Before You Submit That Assignment, Read This...

4/14/2026

An assignment paper overlaid with a magnifying glass

In addition to all of the subject and topic-specific criteria I include in my assignment evaluation rubrics, there are a few issues that I always end up providing feedback on. These are non-negotiable items that must be addressed before you submit your work to me (or share it with broader audiences), including:

Meeting Document Accessibility Standards
Citing Digital Tools, Applications, and Resources

Formatting and Accessibility

A blue icon of an open book, overlaid with a standard accessibility icon within a circle

Most schools ask you to adhere to a particular formatting style for assignments. In most cases, Education programs (in which I teach) follow the APA v7 Style Guide (American Psychological Association, 2020). It is important to remember that these formatting guides are aesthetic preferences. If they have been mandated by your school, program, or instructor, they are certainly important to follow. But, they are not as important as document accessibility. The ability for all potential audiences to interact with your work is a human rights issue (and, in many cases, it is now also legally-mandated!).

Before submitting an assignment, you need to ensure that it adheres to all applicable digital accessibility standards (for which the WCAG 2.2 guidelines (W3C, 2025) are the de-facto baseline). For the most part, for student assignments this will include:

Properly tagging headings for document navigation.
Using plain language throughout, unless technical "jargon" is required.
Verifying the object/reading order of your content (especially important for slideshow presentations and PDF files).
Including ALT text for embedded images and figures.
Avoiding embedding "text-within-an-image" (screenshots or scans of text passages).
Ensuring sufficient color-contrast ratio between text and backgrounds.
Ensuring you have closed captions (and, if possible, transcripts) for audio and video media that you either create or curate to include in your assignment.

The following video (Power, 2024a) demonstrates how to format your written assignment documents for both APA v7 formatting and document accessibility standards:

Additional Resources:

You can find additional resources to help you create accessible resources in my Open Access eBook The ALT Text: Accessible Learning with Technology (Power, 2024b):

Citing Digital Tools and Resources

The Purdue OWL APA v7 formatting guidelines reference cite notes "Do not cite standard office software (e.g. Word, Excel) or programming languages. Provide references only for specialized software" (Purdue University, 2026). However, there are two major considerations that we need to keep in mind:

We do not always know when our audience will already be familiar with a particular digital tool or resource. NEVER assume that something is as well-known as we think it is!
Regardless of what the APA v7 style guide indicates, software applications and other digital tools and resources ARE intellectual property. They should ALWAYS be cited accordingly.

That does NOT mean that you have to include an APA format in-text citation EVERY time you name a specific digital tool or application within your assignment. You SHOULD:

Include an in-text citation the FIRST time you mention the digital tool or resource within your assignment.
Include an appropriate in-text citation if you are discussions specific features or attributes of that tool.
Include a full citation for that digital tool or resource within your References list.

These rules should be followed whether the digital tool or resource is copyright-protected, Open Access, or Public Domain. In short, give credit where it is due, and help your audience to connect with that resource if they need to!

Example
The following is an example paragraph that you might include when discussing tools for creating student presentations:

"A tool that is frequently used by students to create presentations for class assignments is PowerPoint (Microsoft, 2026b). But, there are alternatives to PowerPoint, such as Google Slides (n.d.) and Canva (2026). A major benefit to using PowerPoint is that it includes a robust Accessibility Review tool (Microsoft, 2026a)."

To help, here is a list of common digital tools, applications, and resources that I have curated (in APA v7 format)!

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Canva (2026). About Canva: Empowering the world to design. https://www.canva.com/about/

Google (n.d.). Google Slides. https://workspace.google.com/intl/en_ca/products/slides/

Microsoft (2026a). Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-dae3b2b3ef25

Microsoft (2026b). PowerPoint. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/powerpoint

Power, R. (2024a, January 9). Formatting Reports for APA and Accessibility. [video]. https://youtu.be/DS9TJH9eAqI

Power, R. (2024b). The ALT Text: Accessible Learning wtih Technology. Power Learning Solutions. ISBN 978-1-7390190-2-0. https://pressbooks.pub/thealttext/

Purdue University (2026). Reference List: Electronic Sources. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html

W3C (2025). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). [Web page]. https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

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