APA-American Psychological
Association
Research Paper
Brought to you by:
Georgina Armendariz
RG Writing Center
Cover Page: Header-(0.5” margin)
 Header: (appears on every page)
 Purpose: To identify the manuscript without the author’s name
 Note:
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Double-spaced throughout manuscript
12 inch sepia font
Page number
 Title page is page 1
 Flush Right
Running Head (yes, you write “Running Head”)
 An abbreviated version of the title
 Max 50 words (does not include “Running Head”)
 Avoid commas
 ALL CAPS
 Flush Left
Cover Page-(1” margins all around)
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Mid-Section (centered)
Title
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Review main idea of your paper
First letter of each main word is capitalized
10-12 words
Author’s Name
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That’s you!
School
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El Paso Community College
 Last Section (centered)
 Instructor
 Class
 Date
Abstract
 Center the word “Abstract”
 Don’t indent paragraph
 Use one paragraph (150-250 words)
 Review/ summarize your paper
 Write concisely
 State thesis statement
*Ask your instructor if an Abstract is required.
Thesis
 One sentence that says what your trying to prove,
your conviction
 Tips for creating your thesis
 What is the purpose of your paper?
 Be specific to your topic you are discussing
 Your thesis statement should be at the end of your first
paragraph (introduction).
 Ex:
 “The life of a typical college student is characterized by the time
spent studying, attending classes, and socializing.
 The paper should then explain how the students spend their time
studying, attending classes, and socializing.
Body
 Title
 Repeat the title (centered)
 Experiment Research paper sections : Introduction, Method,
Results, Discussion, References. All Headers in the paper.
 Essay style research paper: sections not identified by headers, but
rather by topic sentence. Headers can be used but not necessary.
 What format are we using in this class?
Body-Headers
 There are five ways to do proper APA headings:
 Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase
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Heading
Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase
Heading
Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading
ending with a period.
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase
paragraph heading ending with a period.
Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading
ending with a period.
In-Text Citations
 Author-date method of citation
 (author’s last name, date of publication)
 Two basic ways to cite:
 1) According to Smith (2009), humans have one less
chromosomes than animals.
 2) Chimpanzees are the closest ancestors that humans have to
another species (Smith, 2009).
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In-Text Citations
Two Authors
 Smith and Foster (2009)
 (Smith & Foster, 2009)
 Three Authors
 Smith, Foster, and Ross (2009)
 Smith et al. (2009)
 (Smith, Foster, & Ross, 2009)
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(Smith et al., 2009)
Et al. subsequent times
 Five Authors
 Smith, Foster, Ross, Butler, and Xavier (2009)
 Smith et al. (2009)
 (Smith, Foster, Ross, Butler, & Xavier, 2009)
 (Smith et al., 2009)
 Et al. subsequent times
 Six Authors or more
 Smith et al. (2009)
 (Smith et al., 2009)
 Et al. Initially and subsequent times
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Paraphrase vs. Quotation
 Quote: word for word/ verbatim
 “Chimpanzees carry the SIV virus that mutates into the HIV virus in
humans” (Smith et al., 2009).
 Paraphrase: Summarize author’s idea in your own words/
interpret the text
 According to Smith et al. (2009), he states that Kaprowski was guilty
of accidentally infecting the human population with AIDS.
 Documents show that chimpanzee kidneys were kept in
Kaprowski’s facility even though he refutes such claims (Smith et
al., 2009).
Should I favor one over the other?
Number Rules
 General Rule:
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Numbers 10 and above are expressed as numerals.
Nine or below are written as words
 Basic exceptions to the rule:
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1. Measurements are always numerals
2. Statistical functions are always numerals
3. Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, scores and point scales,
exact sums of money are numerals.
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However, approximations are represented by words
4. If a sentence starts with a number, it is always a word.
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Use % symbol when preceded by a number.
Use “percent” when you begin with a written number or when number
is undetermined.
References
 Purpose: To provide the complete reference for every citation
mentioned in the manuscript
 Centered heading
 Alphabetical order
 First line of each reference is flush left and the subsequent lines
are indented 1/2 inch.
 Basic Format:
 Author, A.A. (year). Title of article. Source, volume (ed.), page
numbers.
 Smith, J.R. (2009). Chimpanzees: Nature’s driving force. Scientific
American, 14(5), 73-91.