General Format (Cont'd) : Your Essay Should Include Four Major Sections

Write your paper in APA (Applied Psychology Association) Style
1. General APA Guidelines
Your essay should be typed on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all
sides. You should use 10-12 pt. Times New Roman font or a similar font.
Include a page header at the top of every page. To create a page header, insert page
numbers flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left.
2. Major Paper Sections
Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body,
and References.
Ge
3. Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the
institutional affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the
page number flush right at the top of the page. Please note that on the title page, your
page header should look like this:
Your es
Image Caption: APA Title Page
4. Abstract
Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described
above). On the first line of the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold,
formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research.
(Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research
questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also
include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with
your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract
should be between 150 and 250 words.
You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, center
the text and type Keywords: (italicized) and then list your keywords. Listing your
keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.
Image Caption: APA Abstract Page
5. Main Body
Headings
APA Style uses a unique headings system to separate and classify paper sections. Always
use the headings in order, beginning with level 1. The format of each level is illustrated
below:
APA Headings
Level Format
1 Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2 Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3 Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with period.
4 Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with period.
5 Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with period.
Thus, the headings in your paper should look like this:
Methods (Level 1)
Site of Study (Level 2)
Participant Population (Level 2)
Teachers. (Level 3)
Students. (Level 3)
Results (Level 1)
Spatial Ability (Level 2)
Test one. (level 3)
Teachers with experience. (Level 4)
Teachers in training. (Level 4)
Test two. (Level 3)
Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)
In APA Style, the Introduction section never gets a heading and headings are not
indicated by letters or numbers. Levels of headings will depend upon the length and
organization of your paper. Regardless, always begin with level one headings and
proceed to level two, etc.
Quotations
If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of
publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the
quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of
publication in parentheses.
According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially
when it was their first time" (p. 199).
Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what
implications does this have for teachers?
6. References
In the end compile your references in the following way.
Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle.
Location: Publisher.
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal
publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Edited Books
Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor.
New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Articles in periodicals
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical,
volume number(issue number), pages.
Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of
Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.
Electronic sources
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online
Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart: For People Who
Make Websites, 149. Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving

General Format (Cont'd) : Your Essay Should Include Four Major Sections

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General Format (Cont'd) : Your Essay Should Include Four Major Sections

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Write your paper in APA (Applied Psychology Association) Style

1. General APA Guidelines

2. Major Paper Sections

Thus, the headings in your paper should look like this:

Site of Study (Level 2)

Participant Population (Level 2)

Spatial Ability (Level 2)

Test one. (level 3)

Teachers with experience. (Level 4)

Teachers in training. (Level 4)

Test two. (Level 3)

Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)

Basic Format for Books

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