AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA) 
Writing Standards 

Georgia Baptist College of Nursing at Mercer University

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Scholarly Paper Requirements:

Writing is an essential skill for all nursing graduates. Learning to use the formatting method used in nursing, APA, is also very important. Meeting the APA paper requirements are the student's responsibility. In 200 level courses, sophomore students will learn APA with faculty assistance, and partial grading credit will be given for format as determined by the course groups. These specifications for sophomore level courses will be included in the syllabus within a course that requires a paper. 

Beginning at 300 level courses, no credit for APA will be given on paper and no faculty corrections for APA will be provided on submitted papers. A paper that does not meet the minimum competency expectations listed below as determined by the grading faculty member will be returned to the student ungraded. A student will be given one chance to correct errors and resubmit the paper with a drop of one letter grade. The resubmission date will be determined by the grading faculty member.  The most current APA requirements will be used, which at this time is the 5th edition. Students are advised to find resources for APA style in the library or to purchase a book on APA. A web site is provided, click the title of this page.

APA Paper Expectations by 300 Level Courses

a. Page Format: Title page: Correct placement of running head, header with page numbers, title, name of student. Subsequent pages: Pagination, page headers, and margins correct on subsequent pages.

b. References within Body of Paper: correct use of author(s) name and date. Correct ampersand use (ampersand within parentheses; ‘and’ outside).  Secondary sources cited correctly (as cited in….). Refer to authors, not titles, in review of literature; ‘et al’ rule based on current edition of APA;

c. Quoted Material: Accurate referencing of direct quotes within the paper (include page number and quotations, along with author(s) and date).   

d. Reference Page: 100% accuracy on reference page of books, journal, and electronic sources. Alphabetized, ampersand as appropriate, year in correct place; title and volume italicized; capitalization of first word title/subtitle; correct capitalization. Correct URL address and retrieval date that leads reader to correct site. 

e. Reference inclusion and noninclusion: Authors in text of paper and reference list exactly matched; noninclusion of sources such as personal communication, references cited in text of paper.  

08/15/2007