Creating Perfect APA Page Headers v.2.0

Some time ago, I wrote an article about creating perfect APA page headers. Like anything having to do with computers, there is more than one way to do anything. The following is an alternate way of creating those perfect APA page headers.

NOTE: Clicking the images will enlarge them in a new tab/window.

---

STEP 1: Insert a blank header: Insert (tab) > Header drop-box (Header & Footer panel) > select Blank. You can also double-click in the header area to access the editable header.

STEP 2: The header should be left aligned by default. Simply enter the desired header text as you would expect it to appear on page 2 and subsequent pages. Next, press the keyboard’s Tab key until the cursor is aligned with the right margin.

NOTE: When inserting the page number: select Page Number drop-box (from either the Insert or Design tabs) > Current Position > Plain Number.

STEP 3: Select the Different First Page check-box in the Options panel under the Design tab. Do not worry if the header disappears.

STEP 4: Repeat steps 1 and 2, and insert the desired text (i.e., "Running head: . . . ") and page number where appropriate.

STEP 5: You can insert a page break in the main body of the manuscript to see if it works. Once beyond page 1, the running head (sans the phrase: "Running head:") should appear.

STEP 6: If it has not been done, double-click or highlight the header elements and format the text accordingly (i.e., 12-point, Times New Roman font).

This technique should work whether you use Word 2007, 2010, or 2013. If this technique does not work, try the aforementioned one.

Citing a Telephone Book (APA Style, 6th ed.)

Figure 1. Yellow Pages: Lethbridge and Area
(ca. 2011) cover . (Click image to enlarge.)

I have been asked to amend my telephone book in APA style for the 6th edition and this is what I suggest:

Like the previous APA edition, there is no one perfect answer to citing a telephone book. What I suggest may be interpreted differently by others. To this end this is my rationale for a general telephone book citation is as follows:

AUTHOR: -leave blank-

• Since the author is not explicitly given, lead with the title instead. The directory (as a whole) is written by many individuals, companies, and organizations—as demonstrated by some of the subsections and advertisements. It may not be best to attribute authorship solely to The Yellow Pages Group—though editorial credit could arguably be given to that group.

TITLE: Yellow pages: Lethbridge and area [Telephone directory].

• Since this “book” is not a book that has been published in the traditional sense (i.e., providing copyright date, proper title and publisher’s pages), provide the title of the publication (as disjointed as it seems) and display the “medium” in brackets. This description of the medium is not officially noted in the APA Manual, but it should clear up any confusion that may plague your audience. Review section 6.29 (pp. 185–186) of the APA Manual for details. The title is italicized, but the descriptor in brackets is not.

PUBLICATION DATE: n.d.

• Though we can reasonably assume that it was released in 2011, no explicit copyright date is given, so the use of “n.d.” for “no date" would be appropriate.
• Alternately, it may be permissible to use “[ca. 2011]” to indicate a reasonable estimate for the date of publication. An example of such a case can be found on pages 213–214 of the APA Manual.

PLACE OF PUBLICATION: Verdun, Canada.

• The Yellow Pages Group has many offices across Canada, however, their website (http://www.ypg.com/en/about-us/company-profile) tells us that the head office is in Verdun, Québec, Canada. It may be fair to use this as the place of publication.
   
• NOTE: In the 6th edition, you only need to include the city and country for publisher location if it is outside the U.S.A., so: Verdun, Québec, Canada or Verdun, QC would not generally be acceptable.

PUBLISHER: Yellow Pages Group.

• This much still seems (somewhat) clear.

Your basic reference may appear as:

Figure 2. Possible display of the generic telephone book entry in a reference list. Be mindful of properly employing the hanging indent, double-spacing, and italicization of the title in your entry. (Click image to enlarge.)

If you use a particular subsection of the book or advertisements, etc., then everything we have written thus far, may be thrown out the window. A future post will advise you on citing a particular advertisement.

If you want a second opinion, you can prompt an APA expert at The APA Style Blog. They will take suggestions and write about popular queries.

MHC Library Quotes #10

When discussing the disciplining of children the following conversation transpired:

Employee 1: "I used to use a wooden spoon. Mom would use a thong. You know, one of those rubber thongs."

Employee 2: [Puzzled look.]

Employees 3: "Flip-flops."

"What, oh yeah. Same thing."

"[Sign of relief.] Oh, yeah. I was wondering what you were talking about for a minute. I thought you were talking about the other thing."

[Laughing by 2 and 3.]

"What? [Puzzled.] Oh! [Realization.] I guess. It goes to show how words can change over time."

Canada Day 2010

To celebrate Canada Day, there are many fictional heroes of the nation: Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Captain Canuck, Alpha Flight, etc. Few are more bizarre than Mr. Canoehead though. Checkout this skit from Four on the Floor, where the hero hides in a department store, disguised as a beaver to prevent the theft of furs:




Have a great Canada Day! Cheers.

A New Look

Well it has been some time since I made a post of my own. I do not know if I have recovered from my bout of "Facebook fatigue," but here it is, the first post under a new look. The new look is employing Blogger's new template designer. I have to admit that it is significantly better than the old ones, which were not bad, but getting kind of stale. I have plans to employ blogger for a certain community group, so stay tuned. Cheers.

APA 6th Ed. Beefs

Recently I said that some some people were feeling "burned" by the latest (6th ed.) release of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. I was then asked what people were feeling "burned" about. To this end, I provided the following list:

• The two spaces after a period rule returning definitely ignited the passions of many (http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/07/on-two-spaces-following-a-period.html).
• A library director that I have been corresponding with finds much consternation in the heavy emphasis of digital object identifiers (DOIs) for journal citations.
• The sample papers that the APA produced in the 1st printing were often contradictory to the manual’s textual explanations, which were Spartan to begin with.
• Many were upset that the manual was so filled with errors that they would either have to fill their existing copies with red ink to fix the corrections or they would have to carry around several pages of PDF printouts with the corrections and revised sample papers.
• The APA’s nonchalant attitude—constantly emphasizing their “flexibility.” Flexibility is fine, until it encounters an instructor’s rubric. [I am still trying to get a straight answer about margin and header placement—I did get a reply from APA, but the “Style Expert” told me two contradictory things in as many sentences.]
• The information expressed in the publication manual, concise rules book, and workbooks can contradict each other—even though they are all APA publications.
• The lack of good citation examples. The APA released a brilliant companion manual (APA Style Guide to Electronic Citations) in 2007, but many of the examples were not carried over into the new book—which is 100 pages shorter than the 5th ed.
• Some take exception to the poor indexing of the manual.
• My personal beef is the lack of proper scaling in the sample papers—a sentiment that I am not alone in expressing. The APA says that it was not possible, however, this was done in the previous version.

Some comments, discussions, and notes can be found in:

• Boycott the APA Manual (Facebook Group)
• APA Style Blog (official blog)
• APA Publication Manual (an independent blog)

Host a Windows 7 Launch Party. WTF?!

Today, technologically speaking, is a momentous day. Windows 7 is being launched and will be replacing the much maligned Windows Vista. To celebrate the occasion, Microsoft suggested that individuals host launch parties. It should be needless to say, but Microsoft’s marketing people dropped the ball again.

They posted a series of videos to help teach people how to host a launch party. You can see one of the videos below. The video is six minutes long and if you watch the digital clock in the background, you will see it move back and forth through time. If you do a Google video search using the terms: windows 7 launch, you will find a host of cheesy launch party videos created by/for Microsoft. The videos look like MADtv skits, but they are the real deal.

THE REAL DEAL


The videos are so cheesy that it would seem almost impossible to make fun of it, but someone did. Checkout the clever parody below. . .


Having run Windows 7 (and being a Mac head), I can tell you that my experience was far better than with Windows Vista. It is different, but was far smoother in my experience.

MHC Library Blog Traffic: A Real Head Scratcher

Yes, I am still here. I have been very engaged in a number of library projects lately. One that I have taken great pride in is our revised APA guides. It seems that the guides have struck a chord for a great many people, but not from a group that I would have expected.

Interestingly enough (to me), there seems to be stronger interest from our American friends in the guides. The APA guides have proven to be a great draw to the MHC Library Services blog. The pie chart that accompanies this entry is a snapshot of Web traffic to the library blog. American interest can swing between 40 and 60 percent, but it almost always matches or exceeds interest from within the college. This trend started the day I posted information on our updated APA guides. To me, it is both disappointing (that our own college population seems less interested in our product) and gratifying (that we have reached a broader international audience) at the same time.

It worked!

Cool. The posting worked and went off without a hitch. Not entirely sold yet, but definitely pleased.

Windows 7

I loaded the Windows 7 Release Candidate onto the Windows partition of my iMac yesterday. The process was fairly simple thanks to the directions that were provided by SimpleHelp.net. I was somewhat lucky and everything appears to have gone off without a hitch.
What I am doing now is experimenting with some of the software that is a available for Windows 7. This posting (if it works properly) will have been scripted and posted through Windows Live Writer. This work is being done, in part, for the preparation of my machine to be demoed at the college’s next Geekapalooza event. I do not mess with the plumbing an OS, so I cannot speak to being extensively knowledgeable about such issues, but I do find that Windows 7 has delivered thus far – accessing my personal network was a cinch (I had troubles in the past using Vista to connect to my home network). I am also a fan of the redesigned taskbar. The new taskbar delivers some Mac OS X dock-like functionality, but delivers some nifty Vista features such as the window preview pane. Overall, it seems much snappier than my Vista-based machine in my office.
Despite being a Mac person for the last 10+ years, I am pleased with this new Microsoft OS thus far (a whopping 2 days – for which some people are smirking and thinking, “Give it time, give it time.”). I do love to get my hands on a new OS and give it a spin. I definitely foresee myself using the Windows 7 OS, which is not to say that I have given up on OS X, especially with 10.6 due in September, but I do see it a great complement to my existing home setup. Cheers, from my not yet abandoned blog.