APA Language Guidelines — Writing Style & Punctuation

The APA style guidelines address critical facets of scholarly composition, including punctuation, the application of abbreviations and acronyms, pronoun usage, and numerical representations. Acquainting yourself with these APA guidelines can significantly elevate the quality and comprehensibility of your academic endeavors. By integrating the APA style in your writing, you ensure consistency and adhere to the established norms of academic writing.

Definition: APA language guidelines

APA language guidelines are currently in their 7th edition. By following current guidelines, you can make sure your writing is clear, concise, grammatically correct, and inclusive.

APA language guidelines: Active vs. passive voice

Passive voice (which avoids specifying the agent or subject) is more common in academic work than in other forms of writing.

The problem with using passive voice is that it unnecessarily lengthens sentences, sometimes making them convoluted and ambiguous.
APA language guidelines suggest you use active voice whenever possible.

However, APA language guidelines don’t state that you should never use passive voice. You can use it when it’s not important to specify the agent or subject in a sentence.

APA language guidelines: Personal pronouns

APA language guidelines apply to first, second, and third-person personal pronouns, which replace nouns in a way that keeps writing concise and grammatically correct.

APA language guidelines: Anthropomorphism

In academic writing, anthropomorphism occurs when human actions are attributed to objects or beings incapable of performing such actions. APA language guidelines allow for anthropomorphic language if the meaning is unambiguous.

APA language guidelines: Inclusive language

Following APA language guidelines on inclusive language is required in academic writing to ensure your work is bias-free. The main guidelines are:

• Use third-person pronouns where appropriate.
• Avoid ageism in your writing (e.g. “older people” instead of “the elderly”).
• When describing ethnicity, use capitalization and don’t hyphenate terms (e.g. “African American”).
• Avoid gender-exclusive language (e.g. use “spokesperson” instead of “spokesman”).
• Be mindful when referring to people with disabilities (e.g. “people with mental disorders” instead of “mentally ill people”).
• Avoid using adjectives to categorize large groups (e.g. “people experiencing homelessness” instead of “the homeless”).

APA language guidelines: Punctuation

APA language guidelines dictate the following punctuation rules to help avoid confusion in your writing:

• Punctuate standard Latin abbreviations
  (i.e. and e.g.).
• Use commas after introductory or transitional phrases
  (e.g. “Therefore,”, “For example,”).
• Serial or Oxford comma must be used before the final word in a list of three or more items
  (e.g. “adjectives, verbs, and pronouns”).
• Follow the hyphenation guidelines outlined in the APA Dictionary of Psychology or in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
• Use double quotation marks except when quoting a quote inside a quote.

APA language guidelines: Abbreviations

APA language guidelines cover the correct use of abbreviations and acronyms, which help make writing concise and avoid redundancy.³  General considerations regarding APA language guidelines on abbreviations and acronyms include:

• Use the full term and the abbreviation the first time you introduce a concept.
  E.g. “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)”.
• Well-known acronyms and abbreviations don’t need to be written in their full version (e.g. IQ, cm).
• Don’t use abbreviations or acronyms in headings, unless you’ve already listed the full version.
• Don’t use abbreviations or acronyms in paper titles, unless they’re well-known.
• Acronyms and abbreviation can be the first word in a sentence, as long as they’re uppercase.

APA language guidelines: Numerals and words

Numerals are used to refer to numbers from 10 upwards, and:

• Before a measurement unit.
• In statistics or mathematical terms.
• In academic abstracts.
• To describe times, dates, scores, or ages.
• To refer to an item in a numbered list.

Words must be used when:

• Referring to numbers between zero and nine.
• A number starts a sentence.
• In well-known fractions.

Numerals and words can be used together when one of them is a modifier. E.g.: 2 one-way ANOVA tests.

APA language guidelines: Hyphenation

A prefix appears before a noun, whereas a suffix is added at the end of a noun. APA language guidelines state you shouldn’t hyphenate some prefixes and suffixes, including:

Always hyphenate:

• Prefixes “self” and those that start with “a”, “i”, and “o” before a word that starts with the same letter.
• Prefixes before a number or a capitalized word. E.g. “pre-2020”.
• Words that change meaning when hyphenated. E.g. the verb “re-form” is not the same as the noun “reform”.