Last Updated: December 27, 2018

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

APA

GUIDE TO WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS

How to Write a Research Paper

Monroe College Library

Revised Sixth Edition

Glossary

Citation is the proper format of your sources information that belong on your Reference page.

et al: In Latin means “and others” it is used especially in referring to academic books or articles that have more than one author.

Hanging Indent: All lines after the first line of each citation on your reference page are indented one-half inch from the left margin.

An in-text citation provides the information (quote/paraphrase) from a source in the body of your paper.

Paraphrase: Where you rewrite part or all of someone else’s idea/information in your own words.

Quote: if you copy word for word (verbatim), information from a source, you must put the information in “ ” (quotation marks).

A Reference(s) page is the last page of your paper where all the sources you have cited in your paper are listed.

A source is the book/article/etc. you have used to help create your paper. URL: Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator is the address of the web page. A Webpage is a single page that contains information on a topic.

A Website has a number of webpages connected by links.

A research paper requires time spent investigating and evaluating sources with the intent to offer interpretations of the texts and a unique perspective on the topic at hand. It is the final product of the following:

 Research

 Source evaluation

 Critical thinking

 Organization

 Composition

 Avoiding plagiarism

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RESEARCH Primary Sources are:

 Diaries and autobiographies

 Letters, historical documents, speeches and oral histories

 Eye-witness accounts from newspapers

 Raw data from questionnaires or interviews

 Observations or experiments Secondary Sources are:

 Criticism

 Biographies

 Historical Analysis

 Articles and case studies

SOURCE EVALUATION

 Is the source useful?

 Is it current?

 Is it from a well-respected source?

 Is the research up to date? Take notes:

 Summarize - briefly restate in your own words the main ideas of the passage or article

 Paraphrase - restate in your own word, in detail, the key ideas of the source

 Quoting - use the source’ unique words surrounded by quote marks, “ ”, and record the source and page

 Note down the information you will need for the MLA/APA citation.

 Assemble a working bibliography: start a list of your sources that includes the title, author, publication information and date for each source.

CRITICAL THINKING

 Evaluate and interpret the ideas explored in sources and convey ideas of your own.

 Synthesize sources: make sense of your sources by integrating information from two or more sources to show how the ideas are similar or different.

 Fine-tune your thesis or topic.

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ORGANIZATION Develop an Outline Sample Outline

I. Problems caused by smoking A. Lung Cancer

1. How to prevent? 2. Effects

B. Other smoking-related diseases 3. What are they? 4. Effects

C. Second-hand smoke

II. Why quitting is so hard A. Nicotine is addictive

1. Example B. Habit C. Quitting requires support

1. Example D. Quitting requires support

1. What that entails

III. Why smokers should quit A. Not worth dying B. What I learned

COMPOSITION  Drafting

 Revising, editing

 Proofreading Use Grammarly, or ask the Writing Center to review your paper.

AVOID PLAGIARISM

Presenting another person’s ideas or words as your own is plagiarism.

 Take notes that clearly identify which material is borrowed and where you got it from.

 Enclose all direct quotes with quotation marks.

 Review all paraphrases and summaries to make sure they are your own words Research Source Materials

 Books – In Print, Online, Encyclopedia and other reference material

 Magazines - In Print, Online, and from a database

 Newspapers - In Print, Online, and from a database

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 Academic/Scholarly Journals – In Print, Online, and from a database

 Other materials – Websites, government documents, personal interviews, DVDs Online source for reviewing APA Style:

 Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab): www.owl.english.purdue.edu

 Online source for APA tutorial: www.apastyle.org

 Online source for submitting your paper for review and proofreading: Smarthinking Essay Structure Thesis Statement A sentence or two in your paper that tells the reader what the paper is going to be about. A good thesis statement may be ONE or more of the following:

 A strong, thought-provoking, or controversial statement. Ex: Bilingual Education has not fulfilled its early promise.

 A call to action. Ex: Inner-city schools should set up bilingual programs.

 A question that will be answered in detail in the essay. Ex: What can bilingual education accomplish for a child? It can lead to academic and personal development.

 A preview or reflection of the structure of the essay. Ex: Bilingual education suffers from two main problems; a shortage of trained teachers and a lack of parental interest.

Introduction The introduction section serves as the opening to the paper. It draws and invites readers into the discussion. The purpose of the introduction is to:

 Get the reader’s attention

 Move the reader into your paper by showing what you are writing about before you state the thesis, which is the essay’s main idea.

 Limit your essay by moving from a general discussion of the subject to the specific thesis that your paper wants to prove.

 State your thesis before moving to the body paragraphs that provide evidence of it.

Body The body of the paper contains the bulk of your research. This is where you will quote, paraphrase, or summarize your original source material, being careful to cite any information you have taken from a source. Failure to cite your sources is plagiarism.

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Conclusion This is your opportunity to wrap up your essay and bring it home to the reader. Options for a good conclusion:

 Summarize the points you have made, but keep it short and use fresh wording.

 Show readers why this paper is important.

 Show readers how the points you made and the examples you used are not random, but fit together to prove a point.

 Give readers something to think about such as a way to use the information from the paper in the real world.

 End with a quotation, a question, a suggestion, or a humorous or insightful comment.

In-Text Citations: The Basics Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the APA Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay. Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found... APA citation basics When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or referring to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

 Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.

 If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.

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(Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media.)

 When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-Born Cyborgs.

 Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's Vertigo."

 Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The Wizard of Oz; Friends.

 Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds"; "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199). Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers? If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation. She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why. Long quotations Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. Jones's (1998) study found the following:

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Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199) Summary or paraphrase If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.) According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners. APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199). In-Text Citations: Author/Authors APA style has a series of important rules on using author names as part of the author-date system. There are additional rules for citing indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers. Citing an Author or Authors A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses. Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports. (Wegener & Petty, 1994) A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses. (Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993) In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses. (Kernis et al., 1993) In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses. Harris et al. (2001) argued. (Harris et al., 2001)

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Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001). Note: In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author. Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source. According to the American Psychological Association (2000),... If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000) Second citation: (MADD, 2000) Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon. (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983) Authors with the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names. (E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998) Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in- text citation. Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...

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Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterwords in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual. (Funk & Kolln, 1992) Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to- person communication, cite the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list. (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001). A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal communication, November 3, 2002). Citing Indirect Sources If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses. Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102). Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source. Electronic Sources If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style. Kenneth (2000) explained... Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date"). Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.). Sources without Page Numbers When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the abbreviation "para." followed by the paragraph number

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(Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like Web pages, people can use the Find function in their browser to locate any passages you cite. According to Smith (1997),... (Mind over Matter section, para. 6). Note: Never use the page numbers of Web pages you print out; different computers print Web pages with different pagination. Reference List Books by One Author Format: Author Last name, First Initial. (Year Published). Title (Ed or Vol. #).Publishing City, State: Publisher.

* Sometimes, books do not have an edition or volume number.* Example: Jones, A.P. (1988). Myths concerning planet earth. New Haven, CT: Yale University

Press. Tips:

 Capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper nouns. Include any additional information such as edition, or volume number.

 In the publication information, write out in full the names of associations, corporations and university presses. Include the words “Book” or “Press”” but do not include the terms “Publisher”, “Company” or “Inc”.

Books by Two Editors Harmon, P.& King, D. (Eds.). (1985). Expert systems: Artificial intelligence in business.

New York, NY: Wiley.

Books by More Than One Author Wolfinger, D., Knable., Richards, H.L. & Lilberger. (1990). The chronically

unemployed. New York, NY: Bermen Press.

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Tips:

 List up to seven authors by last name and initials using an & to connect the last two names.

 Eight or more authors: After the sixth author's name, use an ellipses in place of the author names. Then provide the final author name. There should be no more than seven names. Ex: Grainger, H., Potter, H., Weasley, R., Finnegan, S., Norman, L., Patil.,Lovegood, L.(2009)

Work Contained in an Anthology, Collection or Compilation Lorde, A. (1984). Age, race, and class. In P.S. Rothenberg (Ed.) Racism and sexism:

An integrated study. (pp. 352-360). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Articles in a Reference Book Edwards, P. (Ed.) (1987). Determinism. In The encyclopedia of philosophy. (Vol. 2, pp.

359-373). New York, NY: Macmillan.

Magazine Articles McCurdy, H.G. (1983, June). Brain mechanisms and intelligence. Psychology Today,

46, 61-63.

Newspaper Articles James, W.R. (1993, November 16). The uninsured and health care. Wall Street Journal,

pp. A1, A14.

Electronic Sources Tip: At a minimum, a web citation should have a title, a date (date of publication, update or retrieval) and an electronic address (URL). If possible, include author(s) of source. A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is to be added to the citation for online periodicals if available. When a DOI is present, you do not have to include the URL. Online Journals Article with a DOI OR URL Format:

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Author Last Name, First Initial. (Year of article). Title of article. Title of online journal, volume # (issue #) (Page #’s). doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx [OR] Retrieved from URL journal article Example: Herbst-Damm, K.L., & Kulik, J.A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the

survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229.

Newspaper or Magazine Format: Author Last name, First Initial. (Year, Month, Day of article). Title of the article. Title of

the newspaper or magazine, (pp.) Page #’s. Example: Jones, F. (2010, April 22). A mother’s loss, a daughter’s story. The New York Times,

pp.71-95.

Magazine Articles Online Without a DOI

Sillick, T.J., & Schutte, N.S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem. Applied

Psychology, 2 (2), 38-48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu

Magazine Articles from an Online Database Nowroozi, D. (1992). What you lose when you miss sleep. Nation’s Business, 80 (9),

73-77, Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.

Newspaper Article from an Online Database Perez-Pena, R. (2000, August 5). Year’s first case of West Nile is found as outbreak widens. The New

York Times, P. B1. Retrieved from LexisNexis Academic database.

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Website with an Author Format: Editor or author (if available). (Year, Month Day). Title of Webpage, Retrieved from website name: URL Example: Klippel, J.H., & Glunz, J.M. (1995). Kidney disease and lupus. Retrieved from

http://www.lupus.org/topics/kidney.html

Website with an Organization but No Author C.N.N. (1999, August 29). Turkey struggles to coordinate relief for epic-level disaster.

Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com

Website with No Author or Date. Hispanic men in the corporate world. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://www.psychek.com/psy/hispanics.com

You Tube Video Last Name, First Initial. OR Author screen name. (Year, Month Day {of video

post}). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL of specific video Example: Norton, R. (2006, November 16). How to train your dog to do tricks [Video file].

Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vja83JDYCS

Film/DVD Last Name, First Initial. (Producer), & Last Name, First Initial. (Director). (Year). Title of motion picture [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio Name. Example:

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Johnson, F. (Producer), & Davidson, J. (Director). (1999). B. C. Spinner: A fresh

appraisal [Motion picture]. United States: Davidson Studio.

Sample Paper courtesy of Purdue Owl https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090212013008_560.pdf Hints: Download an MLA or APA Template from Microsoft Word

1. Open Microsoft Office Word 2. Click File 3. Click New 4. Type MLA or APA in the “Search Office.com for Template” search box 5. Select the appropriate template 6. Click Download

OR

Retrieve the APA template directly from MyMonroe:

1. Log into MyMonroe 2. Click the Library Resources Gadget 3. Select Downloadable Resources 4. Click the APA template

Create Citations using Microsoft Word

1. Hit on the “References” tab at the top middle 2. Make sure the “Style” drop down menu under “References” is set correctly 3. Hit “Insert Citation” 4. From the drop-down menu click “Add New Source” 5. Choose the right kind of source 6. On the References page: choose “Insert Bibliography”

Create a Citation using the following internet sources: *Note: Please always refer to this guide to make sure your citations are correct.*

World Cat Citefast EasyBib (MLA only) Son of Citation Machine CiteKnight

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Review MLA and APA Styles using Purdue Owl

APA: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

MLA: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/