APA publication manual?

puggymae · Aug 24, 2006

The book is very technical - but I have never used anything else to cite references in the APA format. It was a required text for my Associate, BSN, and Master's programs. If you find something else tell us about it.

Montessori Mommy · Aug 24, 2006

We were required to buy A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker to learn APA format. It is very user-friendly!

Dratz · Aug 24, 2006

Our school used this book as well. It is not all that user friendly but with practice you can learn to navigate through it. If your college is suggesting it then they are likely going to mark your papers using it. In our school we could not follow anything else because all our marks were based on this APA manual. Just something to consider. If in doubt ask the instructors.

isabing, ASN · Aug 25, 2006

I bought this book and regret it every time I look at it. I think it is absolutely useless. I used the manual I bought for my first English comp class (The Blair Handbook, very user friendly!) for my first nursing paper. Noted the corrections made by my instructor and now I just reference my old papers when I have to cite something. Also, check your school library. My school has a bunch of them. I think they have to stay in the library, but as I said before, it is useless anyway.

Lisa

GO EAGLES!

jov · Aug 26, 2006

My school suggests we get this book:
But is has bad reviews!

LOL! Did you think it would end up on the New York Time's list?

Seriously, the only good thing about this book is that IF you can figure out how to use it, you can defend how you formatted your paper. For that purpose alone, you should buy the book.

After 3 semesters writing APA papers, I have come to the conclusion that

a) most instructors (NOT ALL, MOST) do not know how to use APA either and will let you slide (the trick is to find out WHICH ones)

b) the book does have some sort of system to it but it's hard to figure it out.

Your school should have a writing center. It would behoove you to spend some time there with your first few papers. With any sort of luck (and if you live under the right star), there will be an advisor there who can teach you how to use the book, and its samples. Once you get a few well-formatted papers in your files, you can refer back to them to remember how to do it.

I only found out how to write APA because I took a 1 credit class on Writing APA Style.

I also hit a few websites on APA:

Purdue's site

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

and the APA Wizard

http://www.stylewizard.com/apa5/apawiz.html

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Aug 26, 2006

LOL! Did you think it would end up on the New York Time's list?

LOL

I guess I'm just stuck having to buy it then!

RnRatchet · Aug 26, 2006

I bought a program called PERRLA.. best $25 I spent since being in my BSN program and having to write several papers!

http://www.perrla.com/Pages/1/2.aspx

RedSox33RN · Aug 26, 2006

I bought a program called PERRLA.. best $25 I spent since being in my BSN program and having to write several papers!
http://www.perrla.com/Pages/1/2.aspx

Agreed! I LOVE my Perrla! I've never had a paper be marked down for any APA style errors with it, ever. Well worth the money, and I've never had to upgrade it like with some other programs.

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Aug 27, 2006

I bought a program called PERRLA.. best $25 I spent since being in my BSN program and having to write several papers!
http://www.perrla.com/Pages/1/2.aspx

Thanks! I went ahead and got the book today, but will keep this in mind if I have problems writing papers properly.

I do have to say that I spent some time looking through the book before buying it and it didn't seem as badly organized as I thought it would be.

AuntieRN · Aug 27, 2006

Be careful with the programs online. I bought the Dr. Paper program and was told by my anal professor that it was all wrong..but then again the school subscribes to easybib.com and a few other sites that have APA format and he said they were all wrong too. So we went with the book and he still told us parts were wrong. Go figure...LOL....glad I am finally finished. I almost did not graduate because of him and his APA formatted papers. Good luck to you!

denysegia · Aug 27, 2006

I LOVE PERRLA! It got me through my masters program.