Both the active and the passive voice are permitted in APA Style
. However, writers often overuse the passive voice. Use the active voice as much as possible to create direct, clear, and concise sentences, especially when you are writing about the actions of people.
What voice is APA in?
APA Style encourages using
the active voice
(“We interpreted the results …”). The active voice is particularly important in experimental reports, where the subject performing the action should be clearly identified (e.g. “We interviewed …” vs. “The participants responded …”).
What voice should APA papers be written in?
See section 3.18 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for more information. APA asks writers to use
active voice
rather than passive voice.
How do you know if its active or passive voice?
Remember: If the subject is performing the action, then
the sentence is in active voice
. If the subject is simply receiving the action, then the sentence is in passive voice.
Are research papers written in active or passive voice?
In scientific writing, we use both voices to write clear and coherent research articles. Although many scientists overuse the passive voice, most scientific journals (e.g. Science and Nature) actually
encourage active voice
.
Can you say me in APA format?
Let's go through several cases of how to write about yourself in an APA Style paper. … General
Use of I or
We. It is totally acceptable to write in the first person in an APA Style paper.
How do you rewrite a sentence in passive voice?
- Shift the object of the action into the beginning of the sentence (the subject position). …
- Change the verb as needed. …
- If you want to keep the actor, the original subject, shift it to the end of the sentence and insert the word by in front of it.
How do you fix passive voice?
- Identify who or what is actually performing the action described by the verb in the sentence. …
- Get rid of the verb be and turn the past participle into a correctly conjugated verb. …
- Take the subject of the old sentence and turn it into a direct object.
How do you identify active voice?
Active voice means
that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb
. Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb's action.
What is the best reason to use passive voice?
The passive voice is used
to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object
that performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence.
How do you avoid passive voice in writing?
Keep your subject in mind for each sentence. If you show in your writing who/what is doing the action in the sentence, you will avoid passive voice. How do I avoid a passive voice in technical writing when the subject is “I” or “me?”
Say that the sentence is “I was hit by the ball.”
This is in passive voice.
Is passive voice allowed in research paper?
In summary,
both the active and passive voices can be appropriate choices in scientific/academic writing
. It is important to consider what you are trying to emphasize in a particular sentence or section of your paper.
What is proper APA format?
- Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides.
- Double-space all text, including headings.
- Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches.
- Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
How do you do apa style referencing?
The APA referencing style is an “author-date” style, so the citation in the text consists of the author(s) and the year of publication given wholly or partly in round brackets. Use only
the surname of the author(s) followed by a comma and the year of publication
.
How do you set up a paper in APA format?
- Set the margins of your paper to be 1 inch on all sides (go to Margins under Page Layout)
- Use the font: Times New Roman.
- The font size should be 12 point.
- Make sure your paper is double-spaced and that the Before and After boxes both read 0 (go to Paragraph and then look under Spacing.)
