APA Usage and Style Guidelines

Abbreviations

APA rules for abbreviations state:

• Acronyms and abbreviations must be spelled out completely on initial appearance in text.
• Use only if abbreviation is conventional, is apt to be familiar, will save considerable space, and will prevent cumbersome repetition.
• Avoid beginning a sentence with an acronym or an abbreviation.

For further information, see pages 111-114 in the Publication Manual.

Capitalization

APA rules for capitalization state:

• Capitalize all words of four letters or more in titles of books and articles in text.
• Do not capitalize names of laws, theories, and hypotheses except for proper nouns.

For more information, see pages 101-104 in the Publication Manual.

Hyphenation

APA rules for hyphenation state:

• For compound words not in the dictionary, use hyphens for clarity rather than omit them.
• Hyphenate compound adjectives that precede the noun they modify:
  • role-playing technique
  • two-way analysis
  • middle-class families
• Do not hyphenate a compound adjective if its meaning is established or it cannot be misread:
  • grade point average
  • sex role difference

For more information, see pages 97-100 in the Publication Manual.

Numbers

APA rules for numbers state:

• Use figures for numbers 10 and above (12 of the subjects); for numbers above and below 10 grouped for comparison (2 of 16 responses); for numbers representing time, dates, and age (3 years ago, 2 hr 15 min); for numbers denoting a specific place in a series, book, or table (Table 3, Group 3, page 32).
• Use words for numbers below 10 that do not represent precise measurements (eight items, nine pages); for numbers beginning a sentence, title, or heading (Forty-eight percent responded; Ten subjects improved, and 4 subjects did not.).

See pages 99-105 in the Publication Manual.

Quotations

APA rules for quotations state:

• Incorporate quotations of less than 40 words in the text with double quotation marks.
• Place quotations of 40 or more words in a double-spaced block, indented five spaces from left margin. Do not use quotation marks with a blocked quotation.
• If quoting more than one paragraph, indent the first line of each paragraph five additional spaces from the left margin (for a total of ten spaces).
• A page number always immediately follows a quotation, even when the author and date precede it: Lu (1990) found that “several hypotheses were partially supported” (page 48).

See pages 170-171 in the Publication Manual.