Spacing and Punctuation

Space after punctuation as follows:
The APA now calls for one space to appear after all punctuation marks. This is undoubtedly in response to the capabilities of modern word-processing devices which are capable of determining the correct aesthetic distance between punctuation marks and subsequent letters. To double-space after a punctuation mark defeats that capability. If you are using a mono-space font (such as Courier), you may consider using two spaces after end-periods and colons, but consult your instructor first.

Exceptions:

• No space after internal periods in abbreviations (a.m., i.e., U.S.).
• No space after the colon in ratios (6:1)

Hyphens, dashes and minus sign

• Hyphen: no space before or after (trial-by-trial analysis).
• Dash: type as two hyphens with no space before, between or after (Studies--published and unpublished--are . . .). Note that it might be wise to break this rule when using formats in which one has no control over line-breaks (web-page authoring or using email). The long text-blocks created without the space between the dash (--) and the words can create problems with page layout.
• Minus: type as a hyphen with space on both sides (x - 3).

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