Lists in APA Style
This is mostly for all the NUR206 students working on papers with lists of nursing diagnoses, client outcomes, etc. who are wondering how to use APA format correctly to do it. (The rest of you are welcome to read it too, though!)
After scouring the APA guide (5th ed.) for the 8,732nd time (or at least it feels that way) I discovered something I had not noticed before — there is one type of list that is acceptible to use in APA style! You can’t have bulleted lists, but numbered lists are okay. Look for it on page 116.
Basically, the number goes at the position where a paragraph indentation would be (a half inch from the margin). Everything is still double spaced.
To make this happen in Word, see the article Aligning a List.
Example:
Posted: July 11th, 2010 under APA Tips.
Comments: 3
Comments
Comment from Kuulani
Time: February 19, 2009, 11:34 am
I’m a grad student in Education at NYU and found this very helpful! I was wondering whether we could use bulleted lists in APA style. Now I know better. Thanks!
Comment from Marwah Z
Time: April 5, 2009, 6:55 pm
I appreciate the clarification on the use of bulleted lists vs. numbered lists in APA writing. I knew that bulleted lists were to be avoided but I was uncertain about numbered lists. This was very helpful.
Thank you,
Grad student from GWU
Comment from Steve
Time: May 3, 2009, 9:07 pm
Who knew I’d find the answer to my question right here on my own school’s Web site. Thanks Writing Center!
Write a comment