Publication Manual of the American Psychological Assocation (APA) 5th Essay

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Assocation (APA) 5th edition book report - Essay Example The book also gives special attention to the treatment of numbers, statistical and mathematical data, tables, and figures to present data in reports or presentations. The manual is divided into nine sections that are further divided into sub-sections, each duly labeled with page numbers so that the user can quickly access the required information. The APA manual is a well organized and user-friendly book that guides writers in all aspects of writing a paper - starting from designing the research and evaluating the content to preparing the manuscript for publication. Some of the major points of the book are mentioned below: The most important point that is highlighted in the book is the position taken by the American Psychological Association on plagiarism. According to the APA (2001), it is important to ensure that psychologists do not present substantial portions of another’s work or data as their own, even if the other work or data source is cited occasionally. The entire book revolves around rules and conventions that have been set by the APA to ensure that the writer gives due credit to the authors of the sources that have been used in writing the paper. The two important items that help in referencing the sources in a paper and that have been addressed in detail in the book are (a) in-text citations, and (b) referencing. The manual guides writers in using parenthetical reference citations wherein the sources are briefly identified within the text using the author’s surname and year of publication enclosed in parenthesis at the point where the information is used (APA, 2001). These citations direct the readers to the reference section at the end of the paper, which provides the complete information of all the sources that were used in writing the paper. All the topics in the book are explained in such detail that