Do you have students ask you how to do an outline or table of contents in APA formatting. I have this happen to me every quarter. There isn't any info in the Wadsworth about APA rules for these items. I have looked online, and I have not found much info. This is pretty great for Outlines, but I find myself wondering if APA really even has rules for outlines or TofCs.
I think that some assignments must say: "your research paper should include a table of contents in APA format," and then students are scrambling to figure out what this means.
I was thinking of emailing the instructors on my campus to tell them that there aren't real concrete rules for APA in regard to TofC and outlines. Thoughts? Advice?
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There is no such thing as a Table of Contents in APA style, and it should not be included in any paper.
There is no outline in APA style, either - because an outline is a drafting document, rather than a finished product.
I do recommend that you discuss wording with these instructors so that they don't confuse students. They could instead say, create an outline using Roman Numerals, letters, and numbers to identify your headings and sub-headings. We could create verbage about this for online courses, too.
For the Team - should we create a sample outline?
I am going to email the instructors.
Going forward, maybe we can discuss creating sample TofC and outlines. I have many, many handouts in the library, and sometimes I think it is a bit overwelming. It might be helpful to have an example of a TofC and outline on the APA Citation Help link on the library resources page.
IMHO, a ToC for a 3-5 pg. paper is dumb. (and the students tell me this all the time). (sigh).
...and it also defies logic to insist on headings and subheadings for a 3 page paper. (One instructor insists the paper isn't in APA format unless there are headings. Don't even get me started."
UGH!
I emailed the instructors and asked for them to explain what they were seeking by assigning a TofC or outline, including bullets, roman numerals, etc. No one has responded..
I think I might reiterate this issue at a fac meeting b/c I don't trust that every1 reads my emails.
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