ACADEMIC WRITING

PRESENTED BY
MUBARAKA MIKE CONRAD

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 INTRODUCTION
• In 1928, editors and business managers of
anthropological and psychological journals
met to discuss the form of their journal
manuscripts and to write instructions for their
preparation.
• Edition followed as: 1st APA 1952; 2nd APA
1974; 3rd APA 1983; 4th APA 1994; 5th APA
2001

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 HEADINGS OR TITLES
• Main title appears on a fresh page with
author, date, description of document
• Sections and sub sections should have titles
and section numbers
• First chapter should be introduction
• Headings of same importance appear in same
font

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 length
• Documents vary in length. For example, 15
pages for Masters proposal, 25 pages for PhD
• Title length should also be appropriately long
(i.e.13 words for a research topic)
• One sentence paragraphs should be
discouraged
• Lengthy paragraphs are equally discouraged

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 Numbers
• Figures less than 10 be written in words and
numerical for 10 and above
• Numerical should never start a sentence
• Page numbers should appear in Arabic numerals
in the right hand corner (top or bottom)
• Pages before chap. One should be Roman
numerals
• Tables and figures should also be numbered
(section. table number)

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 Spacing and Margins
• Double spacing is recommended for the
reader to add comments and other
adjustments.
• Top, left, right and bottom margines should be
at least 1 inch. Left margin should be wider to
allow binding.

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 Abbreviations
• Where possible abbr. be avoided.
• When necessary, write them in full at first
followed by abbr. in parentheses
• Some abbr. are accepted as words like phD,
UNESCO, so on
• latin abbr. be used in parentheses (i.e, e.g,
etc)
• Colloquial abbrev be avoided (it’s, they’re)
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 Avoiding bias
• Read through your work first
• Gender bias- he, she, police man, mistress
• Use plural- theirs
• Combining he/she is awkward and tiresome

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 Capitalization
• Capitalize names of indiv- Salati. Bryan, Joyce
• Institutions- Cavendish University Uganda
• Common nouns are not capitalized unless it is
starting a sentence
• Writing headings- Lists of References

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 Tables and Figures
• Reserve tables for crucial data relating to the
document.
• Discuss table highlights not all table contents
• Refer to table by its number not “table above”
• Each table and figure should also have a brief
descriptive title

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 Plagiarism
• Academicians do not claim words and ideas of
others as their own.
• It is a court case
• Plagiarism: gives authenticity, gives
disclaimers, guide to source in case of more
facts and verification in case of misquote.
• Bibliographies are not supportive enough
• Include author’s surname and year (may be
page) only in the body of the document.
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 Citation
• For verbatim; incorporate short quotations
(less than 40 words) in the text, enclosed in
double quotation marks.
• For block citation (more than 40 words), one
should left-indent without double quotes
• If the quotation has incorrect spelling follow it
with “sic” short form for “sicut” meaning: as
given, said

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 Citation
• Three ellipsis points- omission of material
from original source
• Four ellipsis points-any omissions between
two sentences
• Use square brackets [] for your own additions
in original source
• Underscore a word to emphasize it
immediately after it insert in brackets
“underscore added”
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 Citation
• The reader should not be bored by one
citation style
• One can start with citation
• One can end with citation
• One can break citation; part at the beginning
and part at the end
• E.g Levi (2009) asserts………….. (p.56)

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 references
• All citations are put at the end of document
• References appear in the body while
bibliography does not but was used
• Arrange them alphabetically
• Do not number them
• Indent right the extension of the reference

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 Examples
Textbook
• American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of
American Psychological association (5th edition). Washington D.C:
Author
Proposal
• Mubaraka, M.C. (2009). IT and team performance of staff in
Cavendish University Uganda. Unpublished PhD (in Mgt. Info.
System) proposal, Cavendish University Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
Newspaper
• Kasozi. E. (2009, February 25). Invest more resources in research-
NCHE boss. Daily Monitor, p.23.
Website
• <http://www.apa.org/books/4200060.html>

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 Reference
Document authored by Degelman
• Degelman, D. & Harris, M.L. (2009). APA style
essentials. Retrieved June 28, 2009 from Vanguard
University, Department of Psychology website:
http://www
.Vanguard.educ/faculty/ddegelman/index.aspx?
doc_id=796.

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