Writing a Research Report in APA Publication Style

By Dr Rojnath Pande

A Research Article

A concise description of Your logic Relevant previous research Your procedures and results Your interpretation of the findings

Everything needed to evaluate your thinking & your studyAPA format simplifies writing process

Major Sections of Research Article ManuscriptTitle page

Abstract

Introduction

Method Subjects Apparatus Procedures

Results

Discussion

References

Appendices (if needed)

Tables

Figure Captions

Figures

Major Sections of Senior Seminar Manuscript

Title pageAbstractIntroduction

The world as it is Supporting research

What is missing Supporting research

The “Fix” How it fixes the problem

Supporting research

Purpose Statement Summary & Conclusion

leading to project

Project Description Blueprint for action Who, what, where, when,

how, how much, etc. Tables & Figures if needed

ReferencesAppendices (if needed)TablesFigure CaptionsFigures

Title Page

Page header (1st 3-4 words of tile & pg. 1)

Running head: flush left top (below header; max 50 characters) All caps

Concise Title (upper & lower case)

Authors & affiliations (no titles!)

Activity Levels in Children 1

Running head: ACTIVITY LEVELS IN CHILDREN

Activity Levels in Children

Kris A. Grappendorf

California State University, Bakersfield

Page Header

Running Head

Title

AuthorAffiliation

AbstractCenter & type “Abstract”No indentation (left justified)A concise summary (max. of 960 characters; ~ 120 words) of research projectGoes on a separate page (page 2)Although the abstract is first, it is often written last, after the paper is finalizedabstract is usually published in data bases

Activity Levels in Children 2

Abstract

The abstract is the second page in your paper. It is flush left with no paragraph indent. It should not exceed 120 words.

Introduction

Title of Paper (do not write “Introduction”)

Outlines for reader the logic of your study & how your study relates to previous research

Usually ends w/ specific hypotheses tested in your research study

Well written IF the hypotheses seem to follow clearly from the material presented in the introduction

Referencing Work of Others

Throughout paper, you should reference ideas & work of others by author & date using APA format as shown below

Compton (1994) argued that the results were an artifact of a failure to control experimenter effects.

Some have argued the experimenter effects could have accounted for the results (Jackson, 1994).

Several researchers (Jackson, 1994; Perkins & Brown, 1992; Rossberg, 1989) disagree with this interpretation.

Method

Includes a detailed description of subjects, measures, & procedures

Previously published measures or procedures should be referenced

Enough detail should be included so that a knowledgeable researcher could replicate exactly the procedure

Results

Should include a summary of the finding, statistical tests, & summary statistics Descriptions of subjects Tests of the hypotheses Secondary analyses

May use tables & figures to help organize the presentation

Reporting Statistics

APA format for reporting statistics Reporting t-tests Group A was significantly slower than group B, t(38) =

3.21, p < .01.

Reporting ANOVAs There was a significant main effect for training, F(2, 63) =

4.01, p < .05.

Reporting chi-squares Boys were significantly more likely to drop out of the

program than girls, X2(1, N=50) = 7.96, p < .01.

Tables

Tables are numbered consecutively & are placed after the reference page

Title of table should be underlined

Tables should be referenced in text, but not duplicated; if you describe everything in a table in the text, the table is unnecessary

See next slide for an example table

Sample Table

Table 1

Average rate of program completion in each groupа broken down by sex

Traditional Enhanced Basic

Males 58% 67% 82%

Females 67% 70% 73%

а

N = 21 males and 22 females.

Figures

Figures are numbered consecutively (independently of tables)

Figures appear at the very end of the paper Camera-ready copies of figures should be

included when submitting a paper for publication

Figure captions for all figures appear on a separate page just before the figures

Sample Figure Caption

Figure CaptionFigure 1. Percent reporting improvement during the week.

Sample Figure

0

20

40

60

80

100

%

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Cognitive

Behavioral

Analytic

Discussion

You interpret the results of your study in this section for your readers Summarize the findings Relate the findings to your hypotheses Relate the findings to previous research and the

hypotheses of others Acknowledge weaknesses in your study

Discuss directions for further research

References

Every study mentioned in the paper must be included in the references

Ordered alphabetically by author and date

Examples of reference formatSagen, C. (1995). The demon-haunted world. New York:

Random House.

Gillham, J. E., Reivich, K. J., Jaycox, L. H., & Seligman, (1995). Prevention of depressive symptoms in

schoolchildren: Two-year follow-up. Psychological Science, 6, 343-351.

Writing Style

Want to achieve good technical writing Precise Concise Well organized

Writing manuals can be helpful Strunk & White’s (1979) Elements of Style Zinsser’s (1994) On Writing Well

Summary

Final step of any research project is communicating the results

APA Publication Style Provides an organizational structure to facilitate

communication Divides the report into sections Provides sufficient information for the reader to

understand and replicate the study