The Mechanics & Style of APA Writing
Citations get the attention, but APA is also a writing style — a set of choices about tense, pronouns, hyphens, and numbers that make research writing clear, precise, and bias-free. Work through the five modules below in order. Each one covers a rule set with examples, common mistakes, and interactive practice with instant feedback.
APA Verb Tenses
Each section of a research paper has a preferred tense. Learn which tense goes where — literature review, method, results, discussion — and why switching mid-paragraph confuses readers.
Start here → Module 2First- vs. Third-Person & the Editorial "We"
APA 4.16 & 4.17: when to say "I," why you should never call yourself "the author," and why "we" can only mean you and your co-authors — never people in general.
Open module → Module 3Singular "They"
APA 4.18: using "they" for a researcher, participant, or unidentified person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant — and retiring "he or she" for good.
Open module → Module 4Hyphenation
Why it's a "decision-making process" but "a process of decision making." Hyphenating compound adjectives before nouns, the -ly exception, and prefixes that never take a hyphen.
Open module → Module 5Numbers: Words or Numerals?
The rule of 10, the exceptions that override it (ages, measurements, percentages, statistics), and the one place a numeral can never appear: the start of a sentence.
Open module →