Journal Policies
Reference Style
NEO CIVIC EDUCATION: MEDIA KAJIAN PANCASILA DAN KEWARGANEGARAAN
Reference Style and Grammar
How to cite in APA 7th edition and how to write clear academic English. Click a section to open it.
01APA 7th edition at a glance▾
Neo Civic Education uses the APA Style, 7th edition (American Psychological Association, 2020) for citations and references. Manuscripts that do not follow APA 7th are returned to the authors before review.
| In the text | Author–date: (Rahman, 2021) or Rahman (2021). |
| Reference list | Titled References; alphabetical; hanging indent of 1.27 cm; same line spacing as the text. |
| DOI | Full link: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. A DOI is required whenever one exists. |
| Currency | At least 80% of references are peer-reviewed journal articles from the last 10 years. |
| Match | Every citation is in the reference list, and every reference is cited in the text. |
| Tool | Use a reference manager (Mendeley or Zotero) with the “American Psychological Association 7th edition” style. |
02In-text citations▾
| Situation | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Rahman, 2021) | Rahman (2021) |
| Two authors | (Creswell & Poth, 2018) | Creswell and Poth (2018) |
| Three or more | (Wijaya et al., 2020) | Wijaya et al. (2020) |
| Group author (first / later) | (Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology [MoECRT], 2022) / (MoECRT, 2022) | MoECRT (2022) |
| Several works | (Anderson, 1983; Rahman, 2021; Wijaya et al., 2020) | — |
| Same author and year | (Rahman, 2020a, 2020b) | Rahman (2020a) |
| Direct quotation | (Anderson, 1983, p. 6) | Anderson (1983) wrote … (p. 6) |
| Secondary source | (Dewey, 1916, as cited in Rahman, 2021) | — |
| Law | (Law No. 20 of 2003) | Law No. 20 of 2003 states … |
| No date | (Organisation Name, n.d.) | Organisation Name (n.d.) |
| Personal communication | (A. Rahman, personal communication, March 3, 2026) | not in the reference list |
- Quotations under 40 words: in double quotation marks with a page number. Quotations of 40 words or more: an indented block, no quotation marks, citation after the final full stop.
- Paraphrase rather than quote whenever possible; give page numbers for paraphrases of specific passages when helpful.
03Reference list: rules▾
- Order: alphabetical by the surname of the first author; works by the same author by year (oldest first).
- Authors: Surname, Initials. List up to 20 authors; for 21 or more, list 19, then …, then the last author. Use & before the last author.
- Indonesian names: use the name as the author publishes it. For single names (Siswantoyo), write the name only: Siswantoyo. (2020).
- Titles: sentence case for articles, chapters, and books; Title Case and italics for journal names; italics for book titles and volume numbers.
- Non-English sources: original title followed by an English translation in [square brackets].
- Do not use “Retrieved from” or access dates (except for pages designed to change).
- Do not include personal communications, lecture notes, or unpublished class materials.
04Reference list: examples▾
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2021). Title of the article in sentence case. Name of the Journal, 18(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
In-text: (Author et al., 2021) · journal article
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
In-text: (Creswell & Poth, 2018) · book
Author, A. A. (2020). Title of the chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of the book (pp. 45–67). Publisher.
In-text: (Author, 2020) · chapter
Author, A. A. (2024). Judul tesis [Title of the thesis] [Master’s thesis, Name of University]. Repository. https://…
In-text: (Author, 2024) · thesis
Author, A. A. (2023). Title of the paper. In E. Editor (Ed.), Proceedings of the Name of Conference (pp. 101–110). Publisher. https://doi.org/…
In-text: (Author, 2023) · conference paper
Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional [Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 20 of 2003 on the National Education System]. (2003). https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/…
In-text: (Law No. 20 of 2003) · law
Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. (2022). Title of the report. https://…
In-text: (MoECRT, 2022) · government report
Author, A. A. (2025, May 2). Title of the news article. Name of Newspaper. https://…
In-text: (Author, 2025) · online news
Organisation Name. (2024, January 15). Title of the web page. https://…
In-text: (Organisation Name, 2024) · web page
Author, A. A. (2023). Title of the data set (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Repository. https://doi.org/…
In-text: (Author, 2023) · data set
Examples use placeholder names. More cases: the APA Style website (apastyle.apa.org).
05Grammar: tense and voice▾
| Part of the article | Usual tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Literature review (what others found) | Past or present perfect | Rahman (2021) found … / Several studies have shown … |
| Established knowledge | Present | Civic education aims to prepare … |
| Method (what you did) | Past | Data were collected through interviews … |
| Results | Past | Students reported higher motivation … |
| Tables and figures | Present | Table 2 shows … |
| Discussion and conclusion | Present (meaning), past (findings) | These results suggest that … |
- Use the active voice when it is clearer (“We interviewed 20 teachers”). The first person (I, we) is acceptable in APA 7th.
- Avoid long passive chains such as “It was found that it can be concluded that…”.
06Grammar: common errors to check▾
| Check | Avoid | Write |
|---|---|---|
| Articles | Student needs a guidance. | Students need guidance. / The student needs guidance. |
| Uncountable nouns | informations, researches, knowledges, evidences | information, studies (research), knowledge, evidence |
| Subject–verb agreement | The data shows … ; Each of the students have … | The data show … ; Each of the students has … |
| Plurals after numbers | 20 teacher, many school | 20 teachers, many schools |
| Run-on sentences | The results were positive, this shows … | The results were positive. This shows … / … positive, which shows … |
| Direct translation | Based on the results above, it can be seen that … | The results show that … |
| Word choice | make a research, discuss about | conduct research, discuss |
| Hedging | This proves that … | This suggests that … / These findings indicate … |
07Punctuation, numbers, and style▾
| Spelling | British or American spelling, used consistently throughout (organise / organize). |
| Commas | Use the serial (Oxford) comma: teachers, students, and parents. |
| Quotation marks | Double quotation marks; single marks only inside a quotation. |
| Dashes | En dash for ranges (pp. 12–24, 2020–2024); em dash sparingly. |
| Numbers | Words for one to nine; numerals for 10 and above, and always for statistics, percentages (45%), ages, and measurements. Do not begin a sentence with a numeral. |
| Abbreviations | Define at first use: Pancasila and Civic Education (PPKn). Do not define abbreviations used only once. |
| Non-English terms | Italicise and gloss at first use: musyawarah (deliberation). |
| Bias-free language | Use precise, respectful terms for people (students with disabilities, not “the disabled”); describe groups by the labels they use. |
08Language editing before submission▾
- Read the manuscript aloud, or ask a colleague fluent in academic English to read it.
- Use a grammar checker and a spell checker set to one English variant, then review every suggestion by hand.
- Check that terms are used consistently (for example, always “civic education”, not alternating with “citizenship education” unless the difference is explained).
- Manuscripts with serious language problems are returned before review. Professional editing is optional and does not guarantee acceptance.
See the Author Guidelines and the Manuscript Template. Questions: neociviceducation@unima.ac.id.
