The Advantages of Using APA Formatting

Multiple formats exist for written papers, whether the papers are academic or professional. These formats include MLA, Chicago, Turabian and APA. All of these formats have advantages and disadvantages, but APA has advantages that are specific to the format. These advantages include widespread use, the fact it is well documented and image-friendly, non-reliance on footnotes or endnotes and ease of editing.

Widespread Use

APA formatting is used by a large number of fields. This means that the odds of having to restructure a paper according to a journal's editorial guidelines is minimized, since the majority of journals have APA as their format preference. It also means that one need not learn multiple formats to write papers on different topics (fields).

Documentation

The documentation for APA is extensive. One advantage of using this format over others is that it is easy to find a reference for it. Not only does the official manual for APA get revised and reissued frequently, but new sites are placed online routinely with guidelines and examples that one can view or download for free.

Images

APA guidelines are very image-friendly---i.e., they lend themselves well to the inclusion of graphs, charts and figures. This allows an author or researcher to present data in a manner other than prose, which may improve the reader's ability to understand the overall concept or content of the work. This is especially true for the science fields, in which dozens of numbers and comparisons may need to be listed.

Footnotes/Endnotes

APA generally does not use footnotes or endnotes. Instead, it uses in-text citations in addition to a full reference page. The in-text citation use means that a reader does not have to leave off reading and move to another spot on the page or in the work to know what source is being used, since the source is contained within the text itself. This can be less distracting and make the reading of the material seem less involved or cumbersome.

Spacing

APA formatting requires double spacing in most instances. This allows for ease in hard copy editing, since there is space between each line in which to make marks and editorial comments. The spacing also can make the work seem less intimidating, since there are fewer words per page than in a single-spaced format.