Disscussion Board: Report Information from ProQuest

Read the Sternberg and Sternberg article and utilize the APA textbook readings to discuss the importance of adhering to a convention such as APA format when writing and researching. What do you like about it? What would you change about APA if you could? Why? Include at least one citation/reference from a scholarly source in your initial post.
Instructions: Your initial post should be at least 250 words.

Document 1 of 1Eighty years later: The APA publication manual rides again...and again and again and againand again.Sternberg, Robert J.; Sternberg, Karin; No authorship indicated. PsycCRITIQUES 55. 5 (2010)._______________________________________________________________Find a copyBase URL to Journal Linker:
Reviews the book, Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.)by the American Psychological Association (see record 2009-16118-000). The sixth edition ofthe Publication manual of the American Psychological Association has been published 80years after the publication of the original APA publication manual. There are a number ofchanges in the new edition and from the reviewers' point of view, the changes are welcomeones. Some of the welcomed changes include reduced length, modification of paperheadings, increased orientation toward electronic submission, expanded coverage of ethicalissues, and expanded material on the use and reporting of statistical methods. However, thereviewers also point out several problems with the new edition, and focus on the fact that thisbook can be very overwhelming and does not always make writing easier for authors. On thewhole, the reviewers believe that the APA publication manual continues to be an excellentand indispensable reference work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rightsreserved)_______________________________________________________________Full Text
PsycCRITIQUES1554-0138American Psychological AssociationFebruary3, 2010555psq_2010_4513_1_410.1037/a00187652010-00585-001reviewBook Review12010AmericanPsychological AssociationEighty Years LaterThe APA Publication ManualRides Again . . .and Again and Again and Again and AgainPublication Manual of the American PsychologicalAssociation (6th ed.)the American Psychological AssociationWashington, DC: AmericanPsychological Association, 2010. 272 pp.ISBN 978-1-4338-0559-2(hardcover); ISBN 978-1-4338-0562-2(spiral bound); ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5(paperback). $39.95, hardcover;$36.95, spiral bound; $28.95, paperbackRobert J.SternbergKarinSternbergThe sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association(henceforth referred to in this review as the APA Publication Manual) has been published 80years after the publication of the original APA Publication Manual. Sometimes, readerswonder whether a new edition of a book is “worth it” or rather represents an attempt by apublisher to increase its revenue by forcing users of the book to buy a new edition. In thecase of the APA Publication Manual, the book is definitely “worth it,” for the reasonsdescribed below.This latest APA Publication Manualgot off to a rough start. The first printing was beset byerrors—generally quite minor ones—but enough of them so that users complained and theAmerican Psychological Association (APA) decided to release a second printing correctingthe errors. It sent the new printing free so long as the purchaser returned the earlier printing.In this way, it got the first printing “off the streets.” The association handled the matter in anethical, responsible, and professional way and thereby largely put the unfortunate eventbehind it.The APA Publication Manualis used by most psychological journals and by journals in manyother fields as well, including nursing, education, and social work. There are many competingprofessional organizations with their own goals and, quite frankly, their own need for revenuefrom publications. The APA Publication Manualreached its position of preeminence becauseof its usefulness to authors and journal editors, not because other professional organizationswere cheerfully willing to cede preeminence to it.There are a number of changes in the new edition. From our point of view, the changes arewelcome ones.First, and probably most welcome, is the APA Publication Manual’s reduced length. Thesuccessive editions were getting longer and longer; the fifth edition had reached 439 pages.It was just too long. The sixth edition is more compact at 272 pages.Second, the format for headings in papers has always been confusing. Most confusing hasbeen that, when an author used less than the full set of headings, he or she was supposednot to use just the levels in consecutive order but rather to skip levels. In the new edition,levels of headings are used in order so that, for example, if there are two orders of headings,one uses the first two levels; if there are three levels, one uses the first three levels, and soforth. The levels in the new edition are also more intuitively sensible and easier to use withelectronic manuscripts. All authors will welcome the new guidelines for headings.Third, the APA Publication Manualis much more helpful with regard to the electronicsubmission of manuscripts, and, indeed, many of the changes in this edition have beenintended to clarify how electronic submissions should be prepared. When the fifth edition waspublished, many journals were in the process of converting from paper to electronicsubmission; the future of submitting papers was not clear. The sixth edition is clearly orientedmore toward electronic submission, which well represents the present as well as the almostinevitablewave of the future.Fourth, the sixth edition has provided expanded coverage of ethical issues that authorsconfront when doing research and preparing manuscripts, such as what constitutesplagiarism, how authorship should be determined, and how identities of participants shouldbe disguised. Because, in the last decade, institutional review boards have become muchmore demanding with regard to the ethics of research, the additional insights are mostwelcome. Part of what has distinguished the APA Publication Manualis its greater attention toissues of scientific and ethical conduct than what is found in other such guides, and the latestedition is the best with regard to the handling of these issues.Fifth, the new APA Publication Manualcontains expanded material on the use and reportingof statistical methods and is more comprehensive in its discussion of reporting of effect sizes.Because so many conclusions in articles are a result of statistical analyses, the additionalcoverage is most helpful.Consider now what we see as some of the weaknesses of the sixth edition. Most of themstem from one general issue: The goal of the APA Publication Manualshould be, in part, tomake writing easier for authors, but that is not always the case.First, even at its reduced length, the manual is overwhelming. In reading the manual, oneeasily can lose the forest for the trees. It is for this reason, perhaps, that there are a numberof sources, including sources from the APA itself, that attempt to help users grasp the mainpoints. So, in effect, there are manuals for using this manual, including one by APA itself(e.g., APA, 2009).Consider, for example, commas in numbers, something that is perhaps not of primeimportance in writing articles. We learn that we should use commas “between groups of threedigits in most figures of 1,000 or more” (p. 114), except for page numbers, binary digits, serialnumbers, degrees of temperature, acoustic frequency designations, and degrees of freedom(p. 114). One wonders whether the manual is perhaps overregulating on a matter that is notof the utmost importance.Another example of how the APA Publication Manualis overwhelming is that Latinabbreviations are to be used only in parentheses, not outside them, for example, “e.g.” (wemade sure not to say “e.g., ‘e.g.’”). In our years of reviewing and editing manuscripts, wehave found this rule to be violated at least as often as it is observed. We wonder whether ourtime or that of a copy editor is well spent changing “e.g.” to “for example” when theabbreviation occurs outside rather than inside a set of parentheses.Second, sometimes it is hard to believe the book was written by, well, psychologists. Thebook is not always friendly to the psychology of the reader. For example, there are fourdense pages on hyphenation (pp. 97–100). Table 4.1 contains 11 rules of hyphenation, andwe are also treated to five general principles. Table 4.2 also gives 39 prefixes and suffixesthat do not require hyphens. So there are 11 rules, five principles, and 39 examples of whennot to use hyphens. It is just too much for even an obsessive-compulsive devotee of theAPA Publication Manualto remember. Most authors do not want to consult the APAPublication Manualevery time they write a paper and encounter a term that may or may notneed hyphenation.As another example, there are 77 different reference formats given in Chapter 7. Althoughone can see the need for different formats for different kinds of items, it might have been niceto have some general principles so that an author would not have to look for which of the 77formats to use for each type of item he or she needs to reference.Third, the APA Publication Manualseems more to present a normative or “ideal” model ratherthan a performance or “real-world” model that would address the publication problemsauthors often face. One example is piecemeal publication, which everyone agrees is a badthing. But in this regard authors sometimes find themselves in a trap: They are told by journaleditors to make their manuscripts as short as possible and by tenure and promotioncommittees to make sure they have enough publications to get to the next grade. Often, it isa judgment call as to just how much material should go into one article so that it is neither toolong nor too short.As another example, the APA Publication Manualdoes not deal sufficiently with the problemsauthors confront with reviewers. Many reviewers are competent, professional, and helpful.But others are less than competent, amateurish, and even spiteful (Sternberg, 2003). Howdoes one deal with reviews that editors send but that do not meet professional standards?How does one respond to points reviewers make when they are demonstrably wrong? Howdoes one deal with contradictory recommendations, if the editor makes no note of them?Perhaps the next edition of the APA Publication Manualcould have a section on guidelinesfor reviewers and guidelines for authors on how to deal with reviews.On the whole, we believe that the APA Publication Manualcontinues to be an excellent andindispensable reference work. It is probably the one reference that no serious author inpsychology can be without. The corrected sixth edition of the APA Publication Manualis animprovement over the previous editions and will be of tremendous use to all writers inpsychology and allied fields, e.g., educational research. Oops, we meant “for example,educational research!”ReferencesAmerican Psychological Association. (2009). Mastering APA style: Student’sworkbook and training guide(6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Sternberg, R. J.(2003). To be civil. The APA Monitor on Psychology, 34(7), 5.Robert J. Sternberg is a former president of the American Psychological Association (APA)and four of its divisions and has been editor of two of its journals. He is currently presidentelectof the Federation of Associations of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, of which APA is amember. Robert J. Sternberg and Karin Sternberg are coauthors of The Psychologist’sCompanion(5th ed., Cambridge University Press, in press), which, among other things,summarizes the current APA Publication Manualpublication guidelines._______________________________________________________________Indexing (details)Subject Scientific Communication (major);American Psychological Association(major);WritersClassification 3400: Professional Psychological&Health Personnel IssuesIdentifier / keyword American Psychological Association, publication manual, authors,writing, referencingTitle Eighty years later: The APA publication manual rides again...and againand again and again and again.Author Sternberg, Robert J.; Sternberg, KarinPublication title PsycCRITIQUESVolume 55Issue 5Publication date 2010Publication year 2010Year 2010Publisher American Psychological AssociationCountry of publication United StatesISSN 0010-7549Source type Scholarly JournalsSummary language EnglishFormat availability ElectronicLanguage of publication EnglishAuthor of reviewed workRelated work [Title: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association(6th ed.)] Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.272pp. $39.95 HC $36.95 SB $28.95 PBDocument type Review-book, Electronic CollectionDOI 10.1037/a0018765Accession number 2010-00585-001ProQuest document ID 614292681Document URL http://search(dot)proquest(dot)com/docview/614292681?accountid=8289Last updated 2011-04-11Database PsycCRITIQUES<<