In 1928, 32 representatives from the fields of anthropology and psychology convened in Carlisle, Penn. The convention was sponsored by the National Research Council and organized by the chairman of NRC's Division of Anthropology and Psychology, Knight Dunlap. Among other things, the scientists at the Carlisle Convention discussed the need for a set of guidelines for publishing journal articles. These guidelines were intended to aid authors in clarifying their meaning and to assist readers in making sense of the articles they read. (See References 3 & 6.)
In 1929, the agreed-upon guidelines were published in the "Psychological Bulletin." The seven-page article entitled "Instructions in regard to preparation of manuscript" by Bentley et al. was the first publication of the APA style guidelines. (See References 2 & 3.)
In 1952, the guidelines were published as a separate document. This was the first "APA Publication Manual." Writers, editors and publishers used the guidelines to create clear and consistent content for publication. The rules included in the manual covered such topics as citation of references, format of statistics and numbers, abbreviations, punctuation, format of figures and tables, choice of tone, length and headings and other elements of manuscript construction. (See References 4 & 5.)
In 2010, the American Psychological Association released the sixth edition of its publication manual. The sixth edition of the APA style guide includes many of the same elements as the first edition, and includes additional information on such topics as ethics in publishing and the journal publication process. Technological advances, including the widespread usage of Web sources, have prompted the APA to update its instructions for citing sources. (See Reference 3.)