APA Formatting

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APA Formatting

• Psyc 3000

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Sections of an APA Style Paper

• -Title Page
• -Abstract
• -Introduction
• -Method
• -Results
• -Discussion
• -References
• -Appendix

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Page Formatting

• Font Style Serif, Times New Roman, or Courier
• 12 point font
• 1 inch margin all around
• Double Space
• Indent ALL paragraphs (5 spaces)
• -DO NOT indent the Abstract
• Label each section

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Page Formatting

• In the new APA manual, there is no longer a
  separate header and running head on the title
  page.
• Instead, the running head acts like a header. It
  is flush left and the page number is flush right.
• The running head goes on every page, excluding
  figure pages.
• Your running head is an abbreviated version of
  your title.
• -should be in all caps and follow the words
  Running head
• -does not exceed 50 characters (spaces count as
  characters)

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Example Running Head

• Running head SHORT TITLE LESS THAN 50
  CHARACTERS 1

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Title Page

• Includes
• Title of paper should not exceed 12 words
• Author (your name)
• Authors institutional affiliation
• -All components are centered and start on the
• upper half of the page
• -Double spaced

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Example Title Page
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Abstract

• Is a brief summary of the research (max. 120
  words)
• Is on its own page, labeled Abstract in the
  center of the top of the page
• concise and specific
• States the purpose of research, participants and
  method used, and why the results are significant
  or not

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Introduction

• Starts on its own page (other sections follow
  with no page break)
• Title should be centered at the top of the page
• Components
• -the issue under study (your research question)
• -the importance of your issue
• -a review and comparison of relevant studies
  and/or theories (what has been done before in
  relation to your issue?)
• -the basic design of your research
• -your hypothesis
• In summary, your intro builds a rationale for
  your study!

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Introduction

• General Organization
• -broad opening statements concerning your topic
  and introduction of question at hand
• -discussion of previous work done that relates
  to your topic (background)
• -specific details about your study, why it is
  different or what you are trying to reestablish,
  and the implications
• -your predictions and the design implemented

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Method Formatting

• Follows the introduction it does not start on a
  new page unless two lines of the participants
  section does not fit on the same page
• Center and bold the word Method to identify the
  start of your method section (6th edition)
• Contains subsections participants, materials,
  design, and procedures
• -an apparatus section is used to describe any
  special equipment but is optional, equipment can
  be included in your materials section
• Each subsections is labeled with the appropriate
  title, bolded, and flush left (6th edition)

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Purpose of the Method Section

• Describes how the study was conducted
• Must use enough detail for adequate replication
• Also establishes
• -Reliability the extent to which the DV is
  consistent or stable over time (E.g. IQ)
• -Validity the extent to which DV measures what
  you want to measure (operationally define E.g.
  shoe size doesnt measure IQ)

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Method Section Organization

• Participants
• -first subsection of the method section
• -describes the sampling methods used e.g. random
  selections, random assignment
• -includes any demographics of the participants
  that are relevant to your study (gender, age,
  ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level,
  etc.)
• -number of participants that participated how
  they were recruited
• - how participants were RS and RA
• -any compensation given for participating

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Method Section Organization

• Materials
• -describes what you used to conduct your
  experiment
• -identify name brands of materials
• Apparatus (optional)
• -describes any special equipment used but
  usually is just a part of your materials section

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Method Section Organization

• Design
• -states IV(s) and levels, DV(s), and design type
  (ex within or between groups)
• Procedure
• -the last subsection of the method section
• - is a step by step description of how you
  conducted your experiment and is detailed enough
  to be replicated
• -includes participant instructions, formation of
  groups, operational definitions, and how
  extraneous variables were controlled for
• note that the design and procedure can be
  combined into one section called Design and
  Procedure

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Results

• -section in which you report and summarize your
  data even if it does not support your
  hypothesis/hypotheses
• -do not discuss the implications of your data,
  simply state your results and whether or not it
  supported your hypothesis/hypotheses
• -state the statistical test(s) or type(s) of
  analysis used

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Reporting Results

• Assume the reader has a professional knowledge of
  statistics
• All statistical symbols that are not Greek should
  be italicized (M, SD, t, p, etc.)
• Always include the alpha level
• The degrees of freedom are reported in
  parentheses
• State the probability that the results were due
  to chance alone

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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
• EX Results indicate a significant preference for
  chocolate chip cookies (M 3.45, SD 1.11) over
  peanut butter cookies (M 3.00, SD .80), t(15)
  4.00, p .001.

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Discussion

• State whether or not your data supported your
  hypothesis and why you think it did or did not
  it is now appropriate to include your personal
  input
• Re-introduce previous and current research that
  you discussed in your introduction (you can
  discuss whether research is in agreement/disagreem
  ent with your findings)
• Sum up your study and bring it to a conclusion
• Reveal any possible confounds, and any
  alternative explanations

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References

• The literature you refer to must be cited in text
  and on a reference page, even when you
  paraphrase!
• Refer to an APA manual to be sure you are citing
  things correctly and according to the most
  updated version.
• -Citation machines are abundant on the internet,
  but not all use true APA stylebe careful!

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References

• Your references start on their own page
• Center the title References at the top.
• Make sure your references are in alphabetical
  order.
• The rule for indenting each reference is opposite
  of the way you would indent in a paragraph (the
  first line is flush left and all other lines are
  indented).

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Reference Example

• Periodical (journals, magazines, etc.)
• Author, A. A., Author, B. B. (2009). Title of
  article. Title of Periodical, vol, page -page
  .
• note which words are capitalized and italicized

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Appendix

• the section for attachments that might be
  inappropriate or distracting to include in the
  general body of the report but are still relevant
  to your study
• Allows for the paper to flow better
• label each with letters (ie. Appendix A, Appendix
  B, etc.)

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Online Resources

• www.apastyle.org/
• http//www.liu.edu/CWIS/CWP/library/workshop/citap
  a.htm
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/