Project Summary: Discussion: APA Discussion 1 Mastering APA style often presents a challenge to those unaccustomed to academic writing. However, there are several reasons why perfecting APA style is an essential part of academic scholarship. At the most practical level, APA writing conventions provide a common standardized language for sharing work with others. Others can easily read and understand work presented in APA style and can quickly identify the resources used to complete the work. An APA citation enables scholars to meet their ethical obligation to give other authors proper credit for their work. However, mastery of APA goes beyond practical or even ethical concerns. Proper use of a format widely accepted as a standard for scholarly publication, such as APA style, can serve as a signal to other scholars and researchers that you apply a degree of precision in your writing and research. Using APA style helps scholars to be practical, ethical, and credible.