Writing in Graduate Studies

Written graduate work at Grand Canyon University is expected to adhere to the format and style requirements defined by the American Psychological Association (2001) in their publication entitled Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. APA format is the adopted and preferred format used at GCU and this manual will be a useful and necessary tool throughout all graduate programs.

There are a number of widely used writing styles or formats: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Turabian’s A Manual for Writers, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Medical Association’s Manual of Style. Each style guide provides specific rules for references, in-text citations, placement of commas, levels of headers, and other mechanical aspects of written work.

Some might say, “I am not studying psychology so why should I have to use their style guide?” The answer to that question is very simple. Every university adopts a required writing style and GCU has adopted APA style because it conforms well with many standard formats of publication. Further, adopting one format reinforces the consistency, adherence, and discipline in professional writing that is expected of all GCU graduate students.

Chapters 3 and 4 of the APA style guide will be most useful in preparing papers. Chapter 3 provides guidelines for preparing tables and figures, for the levels of headings in papers, and for quotations. Of special importance is the discussion of citations in section 3.39 of the style guide. Chapter 4 is devoted exclusively to references. The general form is addressed in section 4.07, and all other forms of reference are based on this general form.

Students need to familiarize themselves with the requirements specified in the style guide. Students certainly will not be able to memorize everything they may need to know about APA formatting. However, graduate students may find that having a basic working knowledge of APA in the context of citation and referencing and general layout of a paper will make the writing process less tedious and transition the energy and focus of writing to content.

Here are a few APA formatting items to know well:

• Margins and line spacing
• Title page layout
• Punctuation: comma usage in a series, punctuation at the end of a sentence, quotation punctuation
• In-text citation
• Generating a reference section and a list of complete citations

References

APA Tutorial | Writing Process Tutorial