Teaching-Learning Model

Associate Level Material

Appendix H

Appropriate Style Guidelines

A central aspect of the Teaching-Learning Model at University of Phoenix is the degree of emphasis placed on written and verbal communication skills. To succeed in your college courses and in your chosen profession, you must be able to communicate in a clear, concise, and correct manner.

Universities and colleges normally require a standardized format for written communication. By adopting one style for all writing assignments, instructors are able to assess content and apply the same evaluation techniques to all students’ papers in a consistent manner. Following a formal style also adds credibility and validity to your writing: It will be much easier for your readers to follow the flow of your ideas and to locate information in your paper.

Academic Honesty

Additionally, you must apply consistent style guidelines to credit your sources, which helps you to avoid plagiarizing the work of other authors and to maintain academic honesty. Academic honesty is highly valued at the university—so highly valued, in fact, that the following passage explaining the importance of academic honesty is included in the syllabus for every course:

University of Phoenix students utilize university resources with honesty and integrity. These resources include, but are not limited to, the online library, online consultation with faculty, and registration systems. In addition to truthful representation in these areas, students must acknowledge references from original works, avoid plagiarism, and use writing and formatting styles generally accepted as sound academic writing.

Academic dishonesty could involve the following:

· Having a tutor or friend complete a portion of your assignments

· Having a reviewer make extensive revisions to an assignment

· Copying work submitted by another student to a public class meeting

· Using information from online information services without proper citation

APA Guidelines for Form and Appearance

What Is APA? University of Phoenix requires APA style as the standardized format in all programs. APA style is taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Many colleges and universities use APA to format papers in sociology, business, economics, nursing, social work, and criminology courses.

All your academic papers must meet certain criteria for form and appearance, including the following:

· Font

· Margins

· Spacing

· Page numbers

· Title page

· Headings

· Numbers, abbreviations, and lists

· Tables and figures

The requirements for the above items are outlined in Ch. 1 of the Associate Level Writing Style Handbook, available on the student website.

Also, review the example of an APA-formatted sample paper at the Center for Writing Excellence in the University Library.

APA Guidelines for Citing Sources

As you take notes, keep track of the information you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize. Researchers use this information in the following ways:

· Parenthetical in-text citations included throughout the text of the paper

· A reference page at the end of the paper

In your papers, when you quote, summarize, or paraphrase a source, you use a parenthetical in-text citation in APA format. This citation tells the reader the information came from another source. The in-text citation is also shorthand for the longer reference at the end of the paper identifying the source for each cited piece of information.

The following are examples of different types of in-text citations:

Direct Quotation, Author Not Named in the Sentence

Recent analysis of Asia has found that “its societies and economies are rapidly changing and are acquiring a major position in world affairs in all respects” (Murphey, 2009, p. 8).

Note. There are quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quotation and a period at the end of the quotation (inside the quotation marks). Direct quotations also require page numbers.

Direct Quotation, Author Named in the Sentence

According to Murphey (2009), “[Asia’s] societies are rapidly changing and are acquiring a major position in world affairs in all respects” (p. 8).

Paraphrase, Author Named in the Sentence

Asian expert Rhoades Murphey (2009) notes the growing influence of Asian societies on world affairs.

Paraphrase, Author Not Named in the Sentence

One author notes the growing influence of Asian societies on world affairs (Murphey, 2009).

Integrating Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries

To help your reader understand which ideas are yours and which ideas come from another source, you must carefully integrate direct quotations, paraphrased passages, and summaries into the text of your paper.

Review all sections of the Plagiarism Guide at the Center for Writing Excellence in the University Library.

APA Guidelines for References

At the end of the paper, you must include a reference page listing all the sources you quoted, paraphrased, or summarized in the body of your paper. These references are significantly longer than the in-text citations and include information such as the author’s name, the publication title, the year of publication, and the URL if the information was retrieved from the Internet.

The following are references examples for different types of sources:

Book

Murphey, R. (2009). A history of Asia (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

Journal Article

Alston, M., & Kent, J. (2009). Generation X-pendable: The social exclusion of

rural and remote young people. Journal of Sociology, 45(1), 89-107.

Journal Article From an Online Database With an Assigned DOI*

Martinez, C., Kock, N., & Cass, J. (2011). Pain and pleasure in short essay writing:

Factors predicting university students’ writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(5), 351–360. doi:10.1598/JAAL.54.5.5

* DOI stands for digital object identifier, an identification record provided by the publisher. If the journal article has a DOI, use the DOI in lieu of providing the URL address to the journal’s homepage.

Website With an Author

Simmons, A. (2009, November 3). You can get there from here: Websites for learners. Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/you-can-get-there-from-here-websites-for-learners/

Website With a Company or Organization as Author

American Heart Association. (2010). Four ways to deal with stress.

Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/StressManagement/Four%20WaystoDealWithStress/Four-Ways-to-Deal-with-Stress_UCM_307996_Article.jsp

Annotated Bibliography

For this course, you must create an annotated bibliography as well as a reference page for the end of your research paper. An annotated bibliography is an alphabetized list of sources, formatted consistent with APA guidelines, with each source followed by a brief description and your evaluation.

Consider the following example of an annotated source:

Strauss, J., & Frost, R. (2009). E-Marketing (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Strauss, associate marketing professor, and Frost, management professor at Ohio University, write that home and work boundaries are dissolving. They also suggest that the trend will increase as more Americans telecommute, which bodes well for e-marketers. The research is very thorough and well documented.

Include any or all of the following in an annotation:

· Information. A summary of your findings

· Evaluation. What you thought of the information and how well it supported your topic

· Comparison. How it compared with other books or articles

· Authority. The background of the author

Having a list of your sources in appropriate APA format, followed by annotations, helps you locate and access the information you need when referring back to your sources. Your annotations should be three to five sentences long. When you submit the final draft of your research paper, include a reference list without the annotations. The annotations are only to be included in your annotated bibliography assignment.

For more information on compiling an annotated bibliography and to view a sample of an annotated bibliography, refer to http://www.apollolibrary.com/cwe/pdfs/AXIAAnnotatedbibliography.pdf.

Additional Resources

Many students find formatting sources to be a difficult process. There are, however, some helpful resources, including the following:

· For examples of appropriate APA citations and references, refer to the APA Reference and Citation Samples at the Center for Writing Excellence.

· For additional examples of APA citations and references, refer to Ch. 2 of Associate Level Writing Style Handbook.

Wrap-Up

Credible and conscientious writers must cite all sources both in the text and also at the end of the research paper to avoid plagiarism. Appropriately citing and documenting your sources shows you are a careful researcher and also positively affects your grade on the paper.

Allow adequate time to complete this part of your final project. If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask your instructor for assistance. The more you use APA formatting, the easier and more familiar the guidelines may become.

APA citation

Annotation