Chapter 4 The mechanics of style

Presented to:Dr.NasreenPresented by: Nabeela Rehman(02)

Ifrah Nawaz(07) Muhammad Irfan(16)

introduction

This chapter is about styles for APA journals regarding more basic things which are useful to explain and usage with relevance to APA journals. It tells general rules explained in widely available style manuals.

Table of content

1) punctuation2)Spelling3)Capitalization4)Italics5)Abbreviations6)Numbers7)Metrication8)Statistical and mathematical copy9)equations

punctuation

• Punctuation establishes a sentence.• Tells the reader where to

pause,comma,semicolon,colon,stop,question mark, or detour(dash,parentheses,brackets)

Punctuation 1. Spacing after punctuation marks.2. Period.3. Comma.4. Semicolon.5. Colon.6. Dash.7. Quotation marks.8. Double or single equation marks9. Parentheses10. Brackets.11. slash

1.Spacing after punctuation marks

Insert one space after• Commas, colons and semicolons.• Periods that separate parts of references.• Initials in personal names.

Period

It is used to end a complete sentence. Periods are used with abbreviations. Use period with as follow,

• Initials of name like(j. R. smith).• Latin abbreviations• Reference abbreviations

Do not use period with…

• Capital letters• Acronyms• Web addresses• Metric and non metric measurement

abbreviation

Comma

Between elements and in a series of three or more items.

1.Use comma with…• To separate two clauses.• To set off the year in exact date.To separate groups of three digits in most

numbers.

2.Do not use comma with…

• Before an essential or restrictive clause.• Between the two parts of a compound

predicate.• To separate parts of measurement.

semicolon

• Use a semicolon1. To separate two independent clauses.2. To separate elements in a series that already

contains commas.

colon

• Use a colon with…1. In ratios and proportions.2. In references between place of publication and

publisher.3. Between a grammatically complete introductory

clause.• Do not use colon1. After an introduction that is not a complete

sentence or independent clause.

Dash

• Use a dash to indicate only a sudden interruption in the continuity of sentence. Over use weakens the flow of materials.

• For example:these two participants-one from the first group and one from the second-were tested separately.

Quotation mark

• Use double quotation marks1.To introduce a word or phrase used as an

ironic comment or slang.2.The title of article, chapter or book.• Do not use double quotation marks…1.To cite a letter,word,phrase or sentence.2.To introduce a technical or key term.3.To hedge.

Double or single quotation marks

• To enclose quotation in text.• In block quotations(40 or more words).• With other punctuations.

parentheses

• Use parentheses1. To set off elements.2. To introduce an abbreviation.3. To enclose the citation.4. To enclose numbers.5. To enclose statistical values.

brackets

• Use brackets1. To close the value that are limited.2. To enclose parenthetical material.• Do not use brackets 1. To set off statistics that already include

parentheses.

slash

• Use a slash1. To clarify a relationship.2. To set off English phonemes.3. To site a republish work in text.• Do not use slash1. When a phrase would be clearer.2. For simple comparisons.

2.spelling

• Preferred spellingSpelling should conform to standard American

English as exemplified in Merriam-Webster collegiate dictionary(2005).

• Plural forms of some words of Latin or Greek can be troublesome.

hyphenation

• Compound words take many forms that is two words as two separate words.

• hyphen: no space before and after.• em dash: longer than a hyphen.• en dash: longer and thinner than a hyphen.

Shorter than em dash.• Minus: slightly thicker and higher than en

dash.

3.capitalization

Use an uppercase letter for the first letter of word.

• Words beginning a sentence.• Major words in titles and headings.• Proper nouns and trade names.• Nouns followed by numerals or letters.• Titles of tests.• Names of veriables,factors and effects.

italics

• Italic is a style of font that slants the letters evenly to the right. This text should be in italics. When a font is installed on a computer there will be an italic version.

Italics

• Use of Italics• Titles of books,periodicals,films,videos,TV

shows and microfilm publications.• Genera,species,and varieties.• Introduction of a new,technical,or key term or

label(after a term has been used once,do not italicize it).

• A letter, word, or phrase.

Cont………

• Words that could be misread.• Letters used as statistical symbols or algebraic

variables.• Some test scores and scales.• Periodical volume numbers in reference lists.• Anchors of a scale.

Do not use italics for

• Foreign phrases and abbreviations common in English.

• Chemical terms.• Trigonometric terms.• Nonstatistical subscripts to statistical symbols

or mathematical expressions.• Greek letters.• Letters used as abbreviations.

5.Abbreviations

• Use of abbreviations To maximize clarity, use abbreviations

sparingly. Although abbreviations are sometimes useful for long, technical terms in scientific writing, communication is usually reproduce rather than clarified.

• Explanation of abbreviation• Abbreviations accepted as words

Cont……..

• Abbreviations used often in APA Journals• Latin abbreviations• Scientific abbreviation• Other abbreviations• Plurals of abbreviations• Abbreviations beginning a sentence

6. Numbers• The general rule governing APA style on the

use of numbers is:1. Use numerals to expressa) numbers 10 above e.g. 12 listsb) numbers in the abstract of a paperc) Numbers that immediately precede a unit of

measurement e.g. 12 cm long

d) Numbers that represent statistical or mathematical functions, percentages and ratios e.g. 5 %of the sample

e) Numbers that represent time, date, age and scores e.g. 1 hr 34 min

f) Numbers that denote a specific place in a numbered series, parts of books and tables e.g. Table 3

. Use words to expressa) Any numbers that begins a sentence, title or text

heading e.g.Twelve students improved, and 12 students did not improve.

b) Common fractions e.g. one fifth of the classc) Universally accepted usage e.g. Five pillars of Islam

. Use a combination of numerals and words to express back-to-back modifiers. E.g. 2 two-way interactions

4. Treat ordinal numbers as you would cardinal numbers e.g.

Ordinal: The fourth gradesCardinal base: four grades5. Use a zero before the decimal point with numbers

that are less than 1 when the statistic can exceed 1e.g. 0.23 cm

• For routine work, use Arabic numerals. E.g. step 1

• While for established terminology, use Roman numerals. e.g. Type II error

7. Use commas between groups of three digits in most figures of 1,000 or more.

8. To form plurals of numbers, add s or es alone, without an apostrophe. E.g.

1950s, fours and sixes

7. Metrication• In APA, all references of journals to physical

measurements are expressed in a metric system which is based on the international system of units.

• If measurements are nonmetric, you may report the no metric units but also report the established SI equivalents in parentheses. E.g.

• The rod was 3 ft (0.91 m) long.

• Use metric symbol when it appears with a numeric value. E.g. 4 m

• Don’t use symbol when it doesn’t appear with numeric value.

• Use lowercase letter for full name of metric unit. E.g. meter, centimeter

• Don’t use a period after a metric symbol.• Use a space between a symbol and the number e.g. 4.5 m • Use dot between compound units. E.g. Pa . S (use space in case of full names)

8. Statistical & Mathematical Copy• Use a sentence, for present three or fewer numbers.• Use a table, for present four to 20 numbers• Use a graph, for more than 20 numbers• For common statistics, don’t use formulae and

reference• For less or new statistics, use formulae and give

reference• Include information for understanding when reporting

inferential statistics.

• Population parameters are usually represented by Greek letters.

• Use an uppercase, italicized N to designate the number of members in the total sample.

• Use a lowercase, italicized n to designate the number of members in limited sample.

• Use standard typeface for Greek letters, superscripts, subscripts and abbreviations that are not variables

• Use boldface for vectors and matrices• Use italic type for all other statistical symbols• Aligns sign and symbols carefully.• Type subscripts first and then superscripts.• Always use a space.

9. Equations• Place the equation in the line of text.• Punctuate al equations, whether they are in

the line of text or displayed.• Place short and simple equations.• Follow the BODMAS rule of algebra used in

the equations.