Access to course materials begins immediately and lasts for 365 days.

The style manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) is used by a wide variety of academic and scientific publications and publishers. Mastering APA style is essential for copyeditors and proofreaders in these fields, and any academic editor can benefit from a grounding in it. If you're a copyeditor or proofreader who's new to APA, this course will give you a skill that can significantly expand your client base. Beginning copyeditors will especially benefit from the suggested editorial processes, and copyeditors who have used previous editions of the APA style manual will learn about key changes and updates in the seventh edition.

This course focuses on the process of copyediting a typical author manuscript and applying APA style to grammar, punctuation, text enhancements, references, and in-text citations. It highlights key style points and common errors, and offers practical tips and a suggested process. By the end of the course, you'll have a strong understanding of the most common APA style rules, be able to easily locate key rules and examples in the APA style guide, and be familiar with APA style sheets and how they are used by copyeditors and clients.

This course consists of 12 modules. Each module includes a list of relevant sections in the APA Manual.

• Module 1 describes clients who typically use APA Style.
• Module 2 explains the basic elements of a style. It also includes a list of APA Style sections discussed throughout the course and highlights key changes and updates in the seventh edition of the APA Manual.
• Module 3 provides a recommended copyediting process. It also discusses a typical process when working directly with authors who review the copyedited files before the files are submitted to the client.
• Module 4 suggests tips to edit efficiently and consistently.
• Module 5 reviews APA guidelines related to grammar, punctuation, and bias-free language.
• Module 6 addresses APA rules to express numbers.
• Module 7 covers how to apply APA rules to reference lists.
• Module 8 describes APA rules for in-text citations. It also includes a recommended process to cross-check in-text citations against a reference list.
• Module 9 focuses on key APA rules for hyphens and dashes.
• Module 10 explains APA rules for text enhancements and capitalization. It also includes common abbreviations used in APA and reviews the formatting options for different list formats.
• Module 11 highlights the benefits of using checklists and style sheets.
• Module 12 includes suggestions to overcome common challenges in applying APA Style.

Each module includes an automatically graded quiz. Quarterly Q&A Zoom sessions will be held throughout the year (announcements will be posted on the course page when meetings are scheduled). Expect to spend 1 to 2 hours per week reviewing the content in each module. The course is intended to be linear; however, Modules 5 through 10 could be completed out of order, if you prefer.

Required materials:

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. Print or online version.
• Internet access, computer, Microsoft Word (recommended) or another word processing program

Maria Siano, PhD (she/her), has been a copyeditor for more than 20 years. Her clients include university presses, publishers of peer-reviewed journals, and for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Previously she served as a newspaper and magazine editor for several publications. She has been an adjunct professor for 27 years, teaching journalism and media studies courses, and is currently a Lecturer in the Master's in Communication program at Johns Hopkins University. She is also a watercolor artist and instructor and a nature photographer.