APA Writing Style

Question 1

Effective writing is characterized by “logical consistency” and “smooth cadence of words and sentences”, called ________ and ________.

Answer 1

Continuity: logical consistency
Flow: smooth cadence of words and sentences

Question 2

When writing avoids inconsistencies, contradictions, omissions, and irrelevencies it is considered to have _______.

Answer 2

Continuity

Question 3

What should you do if there is a potential for ambiguity?

Answer 3

Specify the intended meaning.

Question 4

Synonyms can lead to imprecision and may unintentionally suggest a subtle difference, which leads to problems with _______ in scholarly writing.

Answer 4

Clarity

Question 5

Be especially careful with word choice when talking about ________.

Answer 5

People.
Be accurate, consistent, in line with preferred terminology, and in line with how the individuals describe themselves. Never use biased, pejorative, or demeaning language.

Question 6

Why do we avoid heavy alliteration, rhyming, powetic expressions, and cliches in scholarly writing?

Answer 6

Because we are striving for a professional voice and professional language, these things distract from the objectives of the writing.

Question 7

Avoid words such as “outstanding or “remaining” as they have ________ meanings.

Answer 7

SUPRLUS meanings.

Question 8

Why should mixed metaphors such as the following be avoided in writing?
“Theory representing one branch of a growing body of evidence.”

Answer 8

It confuses instead of fuses. Avoid mixed metaphors in all styles of coherent writing.

Question 9

Why should you use figurative expressions with restraint and colorful expressions with care?

Answer 9

This type of language can be open to interpretation and cultural differences, making it so it does not add to the understanding for all possible readers. Instead make direct, logical comparisons.

Question 10

Redundancy is sometimes used in writing to be empathetic, but it should be avoided in scholarly writing. Give examples of redundant language to avoid in scholarly writing.

Answer 10

Examples of redundancy:
“they were both alike “ “one and the same”
“a sum total” “in close proximity to”
“were exactly the same as” “period of time”
“absolutely essential” “summarize briefly”

Question 11

Reduce __________ by eliminating unnecessary words (e.g., use “now” instead of “at the present time”).

Answer 11

wordiness

Question 12

________ sentence length helps readers maintain interest and comprehension.

Answer 12

Varied.
Too many short sentences produces choppy prose. Too many long sentences results in difficult to decipher language. For best results use VARIED sentence length.

Question 13

______, declarative sentences with simple, common words are usually best.

Answer 13

Direct.
Avoid including multiple ideas in a single sentence; instead break the sentence into shorter ones. If involved concepts require long sentences, the components should proceed logically.

Question 14

Similar cautions as sentences apply to __________

Answer 14

Paragraphs.
Splitting up long paragraphs at logical places to signal a shift to a new idea helps with reader comprehension and clarity. Varied paragraph length is acceptable, there is no minimum or maximum length..

Question 15

When your writing contrasts the positions of other researchers, what type of language must you use?

Answer 15

Professional and noncombative. (e.g. “Gerard (2019) did not address” is acceptable, “Gerard (2019) completely overlooked” is not.)

Question 16

Although scientific writing intentionally leaves out many creative and literary devices because they do not support the objective of clear communication, there are a few tactics left that can be used to make it more compelling and interesting. What are they?

Answer 16

*Elaborate on an idea
*Make word choices that reflect your involvement with the problem.
*Vary sentence and paragraph length.
*As you write envision a particular reader you want to inform and persuade.

Question 17

You don’t want to use ____________. It is too informal.

Answer 17

Contractions

Question 18

Colloquialisms should be avoided. Which of the following are colloquialisms?
“to write up” “gonna” “practically all” “very few” “quite a large part”

Answer 18

They all are colloquialisms to avoid. Instead use precise, scholarly language.

Question 19

Jargon is specialized terminology that is unfamiliar to those outside a specific group.

Why avoid jargon in your scientific writing?

Answer 19

It hinders comprehension and may be euphemistic if replacing more familiar terms (e.g. “period of economic adjustment” instead of “recession”). Avoiding jargon expands your audience to people outside your area of expertise.

Question 20

What if you have to use jargon because it is key to your topic?

Answer 20

Define any specialized terms on the first use.

Question 21

What is wrong with the phrase “Twelve year-olds were more likely to play with age peers than 6-year old.”? When using logical comparisons BEWARE they do not have ________.

Answer 21

There are two possible meanings; it is ambiguous.
It is easy, in the name of brevity, to write parallelisms that are unclear. When making logical comparisons take your time and use all the space you need to keep it logical and complete.

Question 22

What is anthropomorphism and when should we avoid it?

Answer 22

Anthropomorphism is attributing human characteristics to animals or inanimate sources.

Avoid it when it impedes understanding or misleads readers (e.g., “rat couple” implies a misleading parallel between human romantic couples and pairs of rats. “Pair of rats” is correct; or “the theory concludes” is incorrect. A theory can address, indicate, or present; concluding is the researcher’s job.)
Sometimes it is ambiguous whether it is acceptable. Such as, it is acceptable to say “the chapter focuses on”. When unsure, default to the principle of clear communication.

Question 23

Which type of voice should be used as much as possible to create direct, clear, and concise sentences?

Answer 23

Active voice.
In active voice the subject of the sentence is presented first followed by the verb. For example “the patients took the medication orally” is better than “the medication was taken orally by the patients”.

Question 24

What verb tense should be used in APA format?

Answer 24

It depends. Either past, present perfect, or present.

Question 25

Present perfect tense when speaking generally or about things that did not happen at a specific time (e.g., “Others have used similar approaches.”) and Past tense when citing specific moment in time (e.g., “Participants completed the survey.”) should be used in which sections of an APA paper?

Answer 25

Literature review and methods sections.

Question 26

What verb tense should be used when reporting results?

Answer 26

Past tense (e.g. “results were nonsignificant” “scores increased”)

Question 27

What verb tense should be used when discussing implications of results, conclusions, limiatioatns, future directions, and so forth?

Answer 27

Present (e.g. “We conclude”, “Limitations of the study are”, “The results indicate”)

Question 28

Will an entire APA paper have the same verb tense?

Answer 28

Not necessarily. Use tense consistently, and stay within the chosen tense to ensure smooth expression. However, verb tenses can change in various parts of the paper.

Question 29

Which two subordinate conjunctions (e.g., “since, “while,” “although,” because,” “whereas”) should be restricted to temporal meanings (referring strictly to time)?

Answer 29

“While” and “Since”. Using these when not referring to time is imprecise and can mislead the reader.

Question 30

You can avoid many dangling modifiers by using an (active or passive) voice.

Answer 30

Active voice. Use an active voice to avoid most dangling modifiers.

Question 31

What type of modifier is ambiguius whether it refers to the phrase before or after the modifer? (e.g., “Reading books slowly improves my comprehension.

Answer 31

Squinting modifier

Question 32

What is a modifier?

Answer 32

An adjective or adverb that modifies another word. (e.g. we walked “slowly”, slowly is the modifier.”)

Question 33

What is a misplaced modifier?

Answer 33

A modifier that ambiguously or illogically modifies a word because of its placement in a sentence.