- 1). Set the left margin of your paper to 1 inch with left side justification and ragged right margins. Also set the indent at 1/2 inch, and the line spacing to double spaced. Select Times New Roman as the font
Number every page in the top right corner. At the top left corner, use a shortened version of your title as the running header that will run on every page, in all caps. - 2). Next, organize your paper as follows: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, References, Appendices. Not all types of research papers will have sections on methods and results, or appendices, particularly if the paper is a summary and analysis of other works.
- 3). Begin by making a title page with the full title, and your name and school below.
- 4). now, on a new page, write "Abstract" in bold, centered at the top, 1 inch from the top of the pager. Begin your abstract on the next (double spaced) line.
- 5). On a new page, begin writing your introduction. You do not label this page with a heading that says "Introduction."
- 6). After the introduction, begin writing the method, results, and discussion. These sections need to have bold faced, centered headings, but they do not need to begin on a new page each.
- 7). Next, begin the references section on a new page, with a centered, bold faced heading. List the works you cited in alphabetical order by the first author's last name. Indent the second line of each bibliography entry, and double space the entire list.
- 8). Now, how could an APA how-to be complete with out an explanation of citations? According APA style, whenever you quote, paraphrase, or borrow a key idea from another source, you must cite the author and year of the reference. You do this in the body of your paper, often within the sentence. For example:
Ninety percent of children become hyperactive after watching teletubbies (Jones, 2007, p.5).
In 2007, Jones found that 56% of children do not like this show.
According to Jones, children watch TV programs they do not enjoy because they cannot operate the remote (2007). - 9
Learn the correct hierarchy of headings. A main section heading is always bold and centered. The next level of subheading is bold and left justified; each word starts with capital letter as if it were a title.
Then follows bold and left indented, only first word is capitalized. Next is bold, italic, indented with first word capitalized. Lastly, indented italic with first word capitalized.
See image for example. - 10
Remember these miscellaneous rules. Each figure or table should start on its own separate page, and be labeled so that you can refer to them by number in the paper. Put all the tables and figures after the references.
Also, use language and terms that are free of bias. Instead of saying "mentally ill participants," say "participants diagnosed with mental illness."
When discussing participants in an experiment, use the active voice, rather than passive. For example, "the males looked at images," instead of "images were shown to the males."
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