Hi
On Wed, 27 Oct 1999, Serdikoff, Sherry L. wrote:
> I have checked more than 5 websites on APA style and have The
> APA Manual, The Psychology Students Writer's Manual and 5
> research methods texts sitting on my desk and still cannot I
> still cannot come up with a decisive answer regarding the
> content of the Running head and Page header for an APA style
> manuscript. In the APA manual I cannot find any discussion of
> the content of the Running head other than it should be no
> longer than 50 characters (but, if it is in there I trust
> someone on this list will know and point it out ;-). One source
> suggests using as many full words from the full title, in
> order, as will fit within the 50 character limit; another says
> it should be "topical" and tell the reader what the paper is
> about. In contrast, the page header is supposed to be "the
> first two or three words from the title" (APA manual p. 241).
> But, in the two-experiment example paper (pp. 269-270) they use
> the third and fourth word as the page header -- perhaps these
> words match the first two words of the running head for that
> paper but, since no title page is provided for this example it
> is impossible to tell for sure. Other sources are not in
> agreement here either; some say is should be the first 2-3
> words of the FULL title and other say the first 2-3 words of
> the running head.
I think this is a good time to suggest to students that there is
not always a "correct" answer and to suggest "who would really
care?" My experience in publishing papers is that the editors
don't really care all that much about the minutiae of APA style
and that it is the content that is more important. Perhaps we
should try to communicate the importance of content and effective
communication to students.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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