Exploring APA: Strategies to Improve Your Writing

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) is the official standard upon which many journals in our field, including those within JALT, base their style and formatting guidelines. Now in its 7th edition (2020), the APA manual is more than a simple reference tool for looking up how to format citations. It is a veritable academic writing textbook containing staggering amounts of detailed, authoritative information for improving academic writing skills. In addition to reference style examples for virtually any situation, topics covered include advice for writing and grammar, bias-free language, journal reporting standards, and a full step-by-step breakdown of a research paper’s typical path to publication. Given its high value and relevance to TLT readership, I thought it would be helpful to begin an occasional series of Writers’ Workshop columns that highlight some of its useful content. From time to time, I will dive deep into a section, summarize the content, then connect it more explicitly to our needs here in Japan-based ELT. I hope this series will encourage you to get more out of this invaluable resource.