Major Paper Sections

Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.

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:

Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER

Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this:

TITLE OF YOUR PAPER

After consulting with publication specialists at the APA, OWL staff learned that the APA 6th edition sample papers have incorrect examples of Running heads on pages after the title page. This link will take to you the APA site where you can find a complete list of all the errors in the APA's 6th edition style guide.
Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.
Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (Ph.D.).
Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research.

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.

Assigment Instructions

After studying about the APA writing format and its general document guidelines, is time to show our learning and begin getting familiarized with this writing format. The assigment for this unit consists of deveolping wrting strategies and organizing them in a specific given format (APA).


1. Using the Internet, Google search for an interesting and useful topic, it should be able to fit an investigation process in order to write a research paper. Once you choose your topic, answer the 5 W's questions, What, When, Why, Where and Who?, this will help you organize the information.

2. Using Microsoft Word (program or software) make a brief essay, explaining the topic you have chose and support your selection providing at least one valid argument. (You do not need to follow the APA guidelines in this essay)

3. Following the Document Guidelines of the APA format, begin working on the first two parts of your research paper, the presentation page and abstract. You must follow the APA guidelines to write these two parts and over all provide a general overview of the topic of your paper and any key words that will help the reader understand the content.

General Document Guidelines

1. Margins: One inch on all sides (top, bottom, left, right)
2. Font Size and Type: 12-pt. Times New Roman font
3. Line Spacing: Double-space throughout the paper, including the title page, abstract, body of the document, references, appendixes, footnotes, tables, and figures.
4. Spacing after Punctuation: Space once after commas, colons, and semicolons within sentences. Insert two spaces after punctuation marks that end sentences.
5. Alignment: Flush left (creating uneven right margin)
6. Paragraph Indentation: 5-7 spaces
7. Pagination: The page number appears one inch from the right edge of the paper on the first line of every page.
8. Running Head: The running head is a short title that appears at the top of the pages of a paper or published article. The running head is typed flush left at the top of all pages. The running head should not exceed 50 characters, including punctuation and spacing. Using most word processors, the running head and page number can be inserted into a header, which then automatically appears on all pages.
9. Active voice: As a general rule, use the active voice rather than the passive voice. For example, use "We predicted that ..." rather than "It was predicted that ..."
10. Order of Pages: Title Page, Abstract, Body, References, Footnotes, Tables, Figures, Appendixes

APA Format

APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing.