Writing in APA Style
Your instructor may require you to write the research paper
in APA style, which is governed by the Publication Manual
of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition, 2001.
This style has gained wide acceptance in the social sciences,
and versions similar to it are used in the biological sciences,
business, and earth sciences. Research is paramount in the
sciences; in fact, the APA style guide says, “No amount of
skill in writing can disguise research that is poorly designed
or managed.” Thus, you will need to execute your project
with precision.
Writing in APA Style
•
In the sciences you may choose between
three types of articles, or your instructor
will specify one of these:
1. Theoretical articles
2. Reports of empirical studies
3. Review articles
Theoretical Article
• The Theoretical article draws upon existing
research to examine a topic. This type of paper
is the one you will most likely write as an
underclassman. You will trace the development
of a theory or compare theories. Your
theoretical analysis will examine the literature
to arrive at the current thinking about topics,
such as autism, criminal behavior, dysfunctional
families, learning disorders, and so forth. It
generally accomplishes four things:
Theoretical Article (2)
• 1. Identifies a problem or hypothesis that has
historical implications in the scientific community.
• 2. Traces the development and history of the
evolution of the theory.
• 3. Provides a systematic analysis of the articles
that have explored the problem.
• 4. Arrives at a judgment and discussion of the
prevailing
Report of an Empirical Study
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
When you conduct field research and perform
laboratory testing, you will need to report the details of
your original research. The report accomplishes these
four things:
Introduces the problem or hypothesis under
investigation and explains the purpose of work.
Describes the method used to conduct the research.
Reports the results and the basic findings.
Discusses, interprets and explores the implications of
the findings.
You will need to work closely with your instructor to
accomplish each of these stages.
Review Article
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
You may be required to write a critical evaluation of a
published article or book, or a set of articles on a
common topic. Its purpose is to examine the state of
current research and to determine if additional work
might be in order. It does several things:
Defines the problem to clarify the hypothesis.
Summarises the article or book under review.
Analyses the literature to discover strengths and possible
weaknesses or inconsistencies in the research.
Recommends additional research that might grow
logically from the work under review.
FURTHER DISCUSSION
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Further discussion on Writing in APA Style will include:
Writing in the Proper Tense
Using In-text Citations
Preparing a Student Paper or Thesis
Preparing the References List
Variations on the APA Style for Other Disciplines in the
Social Sciences
Formatting an APA Paper
Writing the Abstract
For detailed discussion of the above issues, please refer
to your books WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS (pp.
302 – 325) and PRINCIPLES OF WRITING
RESEARCH PAPERS (pp. 202 – 231)