Question

When writing an APA research paper, how do I distinguish survey questions or categories within the body of my text?
italics, double quotation marks, single quotation mark????

Answer 1

It all depends on the style of writing and the style that your teacher wants. However, you could format the paper a number of different ways.

1) The questions are in italics and the answers are in normal formatting and indented
2) The questions are normal and the answers are in italics formatting and indented
3) The questions are bolded and the answers are in normal formatting.

If you could provide an example in context, I might be able to provide more specific feedback.

Answer 2

Thanks for your response. None of those options work as I'm not writing out a list of questions & answers but rather presenting the findings of my research in form of a written report.

Here's a couple of examples:

1) Interestingly, some of the items identified as currently being measured by more than 50% of companies were also identified as items employers wish were measured, including 'enhancement of employee recruitment and retention' and 'results/goals desired vs. results/goals achieved'.

2) When asked 'To what extent do you expect nonprofit partners to initiate reporting?', 60% of corporate respondents indicated they expect nonprofits to take a moderate role and 40% expected nonprofits to take ‘very much’ of the lead in initiating reporting.

It's the items currently in single quotation marks that I'm asking about. What is the correct APA style? Can't find any guidance in my APA manual or on the Purdue Owl.

Answer 3

I am not completely familiar with this style; however, the way you have worded it looks correct to me. If you are quoting an article, it is customary that you place the info in single or double quotes then end with a citation in parentheses.

Answer 4

If you are quoting strings of text, you'd use double quotation marks, regardless of where that text originates: a novel, a short story, an essay, questionnaires. So use the double quotation marks for question text and response text (if any) alike.