Dos and Don’ts for APA Reference Style
Academic scholars, researchers, students and assignment writers often use the APA reference style in their research papers and dissertations for academics. APA stands for American Psychological Association which is widely used for referencing style. So, before beginning to write a research paper or academic assignment, you must be aware of the dos and don’ts of APA referencing style so that you can easily compile an academic paper.
If a student commits mistakes in the referencing style and its compilation, this can lead to their marks deduction and can also reduce the quality of their paper.
This type of referencing style is often used for social sciences, education and other such related fields. With the help of this style, the readers are able to understand the content easily, and this also increases the credibility of the content by giving credit where it is needed.
Things to keep in mind while citing APA referencing style
While writing an academic paper or assignment, you must give appropriate credit to all the sources. This means that the sources used for information must be included properly in the reference list.
The title of the research paper should be centrally aligned. You need to ensure that all the entries are arranged in alphabetical order.
The reference must be included on a separate page with a different page number, with a header on the top right corner of the page.
The titles of newspapers, books, journals and magazines must be written in italics.
A comma must follow the author’s second name, then the initial of the first name is written, which needs to be ended with a point. The last name should be written after &, along with the year of paper, in brackets. The title of the journal is written after that, which needs to be ended with a point.
Things to avoid while citing APA referencing style
Ensure that you never mix different styles for referencing, such as APA, APA 6TH, and APA 7TH. You can always ask your professors for help and important instructions so that you are not able to make mistakes in your paper.
There’s no need to change the font of your referencing style or even the reference list page. It should be in the same font as followed by in the paper.
Never use the word ‘and’ in your reference list while formatting it in the APA style; instead, go for ‘&.’
Do not make use of ‘Running head’ in APA 7th; it should only be used in APA 6th.
It is important to check the guidelines of your assignment or research paper for accurate referencing, as mentioned by your professor.
You cannot include the reference for the purpose of common knowledge, personal communication, contact number or sources.
You need to avoid fake references in your reference list and make sure that there are no errors in your text.
You can include surnames and not initials in in-text referencing.
For academic projects and assignments, one must have a thorough knowledge of appropriate referencing style because it is significant for every academic project. As of now, we have shared about the dos and don’ts of the APA referencing style that students need to adopt or avoid in their writing.
Apart from this, if you ever need help regarding your research papers or assignments, feel free to contact our online research assignment help service for professional help and guidance.
