Hi all, I am getting ready to start my ABSN program at the end of May and one of my required books for the summer is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association -- for writing papers, I assume.
I'm wondering if buying this book is really necessary? Usually, when I cite papers I just look up the correct formatting online. Has anyone been required to buy this book and not really ended up using it, or vice versa?
I rented the book to use last semester. I have actually gone to the APA website and found things there and I definitely use purdue owl. Very helpful resources. I have been doing nothing but writing papers the past couple of weeks. I am so done!! Trying to get the motivation to write my last one tonight.
makes more sense, to me, to purchase the template ony. But a used version of the book might be handy. The template puts it all in the format and after a w hile you have it memorized.
Dee789 I am also starting in May. Where are you going by the way? I went to the schools bookstore to price books and she said she recommended me not buying the book because you could look it up online. I much rather fork out the 20.00 to save me a bunch of uncertainties.
Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
As nursing faculty, I have graded many student papers in my College of Nursing. I do have the latest edition APA manual. However, for the undergraduate baccalaureate students, IMHO, all they really need to know is on the 'OWL' site. Besides, the APA manual is terribly disorganized and full of errors.
I have been using it today for my paper. It has everything you need and it's only $20 on Amazon including shipping. When a paper is worth 20% and you have a paper every semester you want all the points you can get. And formatting is the easy part. Especially with the official book
All the best with your ABSN studies. I am a doctoral student (business with a hospital safety concentration) with one course left. My committee chair refers to me as one of the APA Hawks from catching things in the group discussions. I still consult my APA book once or twice a week. Owl is good, APA Blog Style is great but the book is the gold standard. My copy has a note on almost every page in the index. For example , as a nursing student you will cite many articles with 7 or more authors. I marked up my index under authors . Finding things in the marked up index really helps, especially when I am exhausted and up against a deadline.
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NurseGirl525, ASN, RN
3,663 Posts
I rented the book to use last semester. I have actually gone to the APA website and found things there and I definitely use purdue owl. Very helpful resources. I have been doing nothing but writing papers the past couple of weeks. I am so done!! Trying to get the motivation to write my last one tonight.