. 10. Tables and figures. Sections on tables and figures in C hapter 4 are critical to your accurate and persuasive portrayal of data. Read through these sections when developing tables and figures i n your papers and reports. Quick Guide to Citing Sources in APA Style While the publication m anual may look overwhelming to you when you first start using it, remember that nearly everything you need to know can be found in three sections of the manual. Formatting in -text citations can be found in C hapter 6. © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 3 of 7 The gist of what you need to know for references lists can be found in the examples in Chapter 7. Formatting In -text Citations These basic rules relate to in -text citations . 1. Use the a uthor/date system. Be careful with your punctuation. Gould ’s (1999) analysis was later challenged by others (Duncan, 2003; Evans & Barker, 2004). Notice that the two pairs of studies are separated with a semicolon and that you use an ampersand (&) as a sub stitute for the word and when showing the names of authors inside parentheses. 2. Do not plagiarize. Just changing a couple of words or rearranging a sentence isn ’t paraphrasing. For direct quotes, you must identify the page number or paragraph number of the original source. For paraphrases, you are strongly encouraged to do so. Original of Latham ( 200 8): Luxury boxes and other amenities aimed at affluent fans are one way to attract new revenue to a stadium, but the public dollars that fund them benefit o nly the privileged classes, not the common good. Plagiarism: Luxury boxes and other amenities aimed at rich fans are a way to get new revenue at a stadium. However, the public monies that fund them benefit only the wealthy — and not the common good (Latham, 200 8). Paraphrased: Latham (200 8) argued that spending public dollars on comforts enjoyed solely by wealthy fans is not in the overall public interest (p. 432). 3. Normally, the final punctuation after a direct quote comes after the page identifier whil e the final/closing quotation mark comes right before page identifier, as in this example : Jorgenson (2005) indicated that the price of coffee rose “dramatically ” during the previous decade because of “consumers ’ lust for an overpriced buzz ” (p. 513) . © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 4 of 7 4. When directly quoting a source of 40 or more consecutive words , format the quote in block form . The final punctuation comes before the parenthetical element. If this were a direct quote, indent about five spaces on the left. It is 43 words, which is wh y it is formatted in block form. The final period is placed before the parenthetical element, not after it as in the Latham examples.

(Rachmaninoff, 1936, p. 3) 5. List authors in groups of different sources in alphabetical order by first listed author ’s surname. Separate groups with semicolons. (e.g., Hart, 1998; Iksic & Holmes, 1995; Melnick, Ek, & Fazio, 2004) . 6. “Et al. ” should not be used the first time a work is cited unless that work has six or more authors. For works with fewer than six authors , list all authors in the first citation, then use the surname of the first author and “et al. ” and the year in subsequent references. Be careful with the punctuation. Usually there ’s no comma between the author and et al. As noted earlier, Melnick et al. (2004) suggested that. . . . 7. With two or more authors in a parenthetical citation, use “&” rather than “and ” before the last author. Stein and Hernandez (1995) , but other authors (Gomez & O’Hara, 1995). . . . Formatting the Reference List Several s oftware companies have created programs to format your reference list automatically per APA (including APA itself). Students have spoken highly of Perrla.com and, for use with Firefox, free software available from www.zotero.org . Check the Walden Writing C enter for information. The following examples are formatted with hanging indents. Commas separate all authors and use an ampersand ( &), not the word and . Only surnames appear in full; otherwise, use initials. Use italics or underlines — but choose one and b e consistent. Book titles appear in sentence case — not title case. 1. An entire book. Melnick, A., Ek, S. A., & Fazio, M. J. (2004). Finishing high school without trying . Erie, PA: Peach St reet Press. © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 5 of 7 2. A chapter in an edited book. Pogoff, S. ( 200 8). Hair and nails to match. In L. Rubenstein & A. Cukier (Eds.), Preteen survival guide (pp. 48 –56). New York , NY : Longman . Note that in the above example, Pogoff, the chapter author, gets the in -text citation — not the book editors. 3a. A journal article wi th a DOI number printed . The DOI number identifies the source of an article. Not all journal articles show one, but if it ’s there, it ’s usually on the first page of the article. You might find the DOI number listed in your database search. Latham, M. ( 20 08). The future of stadiums is not the past. Sports Economics, 17 , 431 –468. doi:10 -9876.5432.098 Note that the title of the article is written in sentence case, an d no quotation marks are used, nor does pp. appear before the page numbers. No punctuation follows the DOI number. 3b. A journal article with no available DOI number. The sixth edition of the APA manual requires you to find the URL homepage of the journal you are citing if no DOI number is available. Clemente , R. ( 2009 ). Incidence of asthma in rural Puerto Rico . Journal of Latino Health , 23 , 32 –39 . Retrieved from www.jlh.com/index.pr.html 4. A magazine article, no author. Enough scandals for one day. ( 2009 , May 19). Newsweek , 46 . When the author is not provided, indicate the title of the au thor in the first spot. In the in -text citation, the article title is shortened, in quotation marks, to lead the reader to the right spot in the references. ( “Enough Scandals, ” 1998). © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 6 of 7 5. Article from ERIC found online. Thomas, M., & Donahue, P. (1995). Reexamining the effects of TV on the elderly . Minneapolis , MN: Center for the Study of the Visual Media. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 543 980). Retrieved from ERIC database. 6. The DSM -IV . American Psychiatric Association. (2000 -TR). Diagnos tic and statistical manual of mental disorders (rev. 4 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author . In text : (DSM -IV -TR, 2000 ) 7. One author, two publications in the same year. Whittemore, A. (2001a). Finding a path toward recovery. Journal of Zen Studies, 15, 314 –345. Whittemore, A. (2001b). Loss of hair and the effect on the aging male. Coping Today, 13 , 25 –29 . In text, note the first publication by citing it as (Whittemore, 2001a), the second as (Whittemore, 2001b). 8. A reprinted version of an earlier text, in an edited volume. Watson, M. (2004). Balancing family and work. In H. Simon & F. Parker (Eds.) , Psychological despondence (pp. 135 -150). (Original work published 1915) © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 7 of 7 If you read something that was originally published in a different book or journa l, cite both dates in text, separated with a slash: (Watson, 1915/2004) 9. A secondary source — meaning, you didn ’t read something that the author you read has referred to. Suppose you read the following on page 203 in a book by Hassan (2006), and you want to refer to the work by Reynolds that you did not read firsthand: Economic and political conditions in sub -Saharan Africa in the 1990s led to a large increase in the number of African immigrants to the Upper Midwest (Reynolds, 2003). In your paper, you will write : Reynolds (as cited in Hassan, 2006) stated that struggles in sub -Saharan Africa near the end of the 20 th century resulted in an increase in the native African population into the American Upper Midwest (p. 203). Only works you read firsthan d appear in the reference list. Note that many Walden faculty approve of secondary sources only if you are unable to locate and read the original source, 10. Personal communication. Per APA, references to personal communication, such as letters, memos, e -mail messages, or phone interviews show up only in -text and not in the reference list. The drop in crime among youth may actually increase the need for mental health services in Aitkin County (M. Lemieux, personal communication, February 1, 2005). Refer to http://www.apastyle.org/ for examples of other online references.