Guide to APA Writing and Literature Searches

By: Christopher Robison

After watching last weeks video on the APA writing style I'm deciding to write a little more on it so you can get a better idea on what truly constitutes as APA style writing. I've already written a bit of information on the formatting of APA and I would like to add a few suggestions on writing certain parts of the paper. On top of that, I would like to throw in some literature searching techniques to improve what you search for when writing your paper and how you should search for it.

During last weeks class, we were told to watch the Stockton University made video on the APA writing style for our own benefit in writing our Social Media Etiquette paper. The video talks about how the APA writing format is usually only used in the social sciences and is sometimes difficult for Freshman to use after writing in MLA for so many years. The formatting of a paper written in APA is as follows, in this order: Title Page, Abstract, Body, References. Within the abstract and body of the paper, the font must be 12 point in Times New Roman, double spaced, and must have 1 inch margins. The title page must have a running head and page number at the top, mid-page must include the title, your name, and the institution it was written for respectively, and at the bottom of the page is the author's note. Finally, the references page must have the word 'References' at the top center in 12 point Times New Roman Font. All references are to be alphabetized by the author's last name and must have a hanging indent. Also you should only capitalize the first titles and subtitles. This is how an APA written paper is formatted.

Now some suggestions and tips while writing your paper. To start, when writing any paper your in-text citations should follow the ICE model of citing which is: Introduce (with a signal phrase), Cite (with an in-text), and Explain (using your own insight and knowledge to connect the quote with your own body of information). This model is otherwise known as a "quotation sandwich". One big tip to remember while writing is that an incredibly well written paper about the wrong topic won't credit for anything so remember to keep pay attention to your assignment sheet. Another thing to keep in mind is that writing a paper is certainly not a one-and-done process, meaning you should constantly revise what you write including the big picture ideas instead of just punctuation and grammar. This next tip is for all of those procrastinators out there including myself, do not wait until the last minute, it is almost impossible to write your best work when you're in a rush. There is no time to revise and reread your paper if you finish it on the way to class.

Let's not forget that when research is done is often the most important factor, but who it was done by matters just as much. When searching for literature you should want to find information that is as recent as possible due to the ever-changing field of the social sciences. Also, when using websites, you should be conscientious of who and what the sponsor/author are, and when the website was last updated. The Stockton Database is a good tool to use for searching all databases at once, or to pick one and search individually. You should be sure to find the database the suits any information you need for instance, don't use the Political Science database to find information about programming. Another useful tool is called Boolean Searching which is used by searching keywords to find relevant information. This might sound a bit familiar as Google does this without you even realizing. When boolean searching, it is wise to use AND, OR and NOT to your advantage as you can really narrow your searches this way.

This week our class also read chapter six of lol...OMG by Matt Ivester which was about becoming a conscious creator of online content. What we have learned is that the best way to create any positive online reputation is by thinking carefully about any and all content that you post on the web. Although it is impossible to rigorously think and revise every single time you post something online, you must try to protect yourself in any way possible. One thing to remember is that if you have nothing nice to say, don't post it on your facebook wall for potential employers to see. When posting anything online you need to ask yourself these four questions:

1. Why are you doing this?
2. Is now the right time?
3. Where is your line between public and private?
4. How controversial do you want to be?

The sooner you know the answers to these questions every time you post, the sooner you will become a more conscious creator of online content.