Keywords in Latex APA style

According to the APA manual, up to five keywords should be provided on the abstract page. Using the \keywords command with \documentclass[nobf,man]{apa} may not work. Workaround:

\abstract{
Provide the text of the abstract as usual here.
\\
\hspace{10mm} \textit{Keywords}: keyword1, keyword2, keyword3, keyword4, keyword 5
}

Long tables in LaTeX using apa.cls

I needed to print a tbale spanning multiple pages in my manuscript, but could not get it to work by passing the longtable option to apa.cls. The table still didn't fit on one page when I used the \small command (see this post). Only the first page of the table would be inserted, and in some cases even the numbering of pages went astray. So I decided to resort to a less clean solution: cutting up the table into parts myself. Actually, this approach is nicely described on page 47 of this document.

At first I got stuck using the \addtocounter{table}{-1} command. If you use itbetween tables, the commands are added up and subtracted from the original couter value. That is, if you use it 5 times, the first table will be numbered -4, the second -3, etc. If you use it directly after the \begin{table} command, it works out fine.


Example

\documentclass[man]{apa}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\caption{The First Table in the Manuscript}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
1 & 2 \\
3 & 4 \\
\end{tabular}
\label{tablelabel}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\addtocounter{table}{-1}
\caption{Continued}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
5 & 6 \\
7 & 8 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\addtocounter{table}{-1}
\caption{Continued}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
9 & 10 \\
11 & 12 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\caption{The Second Table in the Manuscript}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
a & b \\
c & d \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

APA-style, random stuff

Abbreviations

This pdf gives a very useful overview on the use of latin abbreviations in APA manuscripts (e.g., cf., etc.).

Use abbreviations when: it is conventional (i.e., the reader is more familiar with the abbreviation than with the complete form), or if considerable space can be saved and cumbersome repetition can de avoided.

For plurals of abbreviations, add -s (no italicized, no apostrophe). Don't make units of measurement plural. Write pp. for pages.



Capitalization
Capitalize:

1. The first word in a complete sentence. Also capitalize the first word after a colon. Do not begin a sentence with a statistical term, like p or t.
2. Major words in titles and headings (do not capitalize titles of books and articles in reference listst).
3. Proper nouns and trade names.
4. Nouns followed by numerals or letters (e.g., Table 1, Grant AB12345, Experiment 1, Item 1). Do not capitalize nouns that denote a part of books or tables (e.g., column 1, page 1), or nouns that precede variables (e.g., subject j, item i).
5. Titles of tests
6. Names of conditions or groups in an experiment.
7. Names of factors (e.g., Factor 1, Cognitive factor). Do not capitalize effects or variables, unless they appear with a multiplication sign in an interaction (e.g., Year x Foodtype interaction).

References

For works of 1 author, write the authors last name and year of publication.

For works of 2 authors, write the authors' last name an year of publication. 


For works written by 3, 4 or 5 authors, write all names the first time you refer to the work. Afterwards, use et al.


Always use et al. for works written by more than 6 authors.

Use the Oxford comma in all citations and references (e.g., "Johnson, Johnson, and Johnson (2010) wrote...").


Use '&' in the reference list, and in parenthesized citations; use 'and' in other cases.

If you refer to the same work more than once in the same paragraph, omit the year of publication in the in-text citation.

If you cite two or more works within the same parentheses alphabetically, and in the same order in which they appear in the reference list.

Use author's initials in the text when you cite authors with the same surname in the manuscript (even if the years of publication differ), to help the reader discriminate between them.

LaTeX tables in APA format

Though LaTeX can produce nice-looking tables, the process can be time consuming and frustrating, especially if you want to use APA format rules. Some tips & tricks, and an example are provided below.


Some usefull commands

\hline: creates a horizontal line, which you can use within a table
\thickline: creates a thicker horizontal line, which you can use to separate the caption from the table
\cmidrule{}: can be used to create a midline, spanning only a subset of the columns
\multicolumn{}: can be used to let a cell span multiple columns
\multirow{}: can be used to let a cell span multiple rows 

\label{}: should be used at the end of the table, I prefer to use it just before \end{table}


Tips and remarks

When using \multirow{}, add extra rows to fit in the text (i.e., if you use a \multirow command spanning three rows, add two extra rows by typing \\ \\, or some text will be left out, or printed over the text in the rows, following the multirow).

Smaller typeface for tables: If you've got a huge table, letting it span multiple pages is difficult (i.e., I can't get it to work with the APA document class). Instead, using \small or \tiny makes the typeface smaller, so maybe it'll make your table fit on one page.

Rotate tables: To rotate the table, you can use the rotating package: type \usepackage{rotating} in the preamble, and use \begin{sidewaystable} and \end{sidewaystable} instead of \begin{table} and \end{table}. This will affect the order of the tables, however, making the sideways tables come first. By declaring \DeclareDelayedFloatFlavor{sidewaystable}{table} somewhere after the start of the document, this will be fixed. Please note that the table will not end up sideways in the DVI file, but it will in postscript or pdf files.


Example

\documentclass[nobf,man,longtable]{apa} % turns it into an APA manuscript

\usepackage{ctable} % needed for \cmidrule{}
\usepackage{multirow} % needed for \multirow{}

\begin{document}\begin{table}
\caption{Table in APA Format}
\begin{flushleft}
\small
\begin{tabular}{cccc}
\thickline
Column 1 & \multicolumn{3}{c}{Column 2} \\
\cmidrule(lr){2-4}
& Column 2a & Column 2b & Column2c \\
\hline
a & 1 & .67 & 5 \\
b & 2 & .32 & 2 \\
c & 3 & .01 & 4 \\
\hline
\multicolumn{4}{l}{\multirow{2}{90mm}{Note: This text is spanning 4 columns and 2 rows, and it is left justified.}} \\
\\
\end{tabular}
\end{flushleft}
\label{table:APA_small_typeface}
\end{table}

\end{document}