apa paper writing

apa paper writing

Effective Strategies for Writing APA Style Papers

1. Introduction to APA Style

The resources in this section provide advice on research questions, planning, and writing in the social sciences; using sources; writing about statistics; and the documentation of your research paper. This resource discusses the principles and rules of writing as well as the basics of APA formatting. Writing research papers in APA style is a common assignment in the social sciences. APA stands for American Psychological Association. APA formatting and writing style is used in the disciplines of Psychology, Education, Nursing, and a few other disciplines. The members of the American Psychological Association developed APA format to establish a consistent publication style for articles and papers in the field of Psychology. APA style is used in the social sciences because of its emphasis on clarity. APA formatting, however, can be used in any discipline. APA format is equally important for writers of research papers in the Sciences, Business, Nursing, Computer Science, Criminology, etc. APA style also addresses general editorial and publishing guidelines.

To produce successful academic writing, college students at every level need a toolbox of effective writing strategies. One writing style that you are likely to encounter when you browse through almost any academic journal or scholarly magazine is APA. APA style is created by the American Psychological Association. It is used for a variety of types of writing such as academic assignments, publications, literature reviews, and research proposals. The APA Style represents specific writing strategies. Some key rules for effective writing using APA include the following: – Use simple, familiar words. – Use words economically. Delete unnecessary words and avoid empty phrases. – Create sentences that are clear and easy for readers to follow. – Use the active voice if possible. – Provide one main idea to each sentence. – Use parallel structure. – Use transitional words to show how a sentence is related to those around it.

2. Key Components of an APA Paper

References: The main body of text and reference list is double-spaced, and each listing must be double-spaced.

Discussion: The purpose of this section is to discuss the implication of your results. You also are comparing your findings to previously published work in similar academic journals.

Results: The results section describes what you found in your research. This section will include statistics, tables, and figures as well as report the results in an entirely narrative form.

Method: The method section describes how you carried out your research. This includes information about participants or subjects, instruments, materials, procedures, and any design used in the study.

Introduction: The introduction provides a detailed description of your research and why you are conducting the study. In an introduction, start with broad information to help provide readers with a context, and then explicitly identify the part of the research problem that your research is addressing.

Abstract: This is the section where you succinctly describe what your paper is about. An abstract should stand on its own and not include citations of your research.

Title Page: The title page includes your paper title, the author(s), page number (top right-hand corner of every page), your institutional affiliation (university name), author note, and if your paper is a student paper or professional manuscript.

When writing an APA paper, the general components of your paper will include a title page, an abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, and references. For student papers, you may choose to include additional sections to clarify specific details about your paper, such as method or discussions. Following is additional information on what should be included in each section of an APA paper.

3. Tips for Formatting and Citations

Citations. Each time ideas or words from outside sources are included, APA guidelines must be applied. An author’s last name, chapter, or a key word from the title must appear in either the narrative or parenthetical citation along with the publication date. Follow the publication date with the page number in the parenthetical citation. Underline the date if the title requires more than the first date in a less-than-eighty-year sequence. Use “and” only outside of parenthesis when citing sources with several authors. Inside of the parenthetical citation, an ampersand should replace “and” between the last two authors. The page number always follows a semi-colon.

Line Spacing. Text must be double-spaced. Do not add an extra space before or after paragraphs. This allows the reader to flow from thought to thought without interruption.

Font. A serif or non-serif typeface must be used. Standardized font universally accepted within APA is Times New Roman. Font size should be 12. Other than table text and figure text, font size is to be the same throughout the entirety of the paper.

Headings. Centered, boldface, uppercase, and lowercase headings, align the heading to the left. Begin the introduction, centered and bold, at the top of the page. Align boldface keywords on the same line as the Introduction. Left justified, capitalize major words in the level 4 headings that follow. Indent the paragraph under the heading as the text follows.

Formatting. When writing in APA style, your paper should be typed and double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5″ x 11″). The author’s note should appear on the title page, which is the first page, so your second page would just be the Abstract. Margins should be 1″ on all four sides of the page. While word count is not required, many instructors require that it be included.

4. Common Errors to Avoid

Using different language in your essay than that of the assigned article(s) also causes problems. The key terms and ideas should be taken from the article and do not need to be referenced. Clichés are also not recommended (in addition to the general advice that clichés detract from your style). A number of papers also neglect to take into account the requirements of a paper explicitly stated in the essay requirements. APA style papers also require that headings be leveled according to their headings (first, second, third, and fourth), which are explicit in the APA manual. This ensures that the final manuscript is professional and well-structured.

APA style papers should follow a specific format for headlines, sections, tables, and so forth. These are outlined in the APA guidelines published by the American Psychological Association. The frequent standard errors include the absence of page numbers, running title, tables without heading (Table 1, etc.), figures and tables in the wrong order, and the headline is not capitalized. Other problems include incorrect citation order and the use of “et al.” in the first mention of three or more authors’ list of authors. Problems are also common with sentence structure and tenses. Additionally, failing to adhere to the APA guidelines with respect to the correct formatting of these basic features suggests a lack of attention to detail in the presentation of the work. Indeed, when papers are resubmitted having been revised under this general comment, note is often made of the reappearance of these errors.

5. Conclusion and Final Tips

The APA style has been created to help learners to write clearly and correctly as well. In applying the appropriate ways of completing a list in APA style, we recommend turning off the hyphenation feature while typing a list and adding a page break to make lists stand alone on the page. Also, writing papers is recommended in a serious and scholarly tone without using the first or second person and avoiding jargon, infinitives, abbreviations, and vague quantifiers. Finally, it is important to avoid reading others’ work and to use the most recent version of the APA style.

As earlier discussed, correct APA style is very important in the field of science and writing. Before turning in a paper, it is crucial to reread it and take time to revise it thoroughly. As previously recommended, it is often useful for students to meet with a teacher or tutor to discuss their papers, as they might be able to recognize our mistakes that we often miss. In addition, after you have finished your paper and submitted it, you should continue practicing your APA-style writing as often as possible. The more you practice writing papers in this style, the better you will become at creating coherent, defined, and empirically supported results that are easier to understand.

Effective APA style papers involve many important aspects that range from what the paper should look like to how it should be written. In this paper, you learned about four major sections related to this work: the first is the creation of effective papers, followed by helpful tips for correct passages, a discussion on typical writing mistakes, and finally a section on helpful comments.