Introduction
The recent case of plagiarism identified by Baker-Benson Publishing has been not only a PR embarrassment but also a direct financial loss as is evident in company's recent sales figures. The request by Baker-Benson Publishing attorneys (addressed in current memo) to submit a detailed description of APA Documentation System is not only justified but is also, more significantly, an increasing necessity. For one, a proper understanding of APA Documentation System is apt to ensure Baker-Benson Publishing editors adopt ethical, if not legal, conduct in performing routine and non-routine editing functions as required by Baker-Benson Publishing internal policies, regulations and guidelines. This regulatory necessity is complemented by another performance necessity. Specifically, by officially requesting all Baker-Benson Publishing editors submit a report on APA Documentation System, Baker-Benson Publishing ensures all editors pursue established, professional standards as set by company's editing guidelines and universal standards of editing community. This report aims, hence, to offer (upon request) a description of APA Documentation System and to offer recommendations for future actions.
APA Documentation System: Brief Description
Baker-Benson Publishing adopts APA Documentation System. This system is used extensively in social sciences and best suits Baker-Benson Publishing's customer (primarily academic) needs. The APA Documentation System, like all documentation systems, ensures all borrowed ideas and/or direct quotations are properly cited and referenced. In order to cite ideas and/or direct quotations according to APA Documentation System, specific rules need to be followed. Generally, APA Documentation System requires, for format, double spacing, one-inch margins on all sides. There is no specific font requirement for APA Documentation System, although most common fonts (e.g. Times New Roman or Arial) are recommended for more readability. Moreover, APA Documentation System requires specific page formatting. Specifically, all pages in an APA-styled submission must include a heading (called "running head") in capitals and numbers flushed to right. The APA-styled submission is made up of separate sections (discussed in detail under " APA Research Report: Main Sections"). For referencing, all ideas and/or direct quotations must be cited properly in-text and in a separate, final section (called "References") in full. The APA Documentation System follows an author-year citation format, for in-text citation, and author's last name and initial, in "References" (as is discussed shortly later). APA Documentation System offers specific guidelines for referencing different content formats including, for example, books, websites, newspapers and journals (as is illustrated in more details under "APA In-Text Citation").
APA Style Guide
In order to use APA Documentation System, a recognized style manual is required. The most "canonized" manual for APA Documentation System is APA's manual ("APA Publication Manual Sixth Edition," n.d.) The manual is offered, in full, for $39.95 (hardcover), $29.95 (softcover), $36.95 (spiral bound) or in a digital format (Kindle) for $29.95. Or, alternatively, an APA style guide can be located in numerous websites of academic institutions. To locate an APA style guide online, an editor may do as follows:
Type "APA Style Guide" into a search engine (e.g. Google).
Identify ".edu" extension in displayed results in order to ensure credibility.
Make sure a selected website is well organized in order to be able to identify referencing instructions conveniently.
Repeat above steps for a different website should referencing instructions are missing for a given reference entry or when a selected website is under maintenance or down.
APA In-Text Citation
As noted, APA Documentation System requires specific referencing format for acceptable submissions. Generally, APA Documentation System adopts an author-year in-text citation format. This can be performed as follows:
Open a parenthesis right after a borrowed idea or quotation.
Type author's last name, or in case of a several authors (less than four), all last names of authors, separated by commas and an ampersand ("&") before last author's last name. (For several authors, more than four, type first author's last name followed by "et al.")
Type year of publication after last author's name.
Close parenthesis.
The standard APA in-text citation for one author is as follows:
(Author's Last Name, Year of Publication).
The standard APA in-text citation for four or less authors is as follows:
(First Author's Last Name, Second Author's Last Name, Third Author's Last Name & Fourth Author's Last Name, Year of Publication)
The standard APA in-text citation for five or more authors is as follows:
(First Author's Last Name et al., Year of Publication)
For direct quotations, page number is included for in-print publications. Generally, all reference categories (e.g. books, websites, journals or newspapers) follow one and only in-text citation format: (Author's Last Name, Year of Publication). This applies to in-print and web resources. There are cases, however, when no author's name is provided or unavailable and/or no publication date is provided or available. To cite according to APA in-text format, a shortened title of publication is used between double inverted commas followed by a comma and year of publication or, in case of unavailable year of publication, no date as follows:
("Shortened Title," n.d.)
APA Research Report: Main Sections
The accepted, standard APA-styled submission is made up of four sections: Title Page, Abstract (optional), Body and References ("General Format," n.d.). The Title Page includes basic information of: submission's title and author's information (name and affiliation) in addition to extra information if requested (e.g. submission date). The Abstract is, mainly, a summary of a submission's overall content and must be succinct. Typically, a 250-word Abstract is acceptable. The Abstract body is not indented for each paragraph but runs in one or more blocks. The Body section is a submission's main content. This section can be divided up into multiple sections depending on a submission's length or by request. The APA Documentation System adopts a distinct headings system. Mainly, sub-sections are formatted in different levels. That is, a first-level sub-heading is centered, in bold and uses upper- and lowercases; a second-level subheading is indented to left, in bold and uses upper- and lowercases; a third-level is indented to left, in bold, italicized and uses lowercase with a period; and a fourth level is indented to left, italicized and uses lowercase with a period. The References section includes a full list of in-text citations. The references are arranged alphabetically with author's last name first.
Conclusion
This report is submitted upon request by Baker-Benson Publishing Attorneys. The report details basic formatting and citation requirements of as well as resources for APA Documentation System. The significance of APA Documentation System cannot be overemphasized as shown above. For more effective editing performance – and, for that matter, for proper disciplinary actions – a frequent review should be performed for editors in order to make sure proper APA Documentation System requirements are applied.
References
APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. (n.d.) American Psychological Association. Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org/manual/index.aspx
General Format. (n.d.) Purdue Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
