Apostrophes, how to use them…

This is not strictly an APA rule, but here are some tips on the proper use of the apostrophe. Apostrophes (‘) usually indicate one of two things: a contraction, or a possessive state for a noun or proper noun.

EXAMPLE 1: POSSESIVE SINGLE NOUN
Simply add an apostrophe and an s after the noun to indicate a possessive state.

• The poet’s intent is to….
• The wolf’s prey….

EXAMPLE 2: POSSESIVE PLURAL NOUN ENDING IN S
Add an apostrophe after the s to indicate a possessive form of the pluralized noun – a second s is not required after the apostrophe.

• The doctors’ research….
• The wolves’ prey….

EXAMPLE 3: POSSESIVE PLURAL IRREGULAR NOUN NOT ENDING IN S
Certain pluralized nouns do not end in s (e.g., men, feet, phenomena). For those terms, add the apostrophe and an s after the irregular pluralized noun.

• The women’s duties included….
• The deer’s diet consists of….

EXAMPLE 4: SINGULAR PROPER NOUN
Add an apostrophe and s after any single proper noun.

• Hercules’s strength was….
• Leibowitz’s photography….

NOTE: Even if the singular proper noun ends with an s, add the apostrophe and s. Some texts will suggest that simple writing Hercules’ (without the ’s) is also acceptable.

EXAMPLE 5: POSSESSIVE PROPER NOUNS IN A SERIES (JOINT POSSESSION)
Add an apostrophe and s after the last proper noun in a sequence of proper nouns.

• Carter and Seybold’s paper outlines….
• Prokopiev, Turner, and Chen’s work….

You will use this form when you have multiple authors contributing to the same work.

EXAMPLE 6: POSSESSIVE PROPER NOUNS IN A SERIES (INDIVIDUAL POSSESSION)
Add an apostrophe and s after the each proper noun in a sequence of proper nouns.

• U2’s and INXS’s songs differed in….
• Shakespeare’s and Marlowe’s plays were….

Since the works were not collaborations, each proper noun must indicate an individual possessive state.

EXAMPLE 7: POSSESSIVE PLURALIZED PROPER NOUNS
If a proper noun is pluralized, only add the apostrophe.

• The Kravitzes’ investments were….
• The MacGregors’ land included…

WHEN WILL YOU NOT USE AN APOSTROPHE
Do not use an apostrophe for the pluralizing of abbreviations or numbers.

• PDFs
• PhDs
• 1980s

You will not use an apostrophe and s to indicate the possessive form of personal and relative pronouns.

INCORRECT FORM	CORRECT FORM
their’s	theirs
it's (contraction meaning: it is)	its
who's (contraction meaning: who is)	whose
That is her’s.	That is hers.
Our’s are over there.	Ours are over there.

CONTRACTIONS
It is STRONGLY advised that you never use contractions in an academic paper. It is considered poor form/style to do so. Use cannot instead of can’t; use do not and not don’t; and despite ain’t being in some dictionaries, it should never be used in an academic setting.

EXCEPTIONS
Some proper nouns employ an apostrophe, but do not indicate a possessive state or contractions (e.g., O’Neil, D’Angelo, etc.). O’clock (meaning: according to the clock) also employs the apostrophe, but neither a contraction nor a possessive state are implied.

Sources:
Flick, J., & Millward, C. (1993). Handbook for writers (2nd Canadian ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Canada.

Gibaldi, J. (2003). MLA Handbook for writer’s of research papers (6th ed.). New York: Modern Language Association of America.

Checklist of essentials...

When submitting/writing an APA style paper, keep the following essentials in mind:

PAPER TYPE

• 8.5 x 11 inch (letter size) good quality white paper

FONT STYLE

• 12-pt Times Roman or 12-pt Courier

JUSTIFICATION

• The text will be left justified - text will appear square on left-hand side and jagged on the right-hand side.

SPACING

• Double space throughout the essay.
• Triple and quadruple spacing is allowable around graphics and tables.

MARGINS

• 1 inch margins
• WARNING: Microsoft Word defaults to a 1.25 inch margin on the left and right-hand side.

INDENTATION

• Each paragraph should be indented .5 inch (or 5-7 spaces for the typewriter generation).

PUNCTUATION

• Only one space is required after all punctuation marks.

ORDER OF PAPER

• title page
• abstract
• text
• references
• appendices (optional element)

PAGE HEADERS

• This is the only element on the page that will be outside the normal 1 inch margins.
• Appears first on the title page and on every subsequent page - it will be right justified.
• The header is .5 inch from the top of the page and 1 inch from the right margin.
• The header is typically the first 2-3 words from the title and followed by the page number - there are 5 spaces between the abbreviated title and the number.

REFERENCES

• All in-text reference citations will have a corresponding reference page citation.

GRAPHICS & TABLES

• Any graphs, photographs, and tables will be be accompanied by a label (either: Figure or Table), a number corresponding the order in which the figure/table is presented/mentioned in the paper, and a title that concisely describes the graphic element.

Using the same reference in the same paragraph…

Questions that arise time and time again are:

• How do I reference the same source in a single paragraph?
• Do I place the in-text reference at the end of each sentence? [WRONG!]
• Do I simply put an in-text reference at the end of the paragraph? Would it be inside or outside the closing sentence? [WRONG!]

If you use the same reference in the same paragraph, you will:
(a) give the full in-text reference for the first time that you reference a source, and then
(b) for every subsequent reference from the same work, you will not be required to provide the year if it is evident that you are referring to the previous reference.

SINGLE AUTHOR EXAMPLE:

James (2004) suggested that…. James went on to say that…. The conclusion that James finally reached is….

• The first reference to the article by James will include the year of publication and relevant page numbers if it is quoted directly. Subsequent reference to the same article in the same paragraph does not need to include the year, but only if it is evident that it cannot be confused with any other reference in the same paragraph.
• It should be evident to the audience that the subsequent sentences are still referring to the original James (2004) work, and it is not necessary to place 2004 in parenthesis after James’s name in those sentences.
• NOTE: If you reference the James (2004) work in subsequent paragraphs, you will have to write the “James (2004)” in-text reference as you did in the previous paragraph.
  

MULTIPLE AUTHORS EXAMPLE (3-5 AUTHORS):

Stuart, Finch, Crosby, Glass, and Rosenberg (1998) found that…. Stuart et al. elaborated on the point and suggested…. They finally concluded that….

• The first reference will include all of the authors’ surnames. For subsequent references in the same paragraph, use “et al.” after Stuart’s name to abbreviate the in-text reference. Like before, it is not necessary to place the year in parenthesis after their surnames.
• If you are using the same multi-author reference in subsequent paragraphs, simple write “Stuart et al. (1998)” for the in-text reference – you do not need to write all of the authors’ surnames again.
  

For more details and examples, refer to sections 3.94 – 3.103 (pp. 207-214) of the APA Manual.

Citing a telephone book...

Unfortunately, the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Manual) does not specify a means of citing a telephone book.

To this end, we can suggest that you use the following information:

AUTHOR: -leave blank-
– Since the author is not explicitly given, use the title instead. The directory (as a whole) is written by many individuals, companies, and organizations – as demonstrated by some of the subsections and advertisements. We do not believe that the Yellow Pages Group can be attributed as the author – though editorial credit could arguably be given to that group.

TITLE: Yellow pages: 2007/2008 Medicine Hat and area [Telephone directory].
– Since this “book” is not a book that has been published in the traditional sense (i.e., providing copyright date, proper title and publisher’s pages), provide the title of the publication (as disjointed as it seems) and display the “medium” in brackets. This description of the medium is not officially noted in the APA Manual, but it should clear up any confusion that might plague your audience – review section 4.12 (p. 228) of the APA Manual for details. The title is italicized, but the descriptor is not.

PUBLICATION DATE: n.d.
– Though we can reasonably assume that it was released in 2007, no explicit copyright date is given, so use “n.d.” for “no date”.

PLACE OF PUBLICATION: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
– The Yellow Pages Group has many offices across Canada, but the Burnaby address is given near the front of the book.

PUBLISHER: Yellow Pages Group.
– This much seems (somewhat) clear.

So your basic reference might be ordered as:

Yellow pages: 2007/2008 Medicine Hat and area [Telephone directory]. (n.d.). Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada: Yellow Pages Group.
– Be mindful of properly employing the hanging indent, double-spacing, and italicization of title.

NOTE: If you use a particular subsection of the book or advisements, etc., then everything we have written thus far, might be thrown out the window. We suggest that you visit the Information Desk of the Vera Bracken Library for further assistance.

Welcome...

Welcome to the MHC APA Blog. This blog hosts questions and solutions with regards to citing and writing in the American Psychological Association (APA) style. These questions were received at the Vera Bracken Library (Medicine Hat College).

All answers are targeted towards writing at the undergrad level. When possible, all answers will be derived from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (the official manual of the APA) and referencing to the manual will be given.