In 1929, a group of psychologists and other professionals introduced the APA format, with the intent to establish a set of rules for document creation in the social and behavioral sciences, according to the American Psychological Association Style website. The group focused on developing an editorial style that would easily enable publishers and readers to scan for important information within the document. APA is used for term papers, research reports, literature reviews and case studies. Unlike other documentation styles, APA format concentrates on manuscript elements that are characteristic to scientific writing.
An APA style document is divided into eight specifically ordered sections. The first section is the Title page, which contains the article and author information. The second section is the Abstract, which summarizes and highlights the findings or conclusions the researchers have reached. The third section is the Introduction, which presents historical or background information. The fourth section is the Method section, which outlines how the study was conducted. The fifth section is the Results, which presents the findings. The sixth section is the Discussion, which leads to a discussion of the finding's significance. The seventh section is the Reference page, which consists of all the sources referred to throughout the document. The Appendices, which is the eighth and final section, lists additional tables, graphs or other information related to the subject matter of the manuscript.
APA format requires consistency among style elements such as font, line spacing, margins and page headers. Times New Roman or another serif font is used for paragraph text, while sans serif fonts like Arial are used for image captions. The first line of every paragraph is indented five spaces. APA uses five levels of headings, each with its own particular formatting style. The entire manuscript is double spaced, left-aligned and with page numbers inserted at the top right of every page. Tables, figures, references and appendices are divided into separate pages.
APA style uses the author-date format for citing references, which distinguishes it from other editorial styles used in the humanities or other disciplines outside the scientific community. The accuracy of citations is important, since readers use the citations to verify the sources referred to throughout the manuscript. References are listed alphabetically by the author's last name followed by the publication date, title of the article and publication information, in that particular order. Hanging indents are applied to the second line of all references. The most common types of sources cited in the reference section include dissertations, books, chapters of books, podcasts, book reviews, journal articles or conference proceedings.
Although many examples of APA style appear on various websites, the definitive style manual is published by the American Psychological Association, now in its sixth edition. The "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" can be found in public libraries or purchased at local bookstores. The official website for APA style also provides extensive tutorials and examples of manuscripts written according to APA guidelines.