2. A second exercise, similar to the first, is to examine a dissertation to determine where discrepancies with proper APA format exist. You may use a search engine such as PsycINFO to search on Dissertation Abstracts.

You can then search for topics of interest and select a dissertation to review. The dissertation should contain all the subtleties associated with APA format (including the front matter and back matter in APA format). As suggested above, you should pay particular attention to both the specific formatting issues and the information contained within the dissertation. One note is that in some instances, the university may have a select format that is slightly different from APA format. You should consider this when reviewing the dissertation to determine where this format differs.