What to Do Before Meeting with a Writing Tutor
Read any written APA guidelines and/or sample papers that your instructor provides. These will offer examples of your instructor’s specific formatting expectations. Defer to the guidelines your instructor provides since these may include modifications to the standard APA 7th Edition Manual format. For example, some instructors prefer you follow the professional paper guidelines rather than the student paper guidelines. Be sure to share your instructor’s guidelines with your writing tutor. If your instructor did not provide you with any written APA guidelines, then familiarize yourself with the format by reviewing APA 7th Edition basics at the APA Style Website.
How your Writing tutor can Help you with APA Formatting
Your writing tutor will talk to you about basic APA formatting— in-text citations, paraphrasing and quoting, page set-up, and the reference list— as outlined in the APA 7th Edition Manual. Your tutor is not, however, responsible for putting your entire research paper into APA format for you.
Your tutor will not have the APA format memorized. Most writers who use the APA format do not have it memorized, but they do know how to navigate the book or website in order to format their papers properly. Your tutor will show you how to use the book or browse through the website to get answers to your APA formatting questions. Using any citation format effectively is a skill that all student writers must develop, and it takes time—there are no shortcuts.
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