As students sit down to work on their project, they are aware that they have to follow a certain style of formatting. The university has laid down the rules that they have to obey when they are preparing the written content of their research. In some cases it could be the APA style that the review board has prescribed for the students. The APA style manual is quite popular for its simplicity, and it is often used across disciplines.
However, for many students following a formatting style causes a lot of problems.
- There are different versions of the APA style, and they are called editions, and there are quite a few differences between one edition and the next.
- The university board might tell the students which edition to use and in other instances they might leave it up to the students themselves, leaving the student at a loss for which formatting style is ideal for them.
- Incorrect formatting will make the students lose marks, which is why many students get low final grades
So what are the solutions to this problem?
- There are many free tutorials available both online and offline and in print, visual and audio that allow students to learn the intricacies of the formatting style.
- The students can buy a book on the latest edition of the APA, and keep it with them for reference when they are writing a project.
- They should be especially careful when putting the headings and following grammar rules because it is easy for these minor rules to be overlooked by them.
It is a good idea to practice the formatting style even when doing small projects since the preparation will come in useful when they are handling all the long term assignments.