I'm looking for the part in the APA Publication Manual where it says you can't use contractions. Anyone have a copy of it to take a look?
Who knows their APA Publication Manual (6th ed.) well?
- Thread starter stolenxnametag
- Start date
Nevermind! I found the answer:
that is an imaginary standard.
Source: APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition
that is an imaginary standard.
Source: APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition
An instructor knocked two points off from an assignment because I used a contraction. They cited the reason as being "minor APA issues." I decided to read the publication manual to make sure. There are several places that say APA doesn't allow contractions, but the word "contraction" isn't in the APA Publication Manual. Also, apostrophes are only mentioned for possessives. I know that it isn't a great idea to use contractions in an academic context, but a teacher's preference should not be the reason that I lose points on an assignment; it should be about how well or not well I fulfilled the qualifications and complied with APA 6th Edition format (since that is required by my school).
For the record, all of my other grades in that class are 100s. I think she just wanted to not give me a perfect grade, and that hurts. I try really hard in academics in case my transcripts matter to someone else one day (jk - it's actually because I want to know what I'm talking about when I'm putting my education to work in a practical application).
