APA Series Part Two: APA Paper Format

Our editors break down just how to write an APA paper

When you look at the article that is first of American Psychological Association (APA) series, we talked about APA style and formatting basics. This article will discuss how to write an paper that is APA-styled tackling essay components such as the title page, abstract, and the body.

Title page

The title page of an APA paper ought to include a concise title, the author’s name and institutional affiliation, an author’s note, and a running head for publication. A running head is an abbreviated title of no more than 50 characters, starting essaywritersite.com/do-my-homework-help/ with the words “Running head,” followed closely by a colon, one space, and an abbreviated title—all in capital letters. Part Four of our APA series provides an APA title page example for the reference.

All pages in an APA paper ought to include a header. Into the header, are the running head title, followed by the page number, that should be right-justified. When page numbering is properly set up with the Headers and Footers function in Microsoft Word, the computer will automatically handle the numbering that is consecutive.

The Abstract, typically a crucial component of an APA paper, should summarize the topic and must accurately state the explanation and fundamental nature associated with paper by like the main ideas and major points.

We advise students to say just the most important findings or implications. Your message count limit of an varies that are abstract journal to journal, and will consist of 150 to 250 words. The Abstract should follow the title page, on a separate page titled utilizing the centered word “Abstract.”

This section is certainly not labeled. The text is contained by it associated with the APA paper divided into Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion. Each one of these sections should naturally follow the other, which means that they do not necessarily begin on a page that is new. A title is required by each section centered on the page. And don’t forget, you have to follow APA reference guidelines to ensure your entire citations are accurate and properly formatted.

Introduction

The development of an APA paper should begin on a page that is new after the Abstract. Because its position in it is made by the paper easily identifiable, the Introduction does not require a heading. Instead, include the title associated with the paper near the top of the page, in upper and lower case, followed by the writing. Our editors typically search for the items that are following an APA Introduction:

• Background information about this issue
• A reason of why the topic is significant
• An overview of relevant literature
• A discussion regarding the hypothesis
• How the author intends to address the issue
• Information on the paper’s organization

The Introduction should be well organized and may even contain headings to make the APA paper more understandable. Try to avoid jargon since it will only confuse your reader.

This section describes the extensive research and exactly how it absolutely was conducted. The technique is vital because the reproducibility is concerned by it of the research. Reproducibility, one of the main principles associated with Scientific Method, is the ability of a experiment or test to be replicated by independent researchers.

We look for the subsections that are following the Method section of an APA paper: participants (or subjects), measures, and procedures (the latter two in many cases are combined in a single subsection). These subheadings should always be left-justified. The “participants” subsection should describe the subjects (including number that is total their basic demographic information) and how they certainly were selected and categorized. It should also explain why some subjects are not included.

The subsection for measures and procedures should specify the gear and materials utilized in the experiment, including any questionnaires or surveys. This section must also describe in detail how the research was conducted.

The outcome element of an APA paper presents the findings. This section should summarize the data collected therefore the statistical or treatments that are analytical. Tables, figures, graphs, charts, drawings, and photographs could be included, but it is important to help keep them as easy as possible. Clearly label each visual with an Arabic numeral (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and a title. The label and the title should appear flush left on separate lines above the table. Remember to include any source details underneath the table.

Discussion

The Discussion section is an interpretation and evaluation of this findings. The author should address the issues raised in the Introduction in this section, based on the findings discussed in the results section. It is not simply a reiteration associated with the total results or points previously made.