I have to applaud what I think may possibly be the most brilliant piece of writing I have ever seen. Kurt Schick, in his article in the Chronicle talks about the thing we all wish we could say and be listened to with legitimacy. He has created what should become a grad student manifesto.
At the risk of overusing the word “crisis” as we have talked about in this class, I agree with Mr. Schick that we are in a crisis. He says in his article that so much focus on format (MLA, APA, etc) is a “colossal waste”. To which grad students everywhere say “Amen”. Wait, how do I cite that? That is in Holy Bible, The like a gazillion times! Which book do I reference? Genesis or Revelation? To whom do I give credit? Jesus, et al? Whatever. Let me rewrite that…
….to which grad students everywhere heartily agree.
Are we good? No citations necessary? What about my font? Is it APA approved?
I, like some of you, have been long on the hunt for someone to blame for APA style. Let me first concede that I understand the need for uniform templates for publishing. I get that not having those regulations on margin, font size and title page would create a circus of unfettered dingbat fonts and ridiculously wide margins to make a 15 page paper out of 1 page of text. I get why that would be bad...anarchy even. But I have wondered why exactly APA style has become such an outlet for the neuroses of a small group of unknown rulemakers. Why does it matter on ANY level if there is one space or two after each period? See what I did there? I just threw in a third space! Was there a “disturbance in the force”? (Kenobi, O., Star Wars, 1977).
I decided to do a little checking into this whole APA thing which vexes me so. I refer you to the Forward and Preface of the 6th edition of the APA manual. We find there that there is a 6 member Publication Manual Revision Task Force. These people take their jobs very seriously as evidenced by the thoroughness of the manual itself. When it was first published in 1929, the APA manual was seven pages long. How then did we evolve to 272 pages with an overabundance of focus on semicolons? What does this task force do for fun on weekends? I find myself wondering....
In my master’s program, APA had only evolved into it’s 4th edition. I don’t know how we survived. That manual had 368 pages but I was still confused about semicolons and how many spaces were required after the parentheses.
Here is my most pressing question about things that have changed from the 4th to the 6th edition. Why, on “God’s green earth” (Jesus, et al) do we suddenly need to have only one space after the period at the end of a sentence instead of two? Really, APA task force? How many meetings were used up on that discussion? Also, why is it that we formerly had to capitalize every letter in a title and now we don’t? What is the point of changing that rule? Why can’t we have a little consistency from one manual to the next?
I would like to quote a passage from the Forward of the 6th edition of the APA manual written by Gary R. VandenBos, PhD:
“Uniform style helps us to cull articles quickly for key points and findings. Rules of style in scientific writing encourage full disclosure of essential information and allow us to dispense with minor distractions…It removes the distraction of puzzling over the correct punctuation for a reference or the proper form for numbers in text. Those elements are codified in the rules we follow for clear communication, allowing us to focus our intellectual energy on the substance of our research (p.xiii)”
Dear Gary R. VandenBos PhD,
Um. You failed.
Sincerely,
Meloni S. Rudolph
Westminster, CO
APA style these days is nothing BUT a focus on the mundane, puzzling over the correct punctuation and an overwhelming focus on the RULES and not the substance as Mr. Schick, my new hero, states so eloquently.
Again, I get why there are guidelines for uniformity. I do NOT get why there are so many useless, unreasonable, illogical rules. If Shakespeare had to write in APA format, he would have stabbed himself in the eye with his feather quill. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Nice post Meloni. I like your sense of humor. I too feel your pain. What is most discouraging is that when we finally "master" the 6th edition (it may be in the 9th edition by the time I'm done posting) of APA we will have to take time to learn the latest "new and improved way" of writing, formatting, etc.
ReplyDeleteLast year my first assignment for my Graduate Assistant position was to transform eight pages of references from MLA format to APA for my professor. She handed me the APA manual to use as a reference. Once I completed the assignment she informed me that she had given me the wrong edition of the manual and I would have to redo my work. So when I tell you that I feel your pain... I feel your pain. Preach on!
I read this article as well, so I'm glad that you decided to post on it. I get so frustrated with the constant changing between manuals, and you make a great point. Why was it necessary to change from one manual to the next? Submitting articles and publishing in a uniform way I understand, but there does not seem to be a reason why it changes from one edition to the next except to make sure that we are all staying current with our APA requirements.
ReplyDeleteI myself am completely dumbfounded by how much time we willingly expend reworking the host of errors to which APA revisions in formatting expose us. How much time do faculty expend commenting on incosistencies with APA formatting instead of the actual substance of a submission? Honestly, in a time when we are calling "foul" for not having received a modest boost to educational funding - and the key complaint is about the skeleton crews which many educational institutions are now required to operate with (welcome to the military model of fulfilling organizational missions - by the way)how many university dollars are being spent supporting the - seemingly - arbitrary views of a group of six individuals? Many discussions have been and are being held about the corporatization of higher ed. Guess what? We've had it for decades now....you know what they would call the APA in industry? "Planned obsolescence." Loved the post - really brightened my morning! May the Force be with you (Oda, Y., ALTAGFFA)
ReplyDeleteWow, Meloni! Way to spice up this blog! :-)
ReplyDeleteFirst off, thank the forces that you posted this because I didn't know that a single space after the period was the thing to do now. I was going to say that I was embarrassed to admit this but based on everyone’s reaction, I’m just another pawn in the “I can’t keep up” game of APA.
I have to agree with everyone about some of the tiny mundane changes but I’ll play devil’s advocate for a second. What if there weren’t all these rules and all this style stuff and everyone just submitted whatever they wanted? Are we proposing to go back to the original 6 pages and if it can’t fit in those pages, then it doesn’t matter? Are we proposing that the 6th edition is the last and we don’t get to reference Aaron’s 9th edition? What about when something legitimately comes up like when we started referencing online material?
And while this is a much bigger topic than just UNC, I’ll throw out there that I’m glad to be in a program that does make us learn APA for the sake of “keeping up with the Jones’” when we graduate and get out there in the “real” world because in the “real” world, you never know when APA may come to get you! Wait…or will it?
An interesting point I think is missing here. It is not APA that is enforcing or encouraging us to use this format. It is our profession and the faculty/professionals within.
ReplyDeleteI decided to read the article and I found (and verified) that it repeatedly cited "nitpicky" professors and professors in general focusing on the use of APA. This is where the focus and use of APA comes from. It is how we have agreed to educate and train our future faculty and contributors to knowledge in our education system.
The author goes on to state "experienced writes (like us)" which I assume means him - use and follow APA second to writing and processing their thoughts. I think this is what we should be doing and think professors I have had are focusing on.
Yes, APA formatting can be frustrating, as I experienced when imputing it into my literature review but it has helped me keep my references straight in my head and formatted my work to manageable to read and review. It provides consistency - if you can find the right version of course.
I have been taught in my programs that yes, APA is important but it should be secondary to my content and writing process. To me it serves as a final formatting procedure to a written document and if it is not going to press check with your professor the APA process may be easier than you think to implement.
Meloni, thank you for your post (great post at that). The timing for your blog is perfect. I recently received my SWP back and most of the edits I need to make are centered around APA fixes. While I clearly have a lot to learn about APA, it is extremely frustrating that a majority of my time revising this paper will be trying to make it APA compliant.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that instead of working on content, students get wrapped up in APA and spend more time doing that then writing their paper. Does it really matter how many spaces there are in a citation? Not sure that it really should matter, but it does keep everything consistent and it does give someone a job somewhere.
When I first learned that education used APA, I breathed a sign of relief because my major in undergraduate was psychology and after four years I could do APA in my sleep. Little did I know somewhere in the last year of my undergrad a new edition, which my faculty chose to ignore for our senior year, because we had already mastered the previous edition. Imagine my surprise when I received my first grad school paper back marking all the APA errors I had made. So after four years spent mastering one edition, I had to quickly relearn everything in one semester.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why it is important to cite authors, ideas, and sources; the fact the part of the running head needs to be in all caps, but the other part does not seems like someone is on a bit of a control tirade. Plus what are the odds, that when I go for my PhD I am going to have relearn APA again??