Imagine how much more empowered you would feel if every time you had a concern of whether or not your writing style was correct, you had a resource to help guide your writing.

There is such a resource — the APA Style Central website. Their “goal is to help you think and write like a seasoned professional.”

Oxford dictionary defines “seasoned” as “having a lot of experience in a particular activity” vs. “experienced” as “having knowledge or skill in a particular job or activity.” Someone who is seen as a seasoned professional is defined by having experience and being recognized as such by their superiors and peers because of the excellence in which they perform their job. Again, imagine how much more effective you would be when you know there is a tool empowering you to write with excellence. That is the primary function of APAStyleCentral.apa.org as it enhances your knowledge and understanding of writing in the APA format.

Breakdown

APA Central provides users (predominantly students and faculty) a guide to help them navigate through writing papers based on the APA format. This online tool sets a strong foundation for those seeking assistance in their writing. After researching the website by creating my own personal account as if I were a student or faculty seeking to use the website for my own purpose, I found the materials to be quite beneficial imagining myself during my college career. Being a detailed orientated individual, I seek to provide myself with enough information in order that I may perform to the best of my abilities. This site does just that, as it provides much insight into the APA style writing with many resources such as Quick Guides, Tutorials, Self-Quizzes, and Samples (those include samples of Papers References, Tables, and Figures). All accessible to their fullest use just by creating either a student or faculty account.

Quick Guides

Short videos – 2 to 5 minutes – are available on the site to provide quick tips on APA Style rules. These videos are quick, yet effective through their approach of visual learning with voice-over to guide users through the video, step by step.

Tutorials

The site also provides longer videos – most about 10 to 30 minutes – which provide in-depth tutorials on writing and publishing. A tool providing in-depth learning modules through visual learning (same concept as the Quick Guides), that provide more detailed information of the APA writing style.

Self-Quizzes

The resource provides self quizzes to assess your knowledge of APA Style rules. After reviewing APA through the ‘Quick Guides’ and ‘Tutorials,’ users have a chance to test themselves with specific quizzes (multiple choice question format) that give you the correct answers, if answered incorrectly.

Samples

Sample papers, references, tables, and figures illustrate are also provided to highlight how APA Style rules are applied. These samples give users the practical application of APA Style through shared work.

  • Papers – List of papers that have small descriptions users can read to get a quick insight upon reading.
  • References – Over 150 reference examples with the correct formatting if one was to submit a Reference Page.
  • Tables – Different types of tables with descriptions of each for users to see how tables are implemented into papers.
  • Figures – Lastly, tables that include a bar graph, chart, histogram, line graph, photograph, pie graph, and plot giving users the understanding of how to format a specific table based on the type of paper they are writing.

Research, Write, Publish

After being filled with what feels like too much knowledge on APA, the site offers users the ability to begin the process of their own personal work with the following tabs:

  • A Research tab that has the abilities of a “Google Search Engine”,
  • A Writing tab that sets the stage for users to write, edit, and save their papers (options include empirical, multi-experimental, literature review, theoretical, case study, methodological, meta-analysis, reaction and basic paper)
  • A Publish tab that serves as an additional browser to search more journals and featured videos.

Conclusion

Feeling empowered to write the strongest and best APA Style paper ever? After reviewing this site in its entirety, I would conclude this to be a helpful resource for the college students and faculty to better equip them throughout their career of studying, teaching, but collectively, learning. APA Style Central is working for your best interest.

Visit APA Style Central


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