Some APA Basics

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Some APA Basics

• Psychology 3000
• Spring 2009
• Professor W. Potter

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Page Setup

• Font Style
• 1. Serif (ideal) 2.Times New Roman 3. Courier
• Font Size 12 point
• Margin 1 inch all around
• Double Space
• Insert 2 spaces between sentences
• Indent ALL paragraphs
• DO NOT indent Abstract
• Label each section

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Title Page

• Running Head
• Flush Left
• All uppercase letters
• No more than 50 characters (including punctuation
  and spaces)
• Upper half of the page (centered double spaced)
• Title
• Byline
• Directly under title
• List author First name,Middle initial, Last name
• Separate suffix from name with a space (no comma)
  
• If more than 1 author list in order of
  contribution)
• Affiliation
• List affiliation under authors name

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Title page should look like this
Manuscript Header Page Number are included on
each page (Flushed Right as Header)
Running Head All Caps no more than 50
characters
1. Title - Informs about the study - Should
be 10 -12 words 2. Byline 3. Affiliation
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Abstract

• 1 sentence summary for each part of the paper
• Brief/comprehensive summary of article contents
• Allows readers to survey article
• needs to be dense with information, but readable
• Include essential key words
• Paraphrase, define terms, Spell out abbreviations
• Accurate (represents article content)
• On its own page
• Label page Abstract (Centered on top of page)
• No more than 120 words
• Type ALL numbers (except those that begin a
  sentence)

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Abstract What does it look like?

Empathetic Responding 2
Abstract The purpose of this study was to teach
empathetic responding to 4 children with autism.
Instructors presented vignettes with dolls and
puppets demonstrating various types of affect and
used prompt delay, modeling, manual prompts,
behavioral rehearsals, and reinforcement to teach
participants to perform empathy responses.
Increases in empathetic responding occurred
systematically with the introduction of treatment
across all participants and response categories.
Furthermore, responding generalized from training
to non-training probe stimuli for all
participants. Generalization occurred from dolls
and puppets to actual people in a non-training
setting for 2 participants. Generalization was
observed initially to the non-training people and
setting for the other participants, but
responding subsequently decreased to baseline
levels. Introduction of treatment in this setting
produced rapid acquisition of target skills.
Block Format ? NO indentation
No More than 120 words
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Introduction

• Present your Research Question
• State the relation between 2 variables
• State your predicted RELATIONSHIP between the
  variables
• WHY and HOW your study as developed
• Importance
• Theoretical implications
• Review the Literature
• Support
• Whats been done
• Where you are going (How it ties into your
  research)
• How your Research is different from previous
  research
• Point our methodological problems
• State your limits

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Introduction Format

• Starts your paper
• Starts in a NEW page (other sections follow with
  no page break)
• Label Title of your paper
• Centered
• Text follows directly below (remember to indent)
• Organization
• Introduce the Question
• Develop the background
• State the Purpose and Rational

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Lets Start the Paper
Token Reinforcement 3
The Effects of Token Reinforcement on Language
Acquisition Your introduction will start
directly below the title. Remember to double
space. Your introduction should clearly state
your research question. Use the previous
slides to help guide you in your development of
an effective an clear introduction
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Methods The Purpose

• Description of HOW the study was conducted
• Use enough detail for adequate replication
• Provides for
• Reliability
• Extent to which the DV is consistent or stable
  over time. (Measure must be reliable over time)
• Replication Does it produce the same results?
• Validity
• The extent to which DV measures what you want to
  measure

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Methods Organization

• Subsections
• Participants/ Subjects
• Demographic Characteristics
• Specifics of Ps/ sex/ age/ race/
  socioeconomic status/ disabilities (ANYTHING that
  distinguishes your participants -- extraneous
  variable)
• Apparatus
• Describes apparatus, equipment, and/or materials
  used to conduct your experiment
• Procedure
• Summarize steps used to conduct experiment
• Operational Definitions
• Participant instructions
• Formation of the Experimental groups
• Describe how control for extraneous variables was
  established (Randomization, Counterbalancing, )
• Additional subsection should be provided if
  necessary for clarity and organizational purposes

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Methods An Example
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Results

• This is the place to summarize the data that you
  collected, even if it shows that your hypothesis
  was incorrect. Here is not the place to infer
  what the findings could mean.
• You also need to discuss what types of analysis
  were used, namely the types of statistical
  testing.
• Data in tables, figures, and graphs are often
  here.

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Results Organization

• Organization of your results section should make
  sense to the
• Reader, and can represent the sequence of events
  in your study.

• Restate your hypothesis to clarify for the reader
  what exactly you were looking for.
• Summarize the statistical data you obtained from
  each test for each hypothesis.

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Statistics

• When reporting your findings, you need to follow
  a few rules for including statistical data in a
  report.
• Assume that your audience has a professional
  knowledge of statistics. Dont explain how or why
  you used a certain test unless it is unusual.
• All statistical symbols that are not Greek
  letters should be italicized (M, SD, t, p, etc.)

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Statistics The T-Test

• The independent t-test
• tests difference between two independent groups
• (i.e. females males) on the means of a
  continuous variable.
• The t-test is very common in research, and is
  probably used more often than any other test.
• Reporting the Results
• Italicize t
• Degrees of freedom (in parentheses)
• Always include alpha level
• Probability that the results achieved were due to
  chance (don't forget Mean and Standard
  Deviation).
• Results indicate a significant preference for
  pecan pie (M 3.45, SD 1.11) over cherry pie
  (M 3.00, SD .80), t(15) 4.00, p .001.

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Discussion

• This is where you get to reveal if your data
  supported or disproved your hypothesis.
• Your input is now appropriate discuss why you
  think the data supported (or did not support)
  your hypothesis.
• Re-introduce the supporting and disagreeing
  research that you first discussed in the
  introduction section.
• You can show whether the previous research is in
  agreement/disagreement with your findings.
• It is time to sum up your study and bring it to a
  conclusion
• Reveal any possible confounds, and any
  alternative explanations.

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References

• All studies that you refer to, previous findings,
  and paraphrases must be cited in text, and on a
  reference page.
• This is where your APA manual is irreplaceable
• Citation machines are abundant on the internet,
  but not all use true APA stylebe careful!
• EBSCO database has a citation option for many
  articles in the databases

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Sample Reference Page

Token Reinforcement ?

• References
• Al-Ghabiri, I. (March, 8, 2004). Old Sana'a has
  overwhelming charm. Yemen Times, 13, Retrieved
  December 7, 2008, from http//www.yementimes.com/a
  rticle.shtml?i718pculturea1
• Hallaj, O. A. (2006). Urban development of Shibam
  in Hadramout. Retrieved December 9, 2008, from
  http//www.gtz.de/en/index.htm Web site
  http//www.gtz.de/en/aktuell/6296.htm
• Jessey, Dave (2007). Mineral identification
  Beauty and nature. Retrieved December 8, 2008,
  from http//geology.csupomona.edu/alert/mineral/mi
  nerals.htm Web site http//geology.csupomona.edu/
  alert/mineral/minerals.htm
• Marechaux, Pascal (1980). Arabia felix Images of
  Yemen and its people. Woodbury, New York
  Barron's Educational Series, Inc..
•  

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Apendix

• This section is the place for items and
  information that are relevant to the study, but
  had no place in the report.
• To keep a report readable, lengthy and other
  material goes in the appendices
• The organization of appendices is according to
  letter rather than number e.g. Appendix A, etc.

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Websites

• The OWL at Purdue
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
  
• Long Island University
• http//www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citap
  a.htm
• APA Style Resources
• http//www.psychwww.com/resource/apacrib.htm
• APA Research Paper (Shaw)
• http//www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/Hacker-Shaw-APA.pd
  f