The style guide published by the American Psychological Association (APA) is widely adopted by publishers of research in psychology, counseling, social work, and education, among other fields. You can learn the basics of APA style from free online resources such as the APA blog and the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
However, these free resources do not cover every situation that you will encounter while trying to prepare a manuscript for publication, or for submission to your university’s repository of theses and dissertations. There is no substitute for the expertise of an editor who is thoroughly familiar with the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. For example, the page about sample figures on the APA blog contains eight examples, while the print edition of the manual contains 20.
If you hire a copy editor to improve your manuscript’s compliance with APA style, what can you expect?
- A copy editor will make sure that the manuscript follows APA’s standards for formatting the title page, abstract, running head, author note, and headings. Some of these standards differ from what is required by other style guides such as the Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook.
- Accurate citation is a must in all academic writing. A copy editor will compare parenthetical references with reference list entries. The editor will make sure that all sources referenced in the body of the manuscript appear in the reference list and that no source in the reference list lacks citation in the body text. While citation management software is a time saver, it can also introduce errors and poor formatting that a copy editor can help you to identify and correct. For example, it is crucial to correct any hyperlinks (such as DOI links) that do not lead to the intended sources.
- APA style has detailed rules about the use of abbreviations in parts of the manuscript including the abstract, body text, parenthetical references, tables, and figures. A copy editor will make sure that all abbreviations are defined correctly at their first appearance and that unnecessary abbreviations are not used. Sometimes a dictionary can clarify whether an abbreviation is treated as a word that does not need to be defined. In other cases, there is room for judgment that an experienced editor can provide.
- APA has published extensive guidelines on bias-free language. Some of these guidelines may differ from what is found in other style manuals. For example, APA recommends capitalizing “White” to refer to a group of people, while Associated Press style prefers “white” in lowercase. A skilled copy editor can help you to find the best use of language for referring to diverse groups of people.
- Tables and figures in APA style can present difficulty, especially for authors who may be familiar with other style guides. Ideally, a table or a figure should be able to be excerpted from a manuscript and to stand on its own. As a consequence, APA style requires explanatory notes for table/figure content and full citations (not parenthetical references) of sources. APA style also has guidelines for presenting tabular data in a visually simple manner with maximum accessibility for all readers. A skilled copy editor can improve the presentation of tables and figures and can make sure that the body text refers to these exhibits accurately.
In short, copy editing is a service that provides added value to the author of academic research. A skilled copy editor helps the author to increase the impact of their research and to reduce reputational risks from errors and inconsistencies.
If you are looking for copy editing services for your research, you may wish to learn more about my editing business, Allegretto Editing.
Duncan Vinson 