APA Style is American Psychological Association and is one of the most widely used Styles in the Academic World. The author’s last name and the year of publication are used in the APA in-text citation form, for example: (Canon, 2007).
What are the Mistakes made in APA Style?
The following are some of the most common mistakes people make when submitting a manuscript for publication.
Page Numbers – The page numbers and the brief title, commonly known as the running head, are either missing or incorrectly formatted in most research papers.
Abstract – Some Manuscripts fail to properly style the ‘Abstract’ part, while others fail to even mention this area in their study. The title of the abstract is bold or italicized.
Keywords– The abstract part does not include a list of keywords.
Headings – The majority of the papers contained inaccurate or improper headings that were either at the incorrect level or poorly formatted.
In-text Citation formatting – Spelling abnormalities, incorrect use of ‘et al.,’ erroneous use of commas and ampersands, and jumbled placement of several citations in a single parenthesis are the most typical problems detected in in-text citations. There are references in the document that aren’t on the reference list, or references on the reference list that are never referenced in the paper.
Quotations – Direct quotations without page numbers are provided.
References – Not giving References will lead to Plagiarism.
Single Spacing is incorrect. Not Indenting after the 1st line. Indenting the 1st line. Not including the right number of Authors.
How to avoid mistakes in APA Style?
The running head, or abbreviated title, appears in the header of all numbered pages.
The first impression of your paper is the ‘abstract.’ It is strongly recommended that you include an abstract as much as feasible. The abstract is placed on a separate page, with the heading centered and formatted in the same manner as the remainder of the material.
Search engines use keywords to find the information that the reader is looking for. The abstract is followed by a list of keywords formatted according to the APA style guide.
In APA style, headings can be difficult to format. The title of a research article is much easier to format than the heading of a literature review piece, which is a little more difficult.
In-text citations must be correct and reliable. Citations should have the same name and year of publication throughout the work. Multiple citations within a single parenthesis should be organized alphabetically.
It is recommended that page numbers be provided for direct quotation since this will save time and energy spent searching for the page from which the quotation was obtained.
All APA citations should be Double Spaced. All lines after the 1st should be indented. The first line should not be indented.
Conclusion
Even though the fact that the APA essay format is demanding and requires intense attention to detail, it becomes much simpler once you learn each feature separately and follow all of the Submission Guidelines steps.