APA Style

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• APA Style
• By Rebecca Fry

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Parts of an APA style paper

• 1 Title Page
• 2 Abstract
• 3 Intro
• 4 Methods
• 5 Results
• 6 Discussion

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(No Transcript)
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APA format Title Page

• Page header
• should be top right of page next to page number
• include 1st two or three words from title
• Running head
• left side of page under page header
• abbreviated title- maximum 50 characters
• Title- centered on page
• concise statement of main topic, including
  variables
• Authors
• First name, middle initial, and last name
• Institution name
• California State University, Stanislaus (dont
  abbreviate)

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Abstract

• Abstract is on the second page of the paper.
• Briefly summarize your paper.
• No more than 120 words.
• Be sure to define abbreviations, acronyms, and
  unique terms.
• Begin with most important information (purpose or
  thesis of research).
• Include four or five most important findings of
  your research.

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Abstract Sample
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Abstract from Canned Laughter and Public and
Private Conformity (not formatted, just an
example of how an abstract would be written)
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Introduction

• First line of introduction page will be the title
  of your paper (centered)
• Start your paper by presenting the problem under
  investigation.
• Show why the problem is important, and how your
  design addresses the problem.
• Explain theoretical implications of the study.
• Discuss studies you found in your literature
  review that were important to your hypothesis.
• Your intro should build a rationale for why you
  are conducting your study.
• Be sure to use good transitions statements
  between paragraphs.

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Intro Sample
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Intro sample continued
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Method
The method section is designed to give enough
information on a study that a person could
replicate the study.

• The method section is designed to give enough
  information on a study that a person could
  replicate the study.
• Identify subsections
• overview- be sure to include the IV and DV
• participants
• apparatus or materials, and
• procedure by headings
• additional subsections may be used if they will
  make it easier for the reader to find information
• Subsection headings should be italicized and
  flush to left margin.

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Participants (Methods Continued)

• Describe features of sample (college students,
  gender, ethnicity if pertinent)
• Tell how participants were selected (random
  selection) and how they were assigned to
  treatment conditions (random assignment)
• Example of participants subsection from APA
  manual The second group included 40 Central
  American women between the ages of 20 and 30
  years, all of whom had emigrated from El
  Salvador, had at least 12 years of education, had
  been permanent residents of the United States for
  at least 10 years, and lived in Washington, DC.

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Apparatus (methods continued)

• Identify and carefully describe specialized
  equipment
• Example grape tootsie pops and grape blow pops,
  tally sheet
• Standard laboratory equipment can be mentioned
  without detail

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Procedure (methods continued)

• Summarize how you conducted your research step
  by step
• Describe how you controlled for extraneous
  variables.
• Summarize instructions.
• Tell what you did and how you did it well enough
  for the reader to be able to replicate your
  study.
• Provide operation defs

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Methods section sample
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Sample continued
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Methods sample continued
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Results

• Restate hypothesis
• State whether or not your hypothesis was
  supported, but dont interpret results until the
  discussion section.
• Summarize results for each statistical test used
• Be sure to state one-letter abbreviation of the
  type of test (italicized), degrees of freedom (in
  parentheses), the value of the test, and the
  probability that the score is due to random
  chance.
• Means and standard deviations stated as
• M23.54 (SD2.98)
• Test results stated as
• t(10)-.80, pgt.05.

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Results continued
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Discussion

• Open section with statement of support or
  nonsupport of your hypothesis. (Were the results
  what you expected?)
• In the discussion section, connect the research
  discussed in the intro with your results. (How
  were your results similar or different from other
  research? How can you explain those differences?)
• Discuss theoretical implications of the study
• Acknowledge limitations and address alternative
  explanations of results. (possible extraneous
  variables not controlled for)
• End discussion section by showing the importance
  of your findings (why was your study important?)
  and suggestion for future research

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References

• List all sources cited in text
• Arrange entries in alphabetical order
• Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C.C.
  (1994). Title of article. Title of Journal.
  Volume number. Page numbers.
• American Psychological Association. (2001).
  Publication Manual of the American Psychological
  Association. (5th ed). Washington, DC. Author.
• Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C.-R., Berry,
  A., Harlow, T. (1993). Theres more to
  self-esteem than whether it is high or low The
  importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal
  of Personality and Social Psychology, 65,
  1190-1204.
• Nosanchuk, T. A., Lightstone, J.. Canned
  Laughter and Public and Private Conformity.
  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29,
  153-156.

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Appendix

• Label as Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.
• Include appendix when information would be
  distracting or inappropriate in body of the
  paper, if information will help readers to
  understand the study.

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Tables

• Include tables when a visual presentation of the
  data would make it easier to understand the data.