APA (6th edition) - El Paso Community College

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) 

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    

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). 

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 

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:  

Numbers 10 and above are expressed as numerals. Nine or below are written as words

 Basic exceptions to the rule:   

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.  

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.