Question

In an APA formated research paper, do I put quotations (" ") around specific words used by the author such as "muscularity" or "silent majority". The author puts quotations around them in their writing. I have used these words often in my paper and I am not sure if I am supposed to put (" ") or (' ') around them. Thanks.

Answer 1

knitsirky,
Here is the page that will guide you through (6th ed) APA on In-Text Citations.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/2/

More helpful, though, I think you would benefit from:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/
which covers Quoting, parphrasing, and Summaries in detail.

The only time I can ever think to use (' ') is IF the source author did AND you are writing that section of the author's work as a Quotation. This means that what you are writing would match the source document word for word.
Otherwise, for emphsasis, you would simply put double quotes around the word or phrase the source author used with the page number.
Such as:
Sigmund Freud argues that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" (page #), expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a process known as the "dream-work" (page #).

You can see in this example that there is an emphasis, like the type you are describing in your original inquiry, on the phrase "dream work".

Personally, I have never used single quotes in APA.

Also, if/when you use Purdue Owl's Awesome resource, don't forget to reference it as well. Here's how: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/1/

Best.