Writing styles exist to ensure consistency and quality. LU students are expected to use APA Style, unless a professor asks you to follow another writing style.

Resources for APA Style

Online Guides

• Online Writing Lab – The “OWL” at Purdue: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
• The Writing Center – University of Madison, Wisconsin: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocAPA.html
• MBA Thesis Writing Manual – Appendix E: Guide to Using APA Style – Lincoln University (download now)
• APA Guide from LU Library (2-page version): (download now)

APA Tutorials

• Basics of APA Style by apastyle.org (about 10 minutes): http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm
• APA Tutorial – Test Your Knowledge by University of Southern Mississippi: http://lib.usm.edu/legacy/tutorials/apatutorial/tutorialindex.html

Free Citation Creator

• BibMe – a free automatic citation creator that supports several writing styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian formatting: http://www.bibme.org/
• Go to “Format” and select “APA”
• Enter the ISBN or other bibliographic information
• Select “Find Book
• If the search pulls up the book you’re looking for, then select “Add to My Bibliography”
• Once your bibliography list is complete, you can download it into a Word document.
• To download your bibliography, you will need to register first — but, don’t worry,  it’s free!

Books in LU Library

Browse the “Research & Writing Collection” on the 1st Floor of LU Library to find books on using APA Style correctly, including the following:

• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition
  Call Number: 808.066 .P83 2010
  ISBN: 1433805596
  This is the essential book of APA style.
• Concise rules of APA style
  Call Number: 808.066 .C66 2010
  ISBN: 143380560X
  This is a pocket guide to the new 6th edition of the APA Style Manual.
• APA The Easy Way
  Call Number: 808.066 .H68 2005
  ISBN: 978-0923568962
  This is a short (60-page) guide to APA Style.

A Few Other Tips

1. Use the “References” tab in MS Word to automate your citations and reference list.
2. Create your own “Style Sets” in MS Word according to the style rules (e.g. , for APA: double space, 12-pt, Times New Roman, etc.)
3. Find a sample citation for the type of resource and mirror it (e.g. journal article, book, web site, etc.)
4. Email the APA Style Expert: StyleExpert@apa.org
5. Ask LU Library Staff!