Recently, experts have published a research study on the citation methods commonly used in academia. According to this report, APA format has penetrated into the academic field and is an indispensable tool in both academic articles and book writing. In order to make more people familiar with this citation specification, this article will analyse in detail the specific application and operation steps of APA format for academic research.
It is reported that APA format (The American Psychological Association) is a standard format widely used in academic literature citation. It is mainly divided into the following aspects:
1. font and font size: Times New Roman font conference is recommended, and it is suggested that the font size be set to 12 (i.e., small four), the name of the paper should be marked in the upper left corner of the header area; and the page number should be marked in the footer area.
2. Header and footer: If the length of the paper is less than 50 words, the remaining text can be indicated at the end of the page, but need to add punctuation. In addition, you should keep the body of the text surrounded by 1 inch of blank space.
3. Article Title Page Format: The title page of the paper should indicate the topic of the paper, author information and other information, and it is recommended that each piece of information occupy a separate line.
4. In-text citations: Use parentheses at the end of the citation (to enclose the author(s) and the cited data) or directly describe the citation with the relevant date. All citations should be labelled with the exact location and source. 5.
5. References section: It is recommended that a list of references be provided on a separate page at the end of the article, including all references and sources cited. In the reference list, all cited authors and their relevant information should be listed as appropriate.
There are some special requirements for APA format citations that you should be aware of:
1. when referring to several different documents by the same authors, the time of publication should be recorded with a comma distinction after the year;
2. for groups of more than 6 authors, only the first author should be clearly indicated, and the remaining authors should be indicated by appending “et al.” to the year;
3. when there are more than one document with the same author, a semicolon instead of a comma should be used to distinguish between years;
4. In terms of title level setting, there are only five levels in total: title (centred and capitalised), title II (centred, italicised and capitalised), title III (left-aligned, italicised and capitalised), title IV (italicised and lower case) and title V (centred and capitalised).
It is clear that APA format has become a basic citation norm in the academic field and is essential for meeting rigorous academic requirements. Through this research report, it is hoped that it will enable users to better understand and use APA format for citing and organising literature, and enhance the efficiency of academic research.
