M.Ed. Resource Guide - CHAPTER 8: APA STYLE

     The Masters in Education (M.Ed. program requires the use of APA styles when writing papers. Although the most common types of formatting, in-text citations, and bibliography citations are covered in the APA Supplemental Reference Guide (see Appendix B) candidates and faculty are also encouraged to utilize the APA online web site. The APA web site can be accessed through the Indiana Wesleyan library home page at http://www.indwes.edu/academic/library or directly at http://www.apastyle.org Another helpful web site on APA guidelines can be found at http://www.owl.purdue.edu
Some important aspects to remember about submitting written assignments are shown below in bullet form; however, more detailed explanations of these bulleted items can be found in other chapters of this M.Ed. Resource Guide and in the course modules themselves.

General Guidelines to Remember When Writing Assignments

• Use third person whenever possible; only personal reflections should be written in first person; avoid using second person at all times in formal writing assignments
  
• Follow the guidelines for formatting title pages shown in the APA Supplemental Reference Guide found in Appendix B
  
• Direct quotations ALWAYS need a page number in the citation
  
• Pay attention to each punctuation mark when using APA style for citations; for example, the "&" is to be used with multiple authors, not the word "and"
  
• First names of authors are never used, just the initial of their first name
  
• Remember that titles of works cited generally use only one capital letter; they don't follow traditional guidelines of title case capitalization rules on the Reference Page, but do follow normal title case rules in the body of the paper
  
• Proper nouns remain capitalized in titles cited on the References Page, such as "United States" instead of "united states"
  
• When in doubt - ask. Why do a paper over again when it can be done correctly the first time around?

The APA Supplemental Reference Guide can be found in Appendix B of this M.Ed. Resource Guide. Candidates and faculty are encouraged to use it as a stable source of information throughout the M.Ed. program. Since web sites often update information during the length of an M.Ed. cohort's program, the supplemental guide found in Appendix B will serve as an anchor for APA style questions regardless of the changes made to APA style by the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual during that cohort's program. It should also be noted that APA style allows individual universities to make certain adjustments to their formatting requirements for course work, which often differs significantly from work that is being prepared for publication. For that reason, the APA Supplemental Reference Guide found in Appendix B may contain more valid information for candidates than the APA web site with respect to M.Ed. formatting requirements. Candidates and faculty who intend to publish manuscripts using APA style should consult the formal guidelines for publication found on the APA web site or their current APA Publication Manual.