Saturday, March 13, 2010

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association - whether you like or dislike it, learn to love it!

As a graduate student in the Master of Science in Technical and Professional Communication program at Lawrence Tech University, I find myself attached at the hip to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

This manual provides style guidelines to aid individuals within the
behavioral and social sciences. Furthermore, I use the text to reference and cite sources for research papers and blogs such as this one, which was created for my website design course.

The editor in chief, Gary VadenBos, describes the purpose of the manual in the foreword by writing, "the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has been designed to advance scholarship by setting sound and rigorous standards for scientific communication ... Today, APA Style sets a standard that is realized in APA journals, books, and electronic databases" (VadenBos, 2009, p. xiii).

The text is divided into eight sections covering such topics as the mechanics of style and crediting sources. It includes multiple examples and illustrations for the reader to understand and apply.

The American Psychological Association has created a straightforward style manual for technical communicators, as it is an essential text for research, documentation and citation.


VandenBos, G.R. (Ed.). (2009). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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