Academic Writing and American Psychological Association Guidelines
Academic Writing and American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines
John Michael M. Rodrigo
University of Sto. Tomas
Ms. Wenda Fajardo
September 11, 2013
Academic Writing and American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines In writing an American Psychological Association (APA) essay, you will have to pay attention to all of these details. First, everything is double-spaced. Second, margins are 1-inch wide on all sides. Third, there are several headings used throughout to separate different parts of the paper; some of the headings are in bold. Fourth, there is exactly one space after each punctuation mark. Fifth, the upper left of each page has a running head in all capital letters, and the upper right has the page number. Sixth, your font should be 12 point and it should be a serif or sans serif font (such as Times New Roman or Arial). Times New Roman is a common serif font and Arial is a common non-serif font. Seventh, print it out on a standard, white 8.5 x 11 –inch paper.
Now that you’re done with those details, you should know that the first part of the paper is called the “Introduction” section, yet it does not have a heading that actually says “Introduction.” Instead, the title of the paper is typed at the top of the first page (be sure to center the title, but do not put it in bold). In this section you would often start with a topic paragraph that introduces the problem under study. The importance of the topic should be pretty clear from the first paragraph or two of the Introduction.
The last section of the Introduction states the purpose of the research. The purpose can usually be summarized in a few sentences. Hypotheses are also included here at the end of this section. State your hypotheses as predictions (e.g., “I predicted that...”), and try to avoid using passive tense (e.g., “It was predicted that...”). You will notice that hypotheses are written in past tense because you are describing a study you have finished.
Method
The
John Michael M. Rodrigo
University of Sto. Tomas
Ms. Wenda Fajardo
September 11, 2013
Academic Writing and American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines In writing an American Psychological Association (APA) essay, you will have to pay attention to all of these details. First, everything is double-spaced. Second, margins are 1-inch wide on all sides. Third, there are several headings used throughout to separate different parts of the paper; some of the headings are in bold. Fourth, there is exactly one space after each punctuation mark. Fifth, the upper left of each page has a running head in all capital letters, and the upper right has the page number. Sixth, your font should be 12 point and it should be a serif or sans serif font (such as Times New Roman or Arial). Times New Roman is a common serif font and Arial is a common non-serif font. Seventh, print it out on a standard, white 8.5 x 11 –inch paper.
Now that you’re done with those details, you should know that the first part of the paper is called the “Introduction” section, yet it does not have a heading that actually says “Introduction.” Instead, the title of the paper is typed at the top of the first page (be sure to center the title, but do not put it in bold). In this section you would often start with a topic paragraph that introduces the problem under study. The importance of the topic should be pretty clear from the first paragraph or two of the Introduction.
The last section of the Introduction states the purpose of the research. The purpose can usually be summarized in a few sentences. Hypotheses are also included here at the end of this section. State your hypotheses as predictions (e.g., “I predicted that...”), and try to avoid using passive tense (e.g., “It was predicted that...”). You will notice that hypotheses are written in past tense because you are describing a study you have finished.
Method
The
Citations: Rudman, R. (1999). Human resources management in New Zealand. (3rd ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: Addison Wesley Longman. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010. Concise Rules of APA Style, 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010.