Monday, September 8, 2008
APA- Issue Number
I was browsing through the library's "Writing Resources for Students" and I was clicking and clicking and I came upon an APA guide in the APA official website. In the guide, there is a disclaimer about electronic resources and the things that need to be included in the references page. If you find a journal online:
"For journal articles, always include the journal issue number (if available) along with the volume number, regardless of whether the journal is paginated separately by issue or continuously by volume. This change in reference style from the fifth edition of the Publication Manual is intended to make the format for journal article references more consistent."
This is a gray area for many students who write in APA because professors either demand the issue number, or they don't care either way. This is an update in the electronic references guide, and it popped out at me because I have been confused on whether to identify the issue number or not because of professor preference. Now it is a rule and I would mention to the client if they are also unsure. The "Writing Resources for Students" is almost as entertaining as the "Harvard Writing Center" website...
American Psychological Association. (2008). Electronic references. APA Style.org. Retrieved September 8, 2008, from http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Genevieve, you raise an important point about official style manuals and updates. If the leadership of the American Psychological Association (APA) beleives that it needed to update the way electronic sources are cited, it should have released a new edition of the APA Manual. The fact that the electronic update is not widely recognized causes problems as conscientious students attempt to properly format their papers for faculty who may not know of the revisions, and/or for faculty who are uncompromising about what is right and what is wrong. I believe two things must take place. The APA needs to update the manual, and faculty members in the social science disciplines need to explicitly address style instruction as part of the curriculum.
That is a great find Genevieve. I often work with students who are confused about this issue. Now we have something that we can make reference to in order to help clear up any misunderstandings.
Post a Comment