But those who get it the first time around tend to do great later on, and I relax my standards with second-year students. I tell then that so long as they respect the general ideas of APA (i.e. which lead to clear, concise information, easily retrievable by the reader) then it is ok. The manual is quite outdated anyways when it comes to electronic sources, and so the students either consult the web to find more guidelines, ot they improvise, based on the principles they learned in the manual. When they are capable of improvising logically, I know they are getting it!
I find APA guidelines are a great way to structure students in their paper writing skills. Of course most of them whine the first time around, but after a while, they actually find it helps them focus and structure their papers.
So, better spend energy learning APA than crying about it. After the first few times, they can really focus on the contents of papers. This is why I typically assign 25-30% of an intro paper to APA. Later on, I only assign 10-15% to APA.
My take on APA...
Cheers!
JM
G. Marc Turner wrote:
And don't forget whether the title page should be centered left-right or both left-right & top-bottom. I actually have two copies of the 5th edition from different printings where the examples are different on that point and the text just says that it is "centered" in both.... I keep leaning more and more to thinking of things as guidelines rather than absolute rules when it comes to APA format... I agree for the need to have some "consistency" in terms of how information is presented, but I'd rather focus on getting students to learn about what that information should be rather than getting bogged down in the details of how to "format" the paper to the point where the content becomes secondary...
- Marc
At 01:56 PM 3/7/2005, you wrote:
APA will probably make the change for the next edition of the PM. Then, in the following edition they will revert to the old way. After this, you might need to go to their web site to learn that it doesn't really matter, do what you want. (See, "only one space after a period", and "page number on the same line as manuscript head.") Hmm, is it period-quote or quote-period today?
Michael T. Scoles, Ph.D. Interim Chair, Dept. Psychology & Counseling University of Central Arkansas Conway, AR 72035 >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/07/05 8:13 AM >>> If others agree that issue numbers should always be provided, what is your estimate of how long it will take the APA to alter that rule of reference lists?
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============================================= G. Marc Turner, PhD, MEd, Network+, MCP Lecturer & Technology Coordinator Department of Psychology Texas State University-San Marcos San Marcos, TX 78666 phone: (512)245-2526 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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