The APA defines itself as "a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States." Its 150,000 members typically hold advanced degrees, with most holding a Ph.D. The organization is not exclusive to psychologists, however; sociologists, educators and other social science research professionals are also represented in the membership rolls.
The APA hosts annual conferences and offers its community opportunities to learn, to facilitate research and to develop and maintain standards and ethics for the practice of research. By far, its most widely-used set of standards is published in the APA style reference.
In APA style, all research papers are written on standard white 8½-by-11 paper. The title page is best understood in three parts: the top, the middle and the bottom of the page.
The top of the title page should consist of a running head that contains a shortened version of the manuscript's title. The page number (number 1 in Arabic numerals) is placed flush right in the top corner of the page.
The title itself is centered in the middle of the page. The author's name (excluding notations for credentials) and institutional affiliation(s) are placed underneath the title. Researchers often collaborate on studies, so APA provides standards for specifying multiple authors.
The bottom of the title page should contain an Author Note that acknowledges any supporters of the research, such as colleagues and students, as well as the organization that funded the research. This section should also include the author's contact information. When the paper is published, the contact information will appear at the end of the article.
Authors' names are listed in descending order of their relative contribution to the study. The first author contributed the most work toward the research, the second less work relative to that of the first author, and so forth. Titles and names are neither bold nor underlined. Underlining is reserved for book rather than article titles. Convention dictates that you never underline your own titles.
APA style books can be purchased at just about any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. As of 2010, prices ranged from $15 to $40, depending on the type of cover and binding. Along with tutorials, you can order complete and annotated versions of the style guide on the website for the APA publication manual.
Formatting software is also available, allowing for the paper to automatically conform to APA standards as it is being written. Whether in the form of a book or software, the APA style reference is a must-have for every high school or college student, as well as anyone who writes papers or prepares research manuscripts for a living.