Using APA Style for Scientific Communication (Session 1)
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UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Using APA style for scientific communication (Session 1) Sebastian Jentschke (upgrading slides by Sieghard Beller, Marco Hirnstein, and others) UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Overview ● Why publishing? Why a rule system? ● structure ● language use ● mechanics of style: period (.), comma, abreviations, parentheses, etc. ● figures and tables – some practical hints ● referencing ● your term paper ● publication process ● ethical issues (authorship, consent, plagiarism) PAGE 2 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Why publish? ● course requirements (read scientific reports, write up semester projects and theses) ● conduct research / clinical work and further your field ● «currency» of a scientific career (applications, institutional rankings, evaluation of research grants) PAGE 3 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Why publish? • scientific reasons (inform the scientific community, open critical discussions and stimulate research , avoid duplication of work) • societal reasons (application of scientific findings, responsibility and benefit for society) • pragmatic reasons (university education and qualification , scientific job, important for research careers – funding ) PAGE 4 Why do we have standards and what is their advantage? UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Why standards? • elements are harmonized (e.g., how a result section is written) • enhance productivity (usually the best solution is made standard) and avoids duplication and waste • increases confidence • practicality (e.g., makes review process easier) • learn it once, apply it many times PAGE 6 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Why publish in a certain style? ● a uniform style facilitates communication – author: help to write up research results ● express essential information, reduce distraction ● adequate structure and language ● provide statistical information in a uniform way and choose adequate graphical forms – reader: help to read and understand results ● broad dissemination : used in many disciplines beyond psychology: sociology, economics, criminology etc. and by more than 1,000 scientific journals PAGE 7 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Why publish in APA style? ● simplicity and sobriety: promote simple, clear language and avoid unnecessary “flashy” style ● consistency: the reader knows where to find different kinds of information and concepts are used similarly within and between publications ("Are we talking about the same thing?") ● practical: the manuscript is prepared for publishers’ typesetting PAGE 8 What do you already know about the APA style? UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN A bit of history • 1929: short article in Psychological Bulletin to prepare a set of simple rules (style guide) to facilitate communication of research • 1952: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association • 2019: 7th edition PAGE 10 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Content overview – APA manual Scholarly Writing and Publishing types of articles; ethical standards; scientific knowledge; rights of participants; intellectual Principles property rights required elements, format, organization, Paper Elements and Format examples Journal Article Reporting general reporting standards; specific reporting standards for quantitative, qualitative and Standards mixed methods research scholarly writing style; grammar and usage ; Writing Style and Grammar strategies: outline, re-read, seek help reducing bias in language (specifity, "labels": Bias-Free Language Guidelines gender, disability, SES, racial / ethnic identity) punctuation; spelling; capitalization; italics; Mechanics of Style abbreviations; numbers; statistics / mathem.; equations ; lists UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Content overview – APA manual general guidance; tables + examples; figures Tables and Figures + examples general guidance; special approaches (e.g., Works Cited in the Text interviews); format of in-text citations; quoting and paraphrasing reference categories; elements (author, date, Reference List title, source); variations (translations, etc.); format and order of the reference list textual works (e.g., periodicals); data sets, Reference Examples software, tests; audiovisual and online media general guidance; examples (e.g., court Legal References decisions; laws and acts; etc.) editorial and publication process; author Publication process responsibilities (copyright and permissions) UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Types of (scientific) articles Primary / “original” publications : not previously published , peer-reviewed by experts , archived (for future reference) • empirical study Semester project • case study ● empirical: reports research • literature review based on empirical data, • theoretical article tests hypotheses • methodological article ● report from work as a • brief report, comment, book research assistant review, letter to the editor ● review: analyzing existing PAGE 13 literature UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Myths about scientific writing • “It’s important what you write, not how you write”? No: Good content may be lost in bad language, style, structure. • “The longer the better”? – parsimony and brevity is a scientific virtue – evaluation based on quality, not quantity – journals have space / word limits (e.g., Scientific reports: «should be no more than 4,500 words»; Current Biology: «usually limited ... to around 5000 words of main text» PAGE 14 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Myths about scientific writing PAGE 15 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Myths about scientific writing ~900 words (+70 words credits) 6 references Nobelprize for physiology and medicine 1962: Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. PAGE 16 H. C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids. Nature, 171, 737-738. Manuscript structure / content Chapter 2 and 3 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Manuscript structure: IMRaD • Introduction: What is the problem? Why is it interesting? Background – purpose of investigation – hypotheses • Methods: How was the investigation conducted? Detailed description of the procedures, enabling replication • Results : What was observed / found? Report of findings and analyses: values/quantities; tables; figures • Discussion : How can the results be understood? Summary; interpretation; strengths & limitations; implications • Title and author information, abstract & keywords; references; acknowledgements, conflict of interest & funding, appendices etc. PAGE 18 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Manuscript structure: Hourglass Individuals differ radically from one another in The article begins the degree to which they are willing and able to broadly becomes express their emotions… more specific until In this study, we recorded the emotional reactions of both men and women to filmed… you introduce your We hypothesized… own study. Method (Method) One hundred male and 100 female and results are most undergraduates were shown two movies… specific . The (Results) Table 1 shows… These results imply that sex differences in discussion explores emotional expressiveness are moderated by… the results and their If emotions can incarcerate us by hiding our complexity, at least their expression can liberate implications. us by displaying our authenticity. PAGE 19 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Structure: Headings General rules ● start with level 1, use as • manuscript structure and use many levels as required of headings is key to clear and ● no heading “Introduction” (APA) – some journals use “logical” communication ● headings are hierarchically • structure provides impression organized (sub-headings of manuscript quality “belong to” the previous, higher headline) • Note: Formatting rules apply to ● headings are in the same manuscript preparation (in print font as the text (Times different styles may be used) New Roman, 12 point), but differ in alignment and style (bold and italic) PAGE 20 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Manuscript structure: Headings For the whole manuscript: Times New Level 3: Flush Left, Bold + Italic, Title Roman, 12 point, double-spaced Case Heading The text starts here... Previous paragraph ends here. Level 4: Indented, Bold, Title Case Level 1: Centered, Bold, Title Case Heading, ending with period. The text Heading starts here... The text starts here... ... and ends here. Level 5: Indented, Bold + Italic, Title Case Heading, ending with Level 2: Flush Left, Bold, Title Case period. The text starts here... Heading The text starts here... PAGE 21 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Manuscript structure: Headings Manuscript Title If the text requires only Introduction, introduction, introduction, one level, use Level 1. introduction. Method Level 1 Typical for short articles Method, method, method, method, method, method. (e.g., some types of Results Level 1 term papers) Results, results, results, results, results, results. Discussion Level 1 Discussion, discussion, discussion, discussion. PAGE 22 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Manuscript structure: Headings Manuscript Title If the text requires two Introduction, introduction, introduction, introduction. levels, use Level 1 and Method Level 1 2. Participants Participants, participants, participants, Typical for empirical participants. Materials Level 2 articles (and empirical Design and Procedure term papers) . Results Level 1 Results, results, results, results, results, results. Discussion Discussion, discussion, discussion, PAGE 23 discussion. UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Manuscript structure: Headings Manuscript Title If the text requires three Introduction, introduction, introduction, levels, use Level 1, 2 introduction. Method Level 1 and 3. Participants More than three levels Participant were... Materials Level 2 are rarely necessary. If We used different questionnaires to evaluate... it is, then use Level 4 or Sensation Seeking Level