Professional Writing refers to a wide spectrum of writing for academic or scientific journals, business reports, position papers, policy statements, and similar endeavors. Writing for scientific journals typically follows a standardized generally accepted form or one that is unique to a journal that desires to position itself as being different.

Many of social science journals prefer a writing style and form that follows guidelines first established by the American Psychological Association and updated frequently in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. In 2005, the manual is in its fifth revision. The introduction to the fifth edition states that its intent is to be a major guide for authors, editors, students, typists, and publishers. Topics include a system of referencing that includes a catalog of formats that apply to almost any type of publication that exists. For example, a reference to the APA manual might be….

In-text (APA, 2001) In-text next to a direct quote, (APA, 2001, p. 16)

The reference section is at the end of the document and includes a list of entries that might look like this.

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: Author.

or

Smith, J. (2005). My best-selling book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Joe’s Big Publishing Company.

Other manuals of style include MLA, and Turabian although the author of this entry is not familiar with those styles. Other Wikipedia contributors may wish to revise expand this section to incorporate information about the other professional and scientific style guidelines.

Organization

The organization of a scientific journal article typically follows a generally accepted design. The APA (pp. 15 – 26) design described in the fifth edition has four sections:

1. Introduction

2. Method

3. Results

4. Discussion

Some journals and journal writers use a design known as the five-chapter model:

1. Introduction

2. Literature Review

3. Methodology

4. Analysis

5. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Style

Within each section, the author has a great deal of creative latitude depending on the audience, purpose, and disposition of the editor. Some editors like length and detail, while others prefer brevity to the extent that they fill the document with bullet-points and lists.