Points of Style

All submitted materials should use the Microsoft Office Word format (.doc, .docx). Manuscripts should be typed on pages of uniform size using 1.5 spacing, font Times New Roman 12, margins of 2 cm (0.8 inches).

Do not use tabs, section endings, headers, footers or page numbers.

Abbreviations that are in common use (UN, EC, EU, US, UK) need not be given in full on first use.

Other abbreviations should be spelt out on first use with the abbreviation given immediately following in parentheses, e.g. ‘World Health Organization (WHO)’. In future references use the abbreviation.

Acronyms and lettered abbreviations will be rendered with no stops.  

Seriation

APA allows for seriation in the body text to help authors organize and present key ideas. A.

Separate paragraphs in a series, such as itemized conclusions or steps in a procedure, are identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a period but not enclosed in or followed by parentheses.  Separate sentences in a series are also identified by an Arabic numerical followed by a period: the first word is capitalized, and the sentence ends with a period or correct punctuation.

Example:

Using the medical view of ADHD, we predicted that the adolescents diagnosed with ADHD and the adolescents not diagnosed with ADHD would exhibit the following biological differences:

1. Individuals shared… [sentence/paragraph continues].

2. Adolescents diagnosed with ADHD had… [sentence/paragraph continues].

3. Adolescents not diagnosed with ADHD showed… [sentence/paragraph continues].

However, the use of numbered lists may connote ordinal position. Bulleting can be used to avoid a perceived importance among the items.

Example:

• Individuals shared… [sentence/paragraph continues].

• Adolescents diagnosed with ADHD had… [sentence/paragraph continues].

• Adolescents not diagnosed with ADHD showed… [sentence/paragraph continues].

Within a paragraph or sentence, identify elements in a series by lowercase letters in parentheses.

Example:

Jenny’s three choices of therapy with her client were (a) play therapy, (b) expressive arts therapy, and (c) family therapy.

Within a sentence, use commas to separate three or more elements that do not have internal commas; use semicolons to separate three or more elements that have internal commas.

Example:

Mirka tested three groups: (a) low scorers, who scored fewer than 10 points; (b) moderate scorers, who scored between 10 and 20 points; and (c) high scorers, who scored more than 20 points.

Alternatively, you may use bulleted lists within a sentence to separate three or more elements.  Keep the punctuation and capitalization of the complete sentence.

Example:

In accordance with this therapeutic orientation, these relations should be marked by

• empathy, understanding, and responsibility;

• sensitivity to cultural differences and promotion of goodness-of-fit between therapist and client; and

•  transference and countertransference.

Dates

Use the form day–month–year

Example: 3 January 2012.

Decades: always use ‘1960s’, not ‘sixties’ or ‘60s’.

The following should always be capitalized: States Parties, Contracting Parties, Member States (but not state or states), Parliament, Government, Ministry/Minister and portfolio e.g. Ministry of the Interior), Secretary General, State Secretary, Directorate General, names of established committees and commissions, working groups, etc., ‘Article’, ‘Chapter’, and ‘Section’, when followed by a number, and ‘Resolution’, ‘Treaty’, Act, etc. when referring to a specific text. Otherwise, use capitalization sparingly.