Understanding APA Editorial Style For Students in Social Work Courses

Part I

Prepared by: BJ Bryson, PhDJames Madison University

Introduction

Understanding APA Editorial Style is a three part series designed to introduce key components

If you are in SOWK 288, you are required to review each segment and take the short test on the course web page (Blackboard) after viewing all sections

Learning Objectives

To introduce students in social work courses to the primary scholarly manuscript style of professional social workers

To provide basic information about the American Psychological Association (APA) Manual Editorial Style including its underlying assumptions

Other resources are provided throughout each section.

You may want to pick up the APA Style Resource Sheet at the CISAT or Carrier Libraries.

Disclaimer These presentations are not designed to

replace the American Psychological Association Manual (5th edition)

Ultimately every writer is responsible for ensuring that their document (paper) has met the APA editorial style standards

Document, manuscript, paper are interchangeable in these presentation

This presentation includes

Why JMU Social Work Department Uses APA Style?

Who uses APA Style? Ethics of Writing Introduction to APA Style What is APA Style?

Why the JMU Social Work Department Uses APA Style?

As a matter of professional development social work students need to develop a respect for written communication and the process of presenting their work.

We seek to develop solid practitioners and scholars

A scholar is a learned person who by long study has gained mastery

In the case of students you are striving to gain knowledge and become a scholar. This is demonstrated in part by learning a professional presentation style.

In social work that is the APA editorial style

Who uses APA Style?

Psychology

Sociology

Business

Economics

Nursing

Criminology

Social Work

Ethics of Writing There are three components of ethical

writing covered in this presentationNASW Code of Ethics as the professional

standardJMU Honor Code as the JMU student ethical

standardAPA Style editorial standards

Ethics of Writing

The Social Work Code of Ethics provides principles and standards for ethical behavior and is the foundation for all professional actions

You can find the NASW Code of Ethics on the NASW webpage, in many social work text books and in the Encyclopedia of Social in the JMU libraries

Accepted social work students agree to these standards and should be familiar with the Code

Students from other majors taking social work courses will need to be familiar with the Code

Other professional programs/majors may also have ethical standards

JMU Honor Code

“In a university community, there can be no doubt that honor and the pursuit of

knowledge are inexorably intertwined.”

Upon admission each student is automatically subject to the provisions of the Honor System and has a duty to become familiar with the Honor Code and its provisions.

JMU Honor Code continued

“Each examination, paper and other written or electronically submitted assignment is submitted pursuant to the Honor Code..”

with the following pledge signed by students submitting assignments:

“This work complies with the JMU Honor Code”

JMU Honor Code continued

For a complete understanding of the JMU Honor Code read

http://www.jmu.edu/honor/printcode.html

As a JMU student, regardless of major, you are responsible for knowing this information

APA Style Ethics

There are many ethical aspects of the APA Style. Only a few are highlighted here. Scholarly writing is a combination of original efforts

(your interpretations, conclusions or assumptions in writing) and uses the work of others giving credit for their ideas, concepts or direct words.

Not to give credit for the work of other writers is a serious offense

Authorship is directly related to individuals who complete work towards development of the manuscript (paper)

Introduction to APA Style Academic writing assignments require you to

gather, evaluate and use the work of others. Many SW classes require you to write your

papers in APA style because the APA Style Manual establishes consistent and concise rules and standards to use in written communication.

Academic communication is often a balance between the presentation of your original ideas, representation of information gained from other sources and the integration of both.

APA is not a style of writing, but an editorial style applied to your writing. There are many other editorial styles such as

MLA Citation Style from your English courses

Chicago Style used by other professions

Each of these have different resource and reference materials

When you draw upon the work of others, you must give proper credit. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism (the failure to give credit, usually through citations, of another author’s exact words, ideas or concepts) and subject to the JMU Honor Code. Within the Department of Social Work a professor my give a grade of “F” for the assignment or the course for plagiarism.

Direct quotes, summarizing, or paraphrasing the work of others requires you to give credit to the original author

You must also give credit to the ideas of others even when not a direct quote

A good ruleA good rule

If you borrow information or ideas from other authors, give credit with a citation in the text and on the reference page

What is APA Style?APA is an editorial style consisting of rules and

guidelines to ensure clear and consistent presentation of written materials. These coverRemoving Bias in WritingPunctuation and abbreviationsConstruction of tablesSelection of headingsCitation of referencesPresentation of statisticsElements for writing

Quick Reference

A Quick Reference Sheet is available from the CISAT or Carrier Libraries that provide examples on basic citation information for in-text and reference page citations.

Go to the presentation “APA References at a Glance” for more suggestions

Moving to Part II

If you are in SW 288 Wait until you

complete all three sections before taking the test on Blackboard

Feel free to review any portion of this presentation or move to Part II

The End of Part IThe End of Part I