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APA Style & Citation 7th edition

How to format your paper and cite your sources using 7th ed. APA style.

Word Choice Tips

Active vs. Passive Voice (p. 118)

We conducted the study instead of The study was conducted by us
We made mistakes instead of Mistakes were made
The dog bit the man instead of The man was bitten by the dog

 

Economy of Expression (pp. 114-115)

Be succinct. Avoid wordiness and redundancy.

they were both alike one and the same in close proximity
completely unanimous just exactly period of time
summarize briefly the reason is because absolutely essential

 

Clarity (pp. 116-117)

  • Avoid jargon (technical vocabulary, euphemisms)
  • Pronouns can be confusing
  • Avoid illogical comparisons, such as: Dogs are more likely to play with people than cats.
    • Does this mean that dogs are more likely to play with people than to play with cats, or that cats are less likely than dogs to play with people?

 

Bias (chapter 5)

Avoid bias. Avoid labeling people (the elderly, the schizophrenics, normal, etc.).

 

Tense (pp. 117-118)

Use past tense when discussing another researcher's work.