American Psychological Association (APA) has put forth the 7th edition of its formatting style in its publication manual. Although there are previous versions, the last one was published on October 1st, 2019. APA style is used by writers, editors, students and educators to organize and represent their writing in a clear and concise manner. One needs to be updated on these guidelines that are provided by APA while writing manuscripts and research papers.
APA formatting style can be used both by students for their research papers and professionals for writing their manuscripts. It includes a range of areas which takes time to learn and practice, but prove beneficiary in the end.
Sometimes, following all the guidelines mentioned could be a tedious task. Such, APA formatting services are provided by advisories like Miller editing center who aim to provide accurate and pristine editing work.
Why a new edition
The new edition is formulated with the objective of ease of navigation. The content inside the chapters are numbered to help finding answers to questions easily. This lets the manual to function both as a reference and scholarly writing textbook .
Components
The components of the new edition of APA formatting style is given in chapters.
They are:
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Scholarly writing and Publishing principles
Both Qualitative and Quantitative methods have been updated. Comprises guidance on data sharing.
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Paper elements and format
Title page have been included for students and updated for professionals. Sample papers have been introduced for both students and professionals. Heading format has been updated.
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Journal Article Reporting Standards
Journal article reporting standards (JARS) is updated. It now covers qualitative and mixed methods of research.
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Writing style and Grammar
Guidelines on abbreviations, Proper nouns, Numbers representation, Names and lists of Genes and Protein, Line spacing after periods have been updated.
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Bias-Free Language Guidelines
Participation in research and use of Inclusive language are encouraged. New updations are included on intersectionality. Guidance is provided for new participants in research.
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Mechanics of Style
Quotation marks are to be included in examples to improve accessibility.
Capitalization is to be included in case of proper nouns and names of diseases, disorders and job titles.
The exception of including numbers in abstract is overruled.
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Tables and Figures
Increased number of tables and figures on multifarious topics to improve usage. Flexible use of tables and figures, either including the text or embedding in it.
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Works Credited in the Text
Updated guidelines on citing works based on indigenous people. When using more than one authors’ name, it is guided to use “Et al”.
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Reference List
Now,. the reference list can include as much as 20 authors. Digital Object Identifiers(DOIs) and URLs are to be represented as Hyperlinks.
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Reference Examples
More than 100 examples provided which are by standards of APA format. Publisher location is omitted. References are more organized.
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Publication process
New guidelines help early development of dissertation or thesis to facilitate better publishing services. Also includes navigational submission. It allows authors to share and promote their future publications.
For further information, one can visit https://apastyle.apa.org/\ to read in detail about the new updates on formatting style.