
If you have never taken a psychology or social science class before. Not doing so will be considered plagiarism. The purpose of this is to acknowledge the ideas and research of other people that you have used in your paper. While writing a paper, it is important to give credit and cite all the sources. The official style of the American Style Association, APA is commonly used to cite sources in the psychology and social science field, and students’ papers. Today the style is adopted in term papers, literature reviews, research reports, case studies, theoretical articles, etc.


The APA format has since become one of the most popular referencing styles. But it was mainly for editorial purposes. The first APA format manual was published in pursuit of a neat and efficient formatting Sources in the social and behavioral sciences field. The idea behind this was to provide a structured and professional writing manner to cite The APA style format originated in 1929 by a group of scientists to make some standards for scientific writing. It is the scientific organization that assembles the APA format manual.

The full official name is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. APA Format: A Brief HistoryĪPA stands for American Psychological Association. So, learning about this new format, you need to get a strong grip of the basic rules and bookmarking some important resources as this eventually helps you to learn this format in a much easier way. It might be a painful transition for you if you have to go back and forth between these styles. Many classes at the university level require APA format. It is often observed that college students are surprised that after spending a number of years now there is another format that is drilled into their heads. If you are a student of social science class or psychology class, then you are probably intended to use a styling guide that is different from APA format such as Chicago Style or MLA. Ychological writing and some other journal articles.

Consistency in style will let the users know what to look for whils So why is the APA format important especially in social sciences and in psychology? It is one of the most commonly used citation styles and by utilizing the APA style paper format, students and researchers writing about psychology are able to easily communicate the ideas and relevant information in a format that is consistent throughout the document. Paper Due? Why suffer? That’s our job! Click here to learn more.
