APAStyleisawritingstyleandformatforacademicdocumentssuchasscholarlyjournalarticlesandbooks.Itiscommonlyusedforcitingsourceswithinthefieldofbehavioralandsocialsciences.TheAPAStyleoriginatedin1929,whenagroupofpsychologists,anthropologists,andbusinessmanagersconvenedtoestablishasimplesetofprocedures,orstylerules,thatwouldcodifythemanycomponentsofscientificwritingtoincreasetheeaseofreadingcomprehension.Theguidelinesweredevelopedtoaidreadingcomprehensioninthesocialandbehavioralsciences,forclarityofcommunication,andforwordchoicethatbestreducesbiasinlanguage.APAStyleincludesguidelinesfororganizingcontent,writingstyle,citingreferences,andformattingmanuscripts.ThePublicationManualoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociationcontainsdetailedguidelinesforAPAStyleandisnowinits7thedition.KeyfeaturesofAPAStyleincludein-textcitationswithauthor-dateformat,areferencelistattheendofthedocument,andspecificformattingforheadings,tables,figures,andotherelements.Thestyleemphasizesthedateofpublicationbecausetimelinessofresearchisimportantinthesciences.APAStylealsoprovidesspecificguidelinesforavoidingbiasinlanguageconcerninggender,racialandethnicidentity,disability,age,andsexualorientation.
