APA is the common acronym for the American Psychological Association, which is a professional organization that represents psychologists in the United States. The APA publishes the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, which defines APA Style.
APA Style specifies how a paper should look, how to specify your bibliography, and how to cite your references in the body of your paper.
The most recent edition of the Publication Manual is the 5th Edition, published in July of 2001. Last summer, the APA issued an update, in PDF format only, that describes how to cite online references.
APA Style is the style of choice for numerous professional journals, especially those in the social sciences. Many institutions require that students prepare term papers, theses, and dissertations in APA Style.
Most students and professionals now use software to help them prepare documents in APA Style. There are a number of programs you can buy to help you with creating and editing documents, and to help in preparation of reference entries and citations, including StyleEase for APA Style.
