WRITING YOUR PROJECT DOCUMENTATION IN APA FORMAT

What is APA format?

APA style is a format for academic documents such as journal articles and books. It is generally advised to be used in most writings or in our institutions.
Here are step by step procedures on how to go about it:

Title of Paper Goes Here And I Will Also Add Here the Unnecessary Words APA Format Sixth Edition Template So the Document Will Come Up in Searches

Paul Rose

Southern Illinois University Edwards ville

Author Note

A brief author note (which should not be included in papers submitted in Paul Rose’s classes) goes here. It may include acknowledgment of funding sources, expressions of gratitude to research assistants and contact information for the author who will handle requests. I have a few notes of my own to share here. First, I am very grateful to everyone who has emailed me with suggested improvements; I’m sorry I can’t acknowledge you all here. Second, you are hereby granted permission to use this document for learning and research purposes. You may not sell this document either by itself or in combination with other products or services. Third, if you use this document, you use it at your own risk. The document’s accuracy and safety have been thoroughly evaluated, but they are not guaranteed. Fourth, if you find this document helpful, I don’t want your money, but I would be grateful if you would click on this URL: http://goo.gl/DGHoZ. It directs to a harmless Department of Psychology web page at SIUE, but what is more important is that it records click-through data that give me an idea of how many people have found this document helpful. Thanks!

Abstract

An abstract is a single paragraph, without indentation, that summarizes the key points of the manuscript in 150 to 250 words.  For simpler papers in Paul Rose’s classes, a somewhat shorter abstract is fine.  The purpose of the abstract is to provide the reader with a brief overview of the paper. When in doubt about a rule, check the sixth edition APA manual rather than relying on this template.  (I prefer only one space after a period, but two spaces are suggested by the sixth-edition APA manual at the top of page 88.)  This document has a history that compels me to give credit where it’s due. Many years ago I downloaded a fifth-edition template from an unspecified author’s web site at Northcentral University. I modified the template extensively and repeatedly for my own purposes and in the early years I shared my highly-modified templates only with my own students. By now, I have edited this document so many times in so many ways that the current template bears virtually no similarity to the old Northcentral document. I want to be clear, however, that I am in debt to an unknown author who spared me the inconvenience of having to create my own templates from scratch.

Keywords: writing, template, sixth, edition, APA format, self-discipline, is, good

Title of Paper Gets Repeated Here Exactly As It Appears On Title Page

This is where the body of your paper begins. Note that the title of your paper appears at the top of your introduction even though other sections begin with headings like “Method”, “Results” and so on.  The rest of the text in this template provides hints about properly generating the parts of your APA-formatted paper.  Notice that there is no extra spacing between the paragraphs or sections.

The major components of your paper (abstract, body, references, etc.) each begin on a new page. These components begin with centered headings at the top of the first page.  (You can see how major components of text get divided in this freely available sample document: http://www.apastyle.org/manual/related/sample-experiment-paper-1.pdf ).  Some papers have multiple studies in them so the body could have multiple sections and subsections within it.

Sections can have subsections with headings.  For example, a Method section might have Participants, Materials, and Procedure subsections.  The sixth of the APA manual, unlike earlier editions, tells you to bold headings (but not the title above or anything on the title page). Below are examples.

• Heading Level 1

• Heading Level 2
• Heading level 3. (Note the indent and period, and note how the capitalization works. You will probably never go deeper than the third heading level.) 
• Heading level 4.
• Heading level 5.

Citations and References

Check your assigned reading materials for rules about citations (which occur within the text of the paper) and references (which are listed in their own separate section at the end of the paper).  Remember that you can find a lot of answers to formatting questions with a careful online search.  When you’re looking at information online, you may want to consider where the information is coming from, whether the information might refer to an older edition of APA format and whether other online sources agree with the information you’ve found.  When in doubt, follow the latest edition of the APA manual.

About a References Section

An example of a References section is on the next page.  Take note of the "hanging indent" style and double-spacing (with no extra spacing between references).  The easiest way to create hanging indents is to type your references without worrying about indentation and when you are finished, select all the references at once and apply the hanging indents using the ruler at the top.

Many APA format rules are not mentioned or demonstrated in this document. You should plan to spend a lot of time looking up formatting rules, just like your professors do when they write papers. If APA formatting is driving you crazy and you want a distraction, how about alleviating people’s suffering with a simple click? Check out The Hunger Site (http://www.thehungersite.com/).

References

Ajournalarticle, R. H., Spud, P. T., & Psychologist, R. M. (2002). Title of journal article goes here. Journal of Research in Personality, 22,236-252. doi: 10.1016/0032-026X.56.6.895*

B’Onlinesourcesareconfusing, S. O. (2010). Search for answers at apastyle.org and include issue numbers after volume numbers when there is no DOI. Journal of Articles Without Digital Object Identifyers, 127 (3) , 816-826.

Cmagazinearticle, B. E. (1999, July). Note the last names on this page: Each source type has to be formatted in a different way. [Special issue]. Prose Magazine, 126 (5), 96-134.

Dbookreference, S. M., Orman, T. P., & Carey, R. (1967). Google scholar’s “cite” feature is usually accurate and time-saving. New York: Dawkins-Harris Publishing.

O’encyclopedia, S. E. (1993). Words. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (vol. 38, pp. 745-758). Chicago: Forty-One Publishing.

Pchapter, P. R., & Inaneditedvolume, J. C. (2001). Scientific research papers. In P. Z.  Wildlifeconservation, R. Cirk, & J. H. Dennett (Eds.), Research papers are hard work but boy are they good for you (pp. 123-256). New York: Lucerne Publishing.

Qosenberg, Morris. (1994, September 11). This is how you cite an online news article that has an author. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/dir/subdir/2014/05/11/a-d9-11e3_story.html

* On p. 189, the 6^th ed. manual says “We recommend that when DOIs are available, you include them”—so you can skip the DOI if you can’t find it. Footnotes like this aren’t appropriate in a real references section.

Footnotes

¹ Some professional journals ask authors to avoid using footnotes.  In an undergraduate paper they are almost never necessary.

² As of 2013, I do not recommend using the footnote and end note features in Word if you want to keep your footnotes in APA format.

 Hope this was a helpful tutorial. Much love1