A Comparison of the Ethical Codes in Counseling - ACA vs. AACC

Sample APA Paper: Professional Format for Graduate/Doctoral Students The title of your paper goes on the top line of the first page of the body (American Psychological Association [APA], 2019, section 2.11). It should be centered, bolded, and in title case (all major words—usually those with four+ letters—should begin with a capital letter)—see p. 51 of your Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: Seventh Edition (APA, 2019; hereinafter APA-7). It must match the title that is on your title page (see last line on p. 32). As shown in the previous sentence, use brackets to denote an abbreviation within parentheses (bottom of p. 159). Write out the full name of an entity or term the first time mentioned before using its acronym (see citation in first sentence in this paragraph), and then use the acronym throughout the body of the paper (section 6.25). There are many changes in APA-7. One to mention here is that APA-7 allows writers to include subheadings within the introductory section (APA, 2019, p. 47). Since APA-7 now regards the title, abstract, and term “References” to all be Level-1 headings, a writer who opts to include headings in his or her introduction must begin with Level-2 headings as shown above (see section 2.27) for any divisions within the introductory section. If you do choose to include headings in your introduction section (which is optional), be sure to include two or more subheadings, since APA (2019) forbids stand-alone heading levels. A second notable change in APA-7 is that writers are no longer required to cite their source every single sentence that content from it is mentioned (section 8.1). As demonstrated in this paper, since all of the content (other than the examples included for illustration and reference-entry variation purposes) comes directly from the APA-7 itself, citations to the APA-7 are only included for the first instance in each paragraph. Section and/or page numbers are included parenthetically throughout for the sake of students who desire to know exactly where the stated rule appears in the APA-7 itself. In your academic papers, however, it is critical to include the required author(s) and year, as applicable, for all citations that are included; this may include more than one citation for each resource per paragraph, as required to avoid any confusion about the source of that content. Basic Rules of Scholarly Writing Most beginning students have difficulty learning how to write papers and also format papers correctly using the seventh edition of the APA manual. However, the Liberty University Online Writing Center’s (OWC) mission includes helping students learn how to be autonomous, proficient writers. The OWC also provides students with templates to help them with basic formatting elements, but this sample paper is designed to help graduate and doctoral students learn to master APA rules and formatting on their own, which will prove helpful as they progress in their studies and work toward future publication in scholarly journals. For the purpose of instruction, this paper will use second person (you, your), but third person (this author) must be used in most student papers. First person (I, me, we, us, our) is not generally permitted in academic papers. Students should refrain from using first or second person in college courses (even though the APA manual encourages this in other writing venues) unless the assignment instructions clearly permit such (as in the case of personal reflection sections or life histories). If in doubt, students should clarify with their professors. APA-7 delineates separate rules and guidelines between “student” and “professional” writers (APA, 2019). Because a primary purpose of graduate and doctoral studies is to prepare those students to publish professionally, Liberty University has decided to have undergraduate students follow APA-7’s guidelines for “student papers,” and graduate/doctoral students follow APA-7’s guidelines for “professional papers.” Separate templates are available for each level. This sample paper illustrates and discusses the rules and formatting of professional papers, as required for all Liberty University graduate and doctoral courses using APA-7 style. Brief Summary of Changes in APA-7 Most of these changes will be discussed in more detail below; this is just a very brief overview here. APA-7 reverts back to only one space after closing punctuation in the body of the paper (APA-6 required two spaces; APA, 2019, section 6.1). Student (undergraduate) papers no longer include a running head or abstract (sections 2.2 and 2.8); professional (graduate/doctoral) papers require an abstract but the running head is now the same on all pages (the added phrase “Running head:” from APA-6 has been eliminated; see section 2.8). Title pages are different for both student and professional formats. The title of a paper is no longer limited to 12 words (section 2.4). Citations of all resources with three or more authors now use the first author’s last name and the term et al. (APA, 2019, section 8.17). Reference entries must name up to the first 19 authors before adding an ampersand and ellipsis (up from APA-6’s six authors; section 9.8). APA-7 omits the phrase DOI and instead standardizes DOIs to be presented in hyperlink format (i.e., https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1524838017742386; section 9.35). Formatting guidelines for annotated bibliographies are included in APA-7 (section 9.51), as well as expanded and standardized reference entry examples. As discussed above, it is no longer necessary to cite a source every single time you refer to content gleaned from it as long as it is clear the content comes from that source (section 8.1); APA-7 also expanded the specific location noted in the citation to include page, paragraph, section (as used throughout this sample paper, to direct the student to the exact relevant content), chapter, timestamp, etc. (section 8.13). APA-7 allows for “self-plagiarism” (clarified and defined below). It also invites writers to highlight the most relevant work first, rather than just present all works in alphabetical order (APA, 2019, section 8.12). Heading-level formatting has changed, and APA-7 provides more flexibility in font and line spacing (APA, 2019). The Bible must now be included in the reference list and its citations must include the editor’s details and year (section 8.28); there are also new rules for dictionary entries. Publisher city and state details are omitted from all reference entries except those involving presentations or conferences, as is the phrase “retrieved from.” Hyperlinks should be live, but they may be either presented as blue underlining or plain black text. Running Head, Author Note, and Abstract APA (2019) delineates separate formatting requirements for what it terms “student” and “professional” papers. Its descriptions for those labels, however, suggests that it regards undergraduate-level writing to fall within the student purview, and graduate/doctoral-level writing (including dissertations and theses) to fall within the professional purview. Since a significant goal in graduate and post-graduate studies is preparing those students to publish in scholarly journals at and beyond graduation, it makes sense to train those students in the formatting that is required for professionals. As such, Liberty University has opted to require the APA-7’s “student” version format for all undergraduate assignments using APA, and its “professional” version for all graduate and doctoral assignments. To that end, this being the sample paper for professional formatting, it includes the additional elements required for such: a running head (same on all pages), an author’s note, and an abstract. Graduate and doctoral students will use this format. Basic Formatting Elements Font APA-7 does not prescribe a specific font or size (APA, 2019, section 2.19) but rather allows for some choice (e.g., 12-point Times New Romans, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 11point Georgia, or 10-point Lucinda Sans Unicode). Most journals and academic institutions will have a preference, however, as even APA-7 acknowledges on p. 44. For this reason—and because font size can easily be changed if an editor interested in publishing a student’s work prefers a different font—Liberty University recommends that students use 12-point Times New Romans or 11-point Calibri font for the body text in all academic papers. Data in charts, figures, and tables should be presented in 8- to 14-point size in either Calibri, Arial, or Lucinda Sans Unicode font. Students are not permitted to use any fonts such as script, calligraphy, poster, decorative, or others not found in published scholarly journals. Since APA-7 itself authorizes a variety of fonts and sizes, assignments will be gauged by word count rather than page count. Word count constitutes the number of words within the body of the paper, and excludes the title page, abstract, reference list, appendices, and other supplemental resources. Line Spacing APA-7 adds extra/blank lines on the title page (APA, 2019, sections 2.5, 2.7, 2.21). It also specifies that spacing in tables and figures may be single-, 1-1/2-, or double-spaced; equations can be triple- or quadruple-spaced. Footnotes, when used at the bottom of a page, should be single-spaced (section 2.21). Spaces After Punctuation APA-7 reverts back to just one space after closing punctuation in the body of the paper, as well as in reference entries (APA, 2019, section 6.1). Ordinarily, it would be improper to have a paragraph with only one sentence, though APA itself asserts that for its purposes “sentences and paragraphs of any length are technically allowed.”1 Footnotes This leads to another new rule in APA-7, one allowing the inclusion of footnotes (APA, 2019, section 2.13). Footnotes should be use very sparingly and are appropriate to include information such as that in the prior section to alert the reader to supplemental material that is available online for that thought. Though APA-7 authorizes placement of footnote content either at the bottom of the page (as in this sample paper) or on a separate page after the reference list (section 2.21), Liberty University recommends that student place them, when used, at the bottom of the page, as shown here. Heading Levels—Level 1 This sample paper uses primarily two levels of headings (Levels 1 and 2). APA style, however, has five heading levels, which will be demonstrated briefly for visual purposes. See section 2.27 of your APA-7 (APA, 2019) for more details on heading levels and formatting. In APA-7, all heading levels are now bolded and in title case (capitalize each major word—usually those with four or more letters, including hyphenated compound words). Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the) in headings unless they begin a title or follow a colon. Level 1 headings are centered, with the content falling on the line beneath each, in standard paragraph format. Many students misunderstand that you progress from Level 1 to Level 2 to Level 3 to Level 4 to Level 5, but that is not correct. In fact, your paper may have only Level 1 headings, or just Levels 1 and 2. The rule of thumb is that you must have at least two of each heading level that you use, otherwise omit that heading level. Headings are basically styling ways of organizing your paper, without using an outline format. APA specifies five levels of headings; you would likely never use Level 5 and only very rarely use Level 4 as a student. Think of each level as the different levels in an outline. Roman numerals, for example, would be Level 1 headings. Capital letters would be Level 2 headings. Numerals would be Level 3 headings. Lowercase letters would be Level 4. And lowercase Roman numerals would be Level 5. You must always have two or more of each subheading, but you do not need every level. You start with Level 1 and work down from that (but not consecutive 1-2-3-4-5). Under a Level 1, you would either have two+ Level 2 headings or none at all (just one big section in paragraphs before the next Level 1 section). Special note about conclusion sections: Please note that some of the sample papers published by APA to demonstrate proper APA-7 format (including the “professional” sample on pp. 50-60 of the APA-7 manual) depict the “Conclusion” section with a Level-2 heading. This is limited to empirical papers that are being submitted for publication in scholarly journals, as those conclusions pertain to the “Discussion” sections in such papers and are not conclusions of the overall papers themselves. Conclusions in academic papers at Liberty University will be Level 1 headings (including dissertations and theses, which are divided by chapters, unlike journal article manuscripts). Level 2 Heading Level 2 headings are left-justified (APA, 2019, p. 48). The supporting information is posed in standard paragraph form beneath it. Never use only one of any level of heading. You must use two or more of any level you use, though not every paper will require more than one level. The heading levels are simply demonstrated here for visual purposes, but you would always have two or more of each under a larger heading, as shown throughout all the other sections of this sample paper. Level 3 Heading Level 3 headings are bolded, left-justified, and italicized; the content falls on the line underneath, as with Levels 1 and 2. Level 4 Heading. Must be bolded and indented ½”. Add a period, one space, and begin your content on the same line as shown here. Level 5 Heading. Same as Level 4, but also italicized. Despite heavy writing experience, this author has never used Level 5 headings. Specific Elements of Academic Papers Tables of Contents and Outlines APA (2019) does not regulate every type of paper and some elements in various assignments are not addressed in the APA-7 manual, including outlines and tables of content. In those cases, follow your professor’s instructions and the grading rubric for the content and format of the outline or annotations, and use standard APA formatting for all other elements (such as running head, title page, body, reference list, 1" margins, double-spacing, permitted font, etc.). Note that most academic papers will not require a table of contents, nor would one be appropriate. One was included in this paper simply for ease-of-access so students could go directly to the content they want to see. Generally speaking, no table of contents would be necessary for papers less than 20 pages of content, unless otherwise required by your professor. That being said, when organizing outlines in APA format, set your headings up in the proper levels (making sure there are at least two subheadings under each level), and then use those to make the entries in the outline. As discussed above, Level 1 headings become uppercase Roman numerals (I, II, III), Level 2 headings become capital letters (A, B, C), Level 3 headings become numbers (1, 2, 3), Level 4 headings become lowercase letters (a, b, c), and Level 5 headings become lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii). Many courses now require “working outlines,” which are designed to have the bones and foundational framework of the paper in place (such as title page, abstract, body with title, outline/heading divisions, supporting content with citations, and references), without the full “meat” that fills out and forms a completed paper. Annotated Bibliographies Many Liberty University courses also now require students to prepare and submit an annotated bibliography as a foundational step to building a research paper. There is significant merit in these assignments, as they teach students to critique the resources they have found and rationalize why each is relevant for their paper’s focus. APA (2019) includes a section on annotated bibliographies (9.51; see the example provided on p. 308). The appendix attached to this sample paper also includes a sample annotated bibliography. Appendices Appendices, if any, are attached after the reference list (APA, 2019, section 2.14). You must refer to them (i.e., “callout”) in the body of your paper so that your reader knows to look there (see the yellow-highlighted callouts to Table 1 on p. 54 and to Footnote 1 on p. 55 of your APA-7 for visuals on how this should appear in your paper). The word “Appendix” is singular; use it to refer to individual appendices. APA-7 regards it as a Level 1 heading so it should be bolded. I attached a sample Annotated Bibliography as a visual aid (see Appendix). You will see that I included the title “Appendix” at the top of the page and formatted it in standard APA format beneath that. Because I only included one appendix, it is simply titled as such. If there are more appendices, assign a letter to each and denote each by that: “Appendix A” and “Appendix B.”