Abstract
Becoming academically successful and competent is not easy since one has to go through various challenges in the education system. One such challenge is understanding the rules regarding formatting research papers. There are various rules applied while writing research papers based on the field of study. One of the rules involves writing research papers using the American Psychological Association (APA) standards. This paper will evaluate how students need to use the APA guide in research papers.
Discussion
The American Psychological Association (APA) is a reputable organization for professional psychologists all over the world. The organization developed a famous format used while writing academic papers in social sciences. The APA formatting is used in writing research papers in various fields such as psychology, sociology, business, economics and criminology (Purdue University, nd). The reference guide found in the APA Publication Manual contains information regarding the recommended way of formatting papers, citing sources, and how to structure research.
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Among the general guidelines, the APA directs that the information in the research paper should be typed using the standard 8.5×11 margins. Besides, individuals need to use a font that is easy to read. The APA recommends the use of the Times New Roman font, size 12. Furthermore, it is necessary to use double spacing in the title page and the rest of the paper. The margins should be one on all sides of the paper (Purdue University, nd). Additionally, paragraphs should be indented and set to one-half inch from the left side of the paper. A page header containing the running head in capital letters and the page number should also be included. The running head indicates the main idea of the paper that will be discussed in the subsequent sections of the paper. The APA also recommends that a research paper should have the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and in-text citations and references.
The APA pays a lot of attention to the layout of the title page. Individuals writing research papers should strictly follow the set guidelines. The title of the paper should be placed at the centre of the page. The title should not exceed 12 words to avoid incorporating unnecessary information (Purdue University, nd, c). Subsequently, the name of the author, institution name, name of the instructor and date should be written beneath the title. All the information on the title page needs to be double spaced. The running head in the header should be capitalized and the page number included on the right side of the paper.
The abstract section should be centred and not bold. This section contains a brief introduction of the author’s ideas, a brief summary of the research and a definition of the abbreviations and terminologies in the paper (Purdue University, nd, c). The abstract contains a maximum of 120 words. Besides, the abstract should be one paragraph in block format and double spaced. The author needs to state the topic and offer an overview of the information that will be incorporated in the body of the paper.
The introduction summarizes, integrates and critically evaluates the empirical knowledge within the topic of study. This section lays the stage for how the study will be conducted. The introduction begins through a broad perspective and gets more specific at the end (Purdue University, nd, d). A thesis statement is placed at the end of the introduction section to show the specific factors that will be discussed in the body of the paper.
In the methods section, the author describes the details of the study, such as the research design used, the inclusion criteria, tools used to gather data, data analysis technique used and the participants (Purdue University, nd, d). In addition, information regarding the total number of participants, gender, age-range, racial and ethnic composition and type of population is included. The tools used to gather data, such as questionnaires and interviews, are also incorporated in this section.
The results section includes information concerning the method of data analysis used. In addition, the author incorporates a section for descriptive statistics, types of analysis and tests used to test the hypothesis and a figure that represents the results visually (Purdue University, nd, d). In the discussion section, the author interprets the findings of the study by presenting it in a manner that is easy to understand. Besides, the limitations and recommendations of the study are incorporated in this section.
The references section should be labelled, centred and not bold. In this part, the author should present an alphabetical listing of the references. The references should be indented one-half inch from the left margin (Purdue University, nd, a). The references should follow the order of the author’s last name and initial of the second name up to seven authors, followed by the year of publication, name of the reference, source of the reference and volume and page numbers. The references should be double spaced with no extra spaces between the references.
The in-text citations should be frequently used in the body of the paper. The in-text citations should be placed using the author's name and year of publication (Purdue University, nd, b). This information should match the one in the reference list. To avoid plagiarism, the author should provide in-text citations for all the information borrowed from other authors.
Conclusion
The APA guide offers a clear guideline of the procedure that should be followed when writing research papers. The main sections include the title, abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, conclusion and in-text citations and references. Different types of information regarding the study are addressed in each section. These sections allow the successful completion of a research paper by ensuring that all the necessary information is incorporated.
References
Purdue University. (nd). General Format. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
Purdue University. (nd, a). Reference List: Basic Rules. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
Purdue University. (nd, b). In-Text citations: The basics. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
Purdue University. (nd, c). APA style introduction. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
Purdue University, (nd, d). Types of APA papers. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/types_of_apa_papers.html
