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The style guide...think less Met Gala and more rigid publication formats.
Wait! Come back!Just give me five minutes to help you learn the basics of academic style guides and how they'll make your research and writing easier.
Are you still here? Okay, phew. Let's continue with the basics of research paper formats and their style guides.
What exactly is an academic style guide?
Well, essentially it'sa set of rules and requirements that:
Standardize academic writing and research paper formats.
Provide structure and guidance to the writer.
Familiarity and predictability to the reader.
That's why academic journal articles all look the same — same sections, same order, same style, same language. That's definitely on purpose!
To hear an audio version of the information in the image above, click the play button on the audio player below:
Common components of style guides
You're probably thinking: "Be honest. These style guides are all pretty much the same right?"
There are certainly commonalities! For example, APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard style guides all describe how to perform research paper format requirements like:
Use of headers, subheaders, and running headers.
Page and section formatting.
Fonts, sizes, bolding, italicizing, etc.
Format of references based on the source.
Various types of citations.
Did you know?
Harvard style is a bit of an anomaly! It doesn't have a standardized guide like the other three. It's more flexible and customizable, though this cancause inconsistency.
Key differences between style guides
While APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard style guides all advise on the same main components of research paper formats, the devil is in the details.
For example, in-text citationsare accounted for in each guide, but formatted differently:
APA: (Smith, 2020, p. 15)
MLA: (Smith 15)
Chicago: (Smith 2020, 15)
Harvard: (Smith, 2020, p. 15)
Style guides are used in all academic writing, but which one you use depends on your:
Subject
Region
School
Academic level
Quiz: Key differences
Why might different academic disciplines, levels, and regions have their own academic style guides?
A. Academic disciplines may have different priorities of what is important.
B. More advanced academic levels will have more detail in their referencing requirements.
C. Different regions may have different writing styles based on culture and language.
D. Academic organizations have a set of norms that they don't want to change.
Quiz
Select all that apply:
Disciplines like psychology often value directing readers to other primary sources and research. Their syle guides include very detailed information about how to find something. Historians, on the other hand, value new narratives more. Their style guides prefer to use more footnotes and flexible citations. This helps the text flow better while reading. Language and culture might also influence the order and flow of writing, citations, and references based on the standards present in that culture.
Academic writing and style guide example
Writing without following a style guide:
Penguins are amazing animals. They live in cold places (not always tho, some penguins live in warmer places) and are very well adapted to their environment. They have "flippers" instead of wings, which makes them good at swimming but not so great at flying. There are different species of penguins like the emperor penguin, the little blue penguin, and some others.
Writing while following a style guide:
Penguins are highly specialized aquatic birds adapted to a range of environments, from icy regions of Antarctica to temperate zones in South America and Africa (Williams, 1995). These birds possess flippers in place of wings, a key adaptation that enhances their swimming capabilities but renders them flightless (PenguinWorld, n.d.).
References
PenguinWorld. (n.d.). Penguin world. https://www.penguinworld.com
Williams, T. D. (1995). The penguins: Spheniscidae. Oxford University Press.
Quiz
What are some of the missing style components in the first paragraph? Choose all that apply:
The tone of this paragraph is informal and lacks the formality academic papers require. There are a lot of opinions, but not a lot of information. They should cite and reference other peoples' work. The use of different fonts and sizes within a paragraph isn't recommended, as it's distracting and unnecessary.
Resources
Given that every style guide has its own lengthy tome of requirements, it's not practical to go into their details here. Your best bet is to find out which guide you're expected to follow and then use resources like the ones listed below to make sure you're compliant.
Official resources on research paper formats:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020)
Harvard style doesn't have an official guide, but here is a brief history of this style.
Some excellent online resources:
Purdue University has created a very comprehensive resource on style guides that is worth bookmarking.
UCD Dublin has also created an excellent set of pages detailing various style guides.
Take Action
To learn more about research paper formats and their style guides:
This Byte has been authored by
Sarah Burrough
Admissions Advisor
MEd