Trends in Editor Questions Blog:

Trends in Editor Questions Blog

November 2019

Question 1

Student Question: Request guidance on citing quotes of eight words or less.

The APA Manual, 6th Edition, pages 170–171 gives guidance for passages shorter and longer than 40 words. Somewhere, I remember an opinion/guidance, stating that citations are not needed for quotes under eight words. Is the eight word or less exemption good guidance?

Editor Response: That is incorrect guidance as it does not align with APA rules for citing direct quotations.. A direct quote of eight words still needs to be cited like a regular quote.

Question 2

Student Question: I need some help. My chair and I have been trying to make my draft a clean copy without the comments. We have been unsuccessful. Are you able to assist?

Editor Response: If you have resolved all of the comments and no longer need them, go up to the ribbon on the top of the MS Word document and select “Review.” Once you have clicked on “Review,” you will see a box in the ribbon that says “Comments.” In this box, it says, from left to right: “New Comment,” “Delete,” and then a stack that says “Previous” and “Next.” If you click on “Delete” it will give you the option to delete one comment or all of the comments in the document.

Question 3

Student Question: Do you have any guidelines specific to constructing an appropriate appendix section? I've noticed that consent forms and CVs are not required, and I wanted to see if there was a current guideline for what should or should not be included, and how to format what should be included.

Editor Response: You can find help with appendices at these web pages:

• Appendices
• FAQ on Confidentiality (Several of the questions here apply to the appendices including what should and should not be included.)

The appendix titles should be tagged as Level 0. The body of the appendix should be tagged as body text or normal. Multiple appendices use letter designations before the title (e.g., Appendix A: Appendix Title). A lone appendix does not need a letter designation (e.g., Appendix: Appendix Title).

Appendices should fit within the same margins as the narrative; text should be double spaced in Times New Roman 12 pt. font.

Let me know if you have specific questions not covered in this e-mail or the links.

Question 4

Student Question: I don’t know if this is a question for the Writing Center or the library. Do you have a free computer data analysis program that students can use for their qualitative research to help sort, organize, and search for information in text such as transcriptions?

Editor Response: For information or advice on software related to qualitative methodology, I suggest contacting the Center for Research Quality via e-mail or making an individual appointment online. Let us know if you have additional questions.