American Psychological Association APA is a style of citation of scientific papers in research and is one of the most common and widely used in educational institutions in the United States of America and many other countries. Knowledge of the rules and nuances of this style is mandatory since the organization of academic papers plays one of the most critical roles in its presentation. Similarly, the standard for the correct presentation of tables and figures is of critical importance. Like any other part of the APA style, quoting these research components has its advantages and disadvantages. Thus, this essay aims to examine the rules for mentioning tables and figures in the APA style and the importance of their knowledge for academic work.
The first step is to consider APA standards for the proper presentation of Tables and Figures. To do this, the study was based on the textbook “Publication manual of the American Psychological Association”, which provides all the necessary information. The main advantage of using Tables and Figures in a scientific paper is the ability to provide a large amount of information in a capacious size. Moreover, this part of the work greatly facilitates the process of its perception and has exceptional effectiveness when showing statistical data. Tables show numerical and textual data arranged in columns and rows (American Psychological Association, 2020,). Figures, in turn, represent numerical information in the form of graphs, charts, or diagrams. In addition, an image or other type of presentation of non-textual information can be considered a figure.
When introducing Tables and Figures into the study, it is necessary to keep in mind several factors and rules at once. Therefore, the most important thing is to correspond to the topic of a scientific paper and maintain the information that it contains. In addition, it is essential to understand the target audience for academic work and build the paper relying on it. Despite the simplification of perception, not all of the information contained in the tables and figures can be perceived by readers.
When writing and including Tables and Figures in work, it is necessary to be guided by several vital principles. Firstly, all the components of these attachments must be labeled for a general understanding of their purpose. Furthermore, they should be located next to the supported or confirmed information. When using figures, the text on them should be well-read, and the data itself should be organized so that they can be understood when viewed separately from the text of the entire work. In addition, Tables and Figures should advise the strictness of the academic style of writing and not have excessive decorative elements that can distract attention from the primary information.
The disadvantage of using excessive use of Tables and Figures is that it can confuse the reader and reduce concentration on vital information. These components of the study can become effective when presenting several results of statistical research. Moreover, tables can provide support when discussing theoretical models. This is because sometimes a particularly complex text is more straightforward to perceive visually rather than in writing. There are two ways to arrange Tables and Figures. The first method involves inserting them after the list of sources used, and the second means placing them after mentioning them in the text. Another important aspect is the reprinting of Tables and Figures, which implies adapting them from another source. A prerequisite is the inclusion of copyright in the note to these components. It indicates the origin of the adapted material, or in other words, it is quoted in accordance with the entry in the list of references for the work. Quoting Tables and Figures in the APA style consists of clarifying the attachment number, followed by the name that describes its essence, the author, and the date.
Another critical aspect to consider is the importance of accurate and concise Table and Figure titles and notes. Each of them, when used in scientific work, should have a short but, at the same time, understandable to the reader’s name. The same rule applies to the information that is used in Tables and Figures; that is, it should not be too much in the case of tables, and it should not be unnecessarily difficult to perceive. The name should be written in italics under the table, or the figure should be in a double interval from it. Another important criterion is the capitalization of nouns and verbs in the name. Moreover, the name that the researcher gives to the table or figure should convey the main essence and not have unnecessary words and clarifications.
As for notes, the table can have general, defined probability notes and one-tailed versus two-tailed tests, indicating significant differences between values. The first type implies providing comprehensive information about the table and any abbreviations or symbols. The second is to point to a specific row or column, and the third describes how an asterisk is implemented to indicate the value of a statistical indicator. Notes are especially helpful for reducing the number of repetitions in work. Tables and Figures are needed to explain the essence of what is depicted and described in the paper. Further, these research constituents are necessary to make the understanding of the study more accessible.
This part of the paper will consider the features of in-text citations of the APA-specific style. The basis of this method of mentioning the source used is that the author-date citation system is used. In other words, the quotation or its paraphrasing ends with the mention of the author’s surname and the release date of the source. This way of using in-text citations helps the reader to quickly find the used literary work in the list at the end of the scientific paper. In this case, there are many exceptions that people need to know, including resources that do not have an author or only editors. In APA, there are such concepts as parenthetical and narrative citations. The first type implies the traditional mention of the author and the year of issue of the source, and the second is the use of citation as part of the text and its separation. When several works of several authors are mentioned in the text of the study, they are all listed in alphabetical order.
It is essential to pay special attention to cases of direct citation of parts of scientific research used in academic work. In this case, a part of the source is added to the usual author-date system, a page or paragraph from where specific data was taken. If there is no author’s name for the resource, the name of the source used is indicated. It is also worth emphasizing that if there are one or two authors, both of them are indicated in the text. However, if the work is written with more than three authors, the last name of the first one is indicated in the text of the work with the addition of “et al.” as designations of other doers (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 286). When using works with authors who have the same surnames, initials are used to distinguish them from each other. It is important to remember that when mentioning the works of various researchers in an essay, it is necessary to avoid under citation and overexcitation. Hence, the first can lead to the detection of plagiarism in work, especially if statistical or factual data related to figures are not cited. In the second case, citations may be overabundance, and distractions will appear in those who read the work.
The following aspects that require attention and discussion are paraphrasing and quotations. Therefore, the adaptation or reassertion of the words of one or another author with his indication in work is considered a paraphrase of someone else’s thought. If paraphrasing implies the use of several sentences at once, then the citation is indicated after the first one. This method is one of the most frequently used in works with the APA style.
Quotation, in turn, implies a direct indication of the author’s thoughts and statements in quotation marks without any replacement of words. In such cases, the surname, year and page or paragraph number of the source used is indicated in the citation. Short, direct quotes are those that contain less than forty words, and those that contain more are called block quotes. It is also vital that paragraphs should not begin or end with direct quotations. The only aspects that can be changed are uppercase to lowercase in the first word, punctuation and single quotation mark to double quotation mark.
The prominent role in the APA citation style is given to the list of references or reference lists. It is essential to clearly understand the bibliography, an annotated bibliography, and a reference list. Thus, the latter is a representation of all literary and scientific works that were used in the study to prove and confirm the presented point of view. On the other hand, a bibliography is a list of works for reference or further reading. The uniqueness of the annotated bibliography is that this type of listing of sources includes providing their descriptions and usefulness for future academic work.
There are four main components in the reference list that need to be mentioned: author, date, the title of the work and publisher or source. In the event that one of these elements is not specified, there are special rules. For example, if there is no publication date of the necessary information, and the APA citation style uses the designation “n.d.” which means no date (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 284). All literary sources in the list are arranged according to alphabetical order, regardless of their origin. To achieve the most significant accessibility and clarity for the reader, it is vital to observe the accuracy and completeness of the information provided about entries in the reference list.
Further, it is necessary to consider in more detail the elements that make up the mention of the sources used in work. Hence, first of all, the author’s surname is indicated, followed by initials. If other people besides the author are indicated, abbreviations are used, for example, “Ed.” for the editor (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 287). Next comes the date in parentheses, which differs depending on the type of source. Hence, for books, only the release date is indicated, and for articles in online journals, the date and month of publication are also indicated. When listing a web source without an author, the retrieval date that was at the time of viewing the site is indicated.
Lastly, when quoting a source is its name, in which only the first word of the title or subtitle is capitalized. In books and online sources without an author, the title is italicized. In the absence of this indicator, it is necessary to indicate the description of the scientific work in square brackets. Next, the source from where the information was taken or the publishing house that published the article or book is indicated. Nouns and verbs are capitalized in the title, and the entire phrase is italicized if it is a journal or an online source with the author, that is, part of a larger volume of work. In the end, a unique link is indicated, which is called a DOI or URL in its absence.
Reference
c. Smith, S. (2022). The importance of obtaining a bachelor’s degree. The Journal of Education, 2(3), 23-32. Web.
Parenthetical citation: (Smith, 2022)
Narrative citation: Smith (2022)
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association.