APA Format Guide. Psychology Department. Mount Allison University. September 2015

Transcription

1 1 APA Format Guide Psychology Department Mount Allison University September 2015

2 2 Table of Contents Introduction...3 Section 1: General Requirements of APA Format...4 Setting up the Document...4 Writing Style...6 Citations...7 References...8 Other APA Requirements...12 Section 2: APA Format for Lab Reports...13 Lab Reports: The Title Page...13 Lab Reports: The Abstract...14 Lab Reports: The Introduction...15 Lab Reports: The Method Section...16 Lab Reports: The Results Section...20 Tables and Figures...21 Lab Reports: The Discussion Section...24 Lab Reports: The References Section...26 Lab Reports: Appendices...26 Section 3: Paraphrasing and Avoiding Plagiarism...27 Section 4: Resources...30 Section 5: Sample Lab Report...32 Section 6: APA Checklist...45

3 3 APA Format Guide Mount Allison s Psychology department follows the American Psychological Association (APA) format for most written assignments, including essays and lab reports. It is the standard format used in the field of psychology. Students taking psychology courses at MTA are expected to master APA format. This guide is adapted from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6 th Edition, which sets out all the criteria for APA format. This guide has been developed for students who are beginning to learn and apply APA format. Therefore, it gives the minimum information necessary for 2 nd year reports and papers (students in upper year courses, doing research in psychology, or majoring in psychology may wish to purchase the APA manual, which is available at the bookstore). When using this guide, it is important to note the following points: It helps to keep the guide nearby and refer to it often when writing, editing, and doing a final check of your work. Even writers who regularly use APA format double-check their papers before submitting them. Some professors may want other APA formatting that is not included in this guide. For example, third and fourth year assignments often involve more detailed APA requirements. Your professor or lab instructor will explain their preferences to you in class, lab, or in a written document (e.g., on an assignment, in the course syllabus, etc.). By providing you with an introductory APA guide, we have left out many of the finer points of APA style that you may encounter elsewhere. Follow this guide and your instructor s requirements. If you are uncertain, check with your instructor. In some instances, we have modified APA format to meet our needs. These modifications are rare and are noted in this guide. One primary example is on the title page, where we

4 4 have deleted the running head and author s note and have added the course name and date of submission. There is a list of APA and other writing resources provided in this guide. They are reliable resources that may be helpful to you. Be cautious with other resources; some resources that claim to follow APA are not very reliable. For example, many websites that claim to be able to format a references list in APA style are not very accurate. One final note: Once journal articles have been published, they have been converted into the journal s final publishing style and are no longer in APA style. This can cause confusion, so remember that APA format is a template that is followed before final publication. Follow the guide, not what you see in journals. SECTION 1: GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF APA FORMAT The following list outlines the general formatting requirements of all types of APA assignments, including essays, lab reports, research proposals, and so on. Setting up the Document Use one-inch (2.54 cm) margins on sides, top, and bottom. Include a title page, as described in Section 2 of this document (page 12). Number all pages in the top right corner, beginning with the title page as page 1. Use a 12 point SERIF style font (these are fonts that have curls on the letters, such as Times New Roman, Cambria, or Garamond). Use plain text formatting, or boldface or italics as outlined in the guide. Do not add extra design, colour, word art, underlining, and so on. Type and double-space the entire document including the title page (exception: tables, drawings and/or math can be spaced smaller to make them easier to read).

5 5 Left-justify, which means straight edges on left and jagged on the right, like this document. Indent each paragraph (except the Abstract see lab reports below). There are 5 levels of headings in APA format; however, most papers only use the first two or three: o o o Level 1: Centered horizontally, bolded, title case, text begins on the next line. Level 2: Left-justified, bolded, title case, text begins on the next line. Level 3: Indented (from left), bolded, sentence case with a period. Text begins on the same line. Example of levels of heading (note that any section can have Level 2 and 3 headings). Method Participants Text begins here. Materials Text begins here. Attitude towards campus curfew survey. Text begins here. Perceived safety on campus questionnaire. Text begins here. Procedure Text begins here. Results Text begins here. Discussion Text begins here.

6 6 Writing Style APA documents are written in scientific style, meaning that the writing is formal, factual, precise, and concise. The APA manual contains two chapters on writing style and mechanics. The main points are summarized here: Always paraphrase, cite, and reference your sources of information. o Paraphrase: put the material entirely into your own words (see Section 3 for more on how to paraphrase). o Cite: add notations in the body of the paper to acknowledge the source of the material you present, even when you have paraphrased (see below for instructions on how to cite). o Reference: a separate page at the end of the main document with a listing of the full information for each source you have cited, providing the detail needed to obtain the material (see below for instructions on how to format the list). Avoid direct quotes. Most instructors prefer that you do not use any direct quotes. Use full sentences and paragraphs, unless otherwise specified. Use transition sentences to continue the flow of ideas between paragraphs. Avoid the use of jargon, colloquial writing (informal; writing like you speak), and clichés. Avoid biased language, such as using men to represent both males and females. Use accepted terms for minority groups, those with disabilities, various age groups, and sexual orientation. Use active voice instead of passive voice.

7 7 Citations Citation refers to naming the author or authors whose work you used to help you answer a question, develop an essay, or write a lab report. Failure to cite someone when you have used his/her material is plagiarism, which is a serious academic offense. (There is information on how to avoid plagiarism in Section 3). Citations can be integrated into the body of a sentence or inserted into parentheses. The following list provides examples of how to cite in APA format: Always include the author(s) last name(s) and the year of publication. Citations can be in the body of the sentence: o E.g., Wilson (1998) proposed that attribution theory Or at the end of the sentence in parentheses: o E.g., and the consequences are apparent in all aspects of social functioning (Wilson, 1998). List all authors last names in the first citation of a source. If a source has two authors, always cite both names. If a source has three to five authors, cite all authors last names the first time. For subsequent citations, use the first author s last name followed by et al. o E.g., Past research (Evans, Smith, & Jones, 2000)...Indeed, Evans et al. (2000) found that... o E.g., Lilienfeld, Lynn, Woolf, Cramer, and Schmaltz (2011) stress that psychology is a science and later, Psychology uses the scientific method (Lilienfeld et al., 2011). Use the word and before the last author s name when the citation in in the body of the sentence. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author s name when the citation is in

8 8 parentheses. (See the preceding examples.) When a source has six or more authors, cite only the last name of the first author followed by et al. and the year for the first and all subsequent citations. Every paragraph that uses source material must have a citation, even if the same source was cited in the previous paragraph. Pronouns can be used when the same source is repeated within the same paragraph as long as it is clear that you are referring to the same work. For example: Smith and Jones (2006) stated that children learn many social behaviours through imitation. They explained that They also suggested that o If there is any possible confusion, use citations instead of pronouns. Avoid secondary source citations. If you absolutely must use a secondary source citation, you would put something like: Freud (1921; cited in Lilienfeld et al., 2011) claimed that Note that many instructors do not allow secondary source citations. Always check before you submit your paper. References The references provide the full information for every unique source that is cited in the paper. This allows the reader to find and obtain the original work if they wish. To format the references: List the sources in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author of each work. Use a hanging indent for each reference, in which the first line is flush with the left margin and the other lines are indented (as shown below). If there are multiple sources by the same author(s), present them from earliest year to most recent year.

9 9 o E.g., Smith, P. A., & Jones, M. M. (1988) comes before Smith, P. A., & Jones, M. M. (1998). If a source has seven or fewer authors: Include all the authors last names and initials in the reference, in the order that they appear on the source. If a source has eight or more authors, list the first six authors followed by an ellipse and then the last author. o E.g., Smith, H., Aaron, S., MacKenzie, T., Barns, M., Michaud, F., Leaman, P., & Carlton, N.) The other information to include varies according to the type of source being referenced. Common formats (some with examples) are shown below. You can find information on other types of sources in the APA Manual, the APA blog site, or other APA resources (see Section 4 for a resource list). Book/Textbook Author s Last Name, Initial., 2 nd Author s Last Name, Initial., & Last Author s Last Name, Initial. (year). Title of book in italics and sentence case. Location: Publisher. *Note: If the title of a source has punctuation that ends a sentence or clause such as a period, colon, question mark, or exclamation point, capitalize the first word after the punctuation as well. This can be seen in many of these reference examples. Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Namy, L. A., Woolf, N. J., Cramer, K. M., & Schmaltz, R. (2011). Psychology: From inquiry to understanding (Canadian Edition). Toronto: Pearson Publishing. Chapter in an Edited Book (book with different authors for each chapter) Author s Last Name, Initial., 2 nd Author s Last Name, Initial., & Last Author s Last Name, Initial. (year). Title of chapter or entry in sentence case. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C.

10 10 Editor (Eds.), Title of book in italics and sentence case (pp. xxx-xxx). Location: Publisher. Hartline, H. K. (1972). Visual receptors and retinal interaction. In D. Singh & C. T. Morgan (Eds.), Current status of physiological psychology: Readings (pp ). California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. E-Book Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in italics and sentence case [E-reader version, if applicable]. Retrieved from OR Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in italics and sentence case [E-reader version, if applicable]. doi:xxxxx Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook: A guide to healing, recovery, and growth [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi 1 : / E-Book, Chapter in Edited Book Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In B. B. Editor (Ed.), Title of book in italics and sentence case [E-reader version, if applicable] (pp. xxx xxx). Retrieved from Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In B. B. Editor (Ed.), Title of book in italics and sentence case [E-reader version, if applicable] (pp. xxx xxx). doi:xxxxx Journal Article (Published) Author s Last Name, Initial., 2 nd Author s Last Name, Initial., & Last Author s Last Name, Initial. (year). Title of article in sentence case. Title of Journal in Italics and Title Case, 1 A DOI or Digital Object Identifier is a unique code assigned to electronic documents. Many -but not all - publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document, or it will be listed in PsychINFO. If the DOI is available, list it as shown in the example.

11 11 Volume # in italics, page numbers. doi: # Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, doi: / * Note: The words Volume, Vol., or Pages do NOT appear in a journal reference, nor does the issue number. Journal Article (Advanced online edition) Author s Last Name, Initial., 2 nd Author s Last Name, Initial., & Last Author s Last Name, Initial. (year). Title of article in sentence case. Title of Journal in Italics and Title Case. Advance online publication. doi: # Website (preferred version - with author information) Name of the site author (year of article or year, month day retrieved). Name of webpage article in sentence case. Retrieved from: website URL Indiana University. (2008). Plagiarism: What it is and how to recognize and avoid it. Retrieved from: Website (use only when no author information is available) Name of webpage article (year of article or year, month day retrieved). Retrieved from: website URL APA Style. (2010, July 12). Retrieved from Government Reports Name of government department that published the report. (year). Report title in italics and sentence case (Publication number). Retrieved from Agency name website and URL info.

12 12 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools (NIH Publication No ). Retrieved from Other APA Requirements There are many other formatting requirements outlined in the APA manual that often are tailored to specific situations. This list provides a few common examples that you should follow: Writing numbers (does not apply to mathematical copy, statistical results, etc.): o Always spell out numbers that start a sentence. o Except for the beginning of a sentence, present numbers 10 and above as numerals (e.g., 65) and spell out numbers under 10 (e.g., seven). o E.g., The researchers administered three measures of depression to 67 participants. o There are many exceptions to this general rule; if you need clarification, check one of the APA resources in Section 4. Give the full text before using abbreviations. o E.g., The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes a style manual. The APA manual is used to Italicize mathematical and statistical symbols (see the Results section below for examples).

13 13 SECTION 2: APA FORMAT FOR LAB REPORTS You will write APA lab reports in most of your lab courses. Always follow the general APA formatting described above and also the specific requirements for lab reports that are detailed below. There is also a sample lab report at the end of this document, which models APA format and content and also a lab report checklist to double-check your work. Lab Reports: The Title Page (Modified from strict APA format) Write your own unique title (e.g., don t put Social Psychology Lab Report as your title). Write a descriptive title, meaning that you should give information about the topic, variables, the participants, and the method of study (e.g., The Effects of Text Messaging during Lectures on Course Grades among Undergraduate University Students). APA recommends a title length of about 12 words but we are more flexible on this. In general, give more than a few words but nothing that goes on for several lines. Capitalize important words (called title case ). Number the title page as page 1. Include the title of the paper, your name, the course name or number, the name of the institution, and the date of submission, each on a separate line. Type the title about one-third of the way down the page and center and double-space everything.

14 14 Sample title page: 1 The Effects of Text Messaging During Lectures on Course Grades Among Undergraduate University Students Jane Doe PSYC 1005 Mount Allison University September 5, 2015 Lab Reports: The Abstract The abstract is a summary of the study. It is generally about 120 words long (about ½ a page, double-spaced) and should be clear and concise. (Note: Although the APA manual does not specify an exact number of words, lab reports typically are written for simple, single study research designs and therefore have short abstracts.) Begin the abstract on a new page. Type the word Abstract at the top centre of the page (not bolded and without quotation marks). Do not indent the first line of the abstract. Include information on the following:

15 15 o The problem investigated or purpose of the study. o The participants (specifying important demographic characteristics such as age and sex, or genus and species for animal studies). o The essential parts of the method and design (variables, general procedure). o The basic findings or outcome of the study (including effect sizes and/or statistical significance levels). o The conclusions and the implications or applications. Lab Reports: The Introduction The introduction provides the reader with background information about the topic that was investigated and about previous research that has been performed. Format Start the introduction on a new page, after the abstract. Type the title of the paper in plain text (not bolded) at the top of the page and center it. Do not type the word Introduction. In general, write the introduction in past tense. Content A lab report introduction typically has three main components: A section describing the general topic of interest or problem that exists, including a review of past research; A section that describes how the general topic was studied in the present research; A section that defines and clarifies the terms of the study and clearly states the hypothesis that were tested. The figure that follows provides some ideas of what to include in the introduction. For

16 16 courses with labs, the lab instructor will provide more information on the content of the introduction. Lab Reports: The Method Section This section describes in detail how your study was done. It should contain enough detail so that others could replicate your study. Begin the method section after the end of the introduction (not on a new page) Type the word Method (bold and no quotation marks) centered on the next line right after the last sentence of the introduction. Write the method section in past tense. Method sections are broken down into subsections. The typical subsections are for participants, materials, and procedure; however, other options can be used, such as:

17 17 apparatus, survey design, data coding, and so on. Type the subsection headings, in bold, on the left hand side of the page (as shown below). What follows is a list of the kind of information that should be included in each of the most common subsections. If you want to include other subsections, check with your instructor. He or she might also provide you with this information when presenting the method for the lab report. Participants The purpose of this section is to describe the study sample. For humans, the preferred term is participants and for other animals, the preferred term is subjects. Lab instructors will often provide you with a list of information to include in this section. If not, include the following (if the information is available): o Eligibility and exclusion criteria; o Total number of participants; o Major demographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, education, etc.); o Other characteristics relevant to the study (e.g., number of left-handed and righthanded participants); o Recruitment and sampling procedures, including an explanation of whether incentives were given for participation (e.g., course credit, monetary compensation, gift draw, etc.); o For animals, provide the genus, species, strain number or other specific identification (e.g., name and location of supplier), as well as sex, age, weight, and physiological condition; o For experiments, the number of participants in each group of the experimental manipulation (e.g., Of the 130 participants, 43 were in the low caffeine group, 44

18 18 were in the high caffeine group, and 43 were in the control group. ). o Include the number participants who dropped out of the study as it was in progress, and reasons why when possible (e.g., One participant had a broken wrist and could not take part in the mirror tracing portion of study, or One male rat developed an illness on the third day of testing and was removed from further trials. ) o Include any other information provided by the instructor for this section. Materials There is a wide variety of materials that may be included in a study. This list provides a general idea of the most common. As for the participant section, your instructor will explain what should be included in this section for your lab report. In general, include things like questionnaires, booklets, tests, or equipment that were unique to the study. Do not include common materials such as chairs, desks, paper, pencils or pens for writing, etc., unless these items adhered to specific criteria (e.g., Each participant used a black pen for the note-taking condition and a blue pen for the underlining condition. ). Describe the materials, including how they were obtained or designed (e.g., reliability and validity of questionnaires, range of scores and what the scores signify, procedures established for observational methods, etc.). Describe any apparatus used, including publisher/company information. Describe any other relevant materials (e.g., if booklets were assembled, the order of the contents; if voice recordings of word lists, the type of voice, speed, etc.) When describing, include enough information so that someone could obtain or create

19 19 similar materials to replicate the study. Provide appropriate citations (e.g., test publishers, source articles from which Procedure questionnaires were taken, instrument company information, etc.). Summarize each step of the research including instructions to participants, randomization (how participants were assigned to groups), counterbalancing and other control features of the design. Include the steps that are necessary but leave out unimportant information (e.g., do not include that you said hello to the participants, that it was a rainy day, that it was a Wednesday at 1:30, etc.) Describe the type of design within-subject, between-subject, correlational, mixed? For experiments, describe how the various conditions were manipulated. Describe the instructions given to participants (if very detailed or if they must be repeated exactly as in the experiment, add the verbatim instructions in an appendix). Include information on the setting, duration, timespan, etc. Be as concise as possible and avoid repetition. Example: o This: First, the participants completed the demographic questionnaire. After they completed this questionnaire, the participants read the study passages. o Can be condensed to this: Participants first completed the demographic questionnaire and then they read the study passages. NOTE: In lab studies, we often require specific information to be in each subsection of the method. Use your lab notes to ensure you are putting things in the correct place.

20 20 Lab Reports: The Results Section This section summarizes the data collected and the analytic treatment of the data. Start after the end of the method section (not on a new page) and type the word Results in bold in the center of the line (no quotation marks). Write the section in past tense. Report sample sizes, means and standard deviations for each category. Include the test statistic value, degrees of freedom, probability (exact p value), effect size and direction of effect, and confidence intervals Report in sufficient detail to justify your conclusions. Mention all results, even those that run counter to expectation or those that are nonsignificant. Do not report individual scores or raw data. Give a clear statement about whether each hypothesis was supported (but do not give explanations of or conclusions from this). Present results in sentence format. o E.g., The effect for age was statistically significant, F(4,43) = 3.54, p =.042, η 2 =.21. On average, older participants (M = 29.45, SD = 2.14) performed better on the verbal task compared to younger participants (M = 22.45, SD = 1.87). Therefore, the hypothesis that older participants would outperform younger participants on this task was supported. Do not duplicate information; display descriptive information in a sentence, table, or a figure. Your instructor may give you the numerical results to present in your lab report. If so,

21 21 your task likely will be to format them correctly and to present a table or figure. Here is the format for commonly used statistics: F test: F(4,43) = 3.54, p =.004, η 2 =.092 t test: t(68) = 5.29, p =.033, d =.213 Correlation: r(58) =.87, p =.001 Chi-square test: X 2 (4, N = 90) = 3.51, p =.024 A note on p values: The APA manual is not clear on the standard for reporting these values, except to say that authors should be consistent in how they are reported, and that exact values should be reported. Follow the norm established by your instructor. Typically, they will ask for 2 places or 3 places past the decimal. Additional formatting for results: Report numbers consistently, usually to two or three decimal places. Report exact p-values and effect sizes. One exception is when a statistical software reports the p value as.000. In this case, report p <.001. If you have hand calculated the statistics, report the p value that was used to decide significance (e.g., p <.05) Italicize all statistical symbols. When a statistic can have a range of values greater than 1 or less than -1, place a zero in front of the decimal (e.g., M = 0.37). When a statistic has a restricted range of +1 to -1, do not place a zero in front of the decimal (e.g., p =.084, r =.75). Tables and Figures Tables and figures may be used to present the results. Choose the format that presents the results in the clearest way: Tables are good for reporting descriptive information such as means

22 22 and standard deviations, especially when there are several experimental conditions. Figures are good for displaying differences or interactions among conditions. Tables and figures have specific APA formatting guidelines, as shown in the examples below. Formatting Introduce the table in the text that precedes it, using numerals to identify each table as it appears in the paper (e.g., Table 1 shows participants mean test scores according to gender and drug level ). To create the table, first type the table label in plain text and then on the line below that, type the table title. Format the title in title case (all important words capitalized) and in italics. Use tabs to line up the table columns and horizontal lines to distinguish the top, bottom, and subsections of the table. Do not use vertical lines. Do not split a table across pages and do not leave large amounts of blank space before or after a table. Sample Table Table 1 Mean Age and Test Scores by Drug Level and Gender Gender Group Female Male Mean Age (SD) Placebo (3.19) Low dose (3.83) High dose (3.89)

23 23 Formatting Introduce the figure in the text that precedes it, using numerals to identify each figure as it appears in the paper (e.g., Figure 2 shows participants average recall scores for novel and retested items ). Use a 12 point Sans Serif font for the label, title, and content. Examples are Calibri, Tahoma, and Arial. Label both axes and provide a legend if applicable. Place the figure label in italics below the figure, then place a period after the figure label, followed by the figure description in plain text. Use full sentences with punctuation for the figure description. The range of values on the y-axis should match the total possible range of the variable that was tested (e.g., if a test was graded out of 100 points, the axis should range from 0 to 100). Use grayscale and patterns to distinguish among figure elements; do not use colour. Add error bars if required by your instructor. Eliminate any distracting formatting, which can include 3D effects, gridlines, double borders, and so on. Embed the figure in the paragraphs of text, as soon as possible after it is introduced OR place each figure on a separate page after the references section (different instructors have different preferences). Do not split a figure across pages and do not leave large amounts of blank space before or after a figure.

24 Average Recall Score 24 Sample Figure Retested Items Novel Items Figure 1. Average recall scores on the final test of the two study passages. Retested items included six items from each passage that was tested one week prior. Novel items included six items from each passage that had not been seen previously. Lab Reports: The Discussion Section This section is where you interpret the results and discuss the implications of the research. Format Begin immediately after the results section (not on a new page). Type the word Discussion (bold, no quotations) centered on the page. Describe the results in past tense and discuss conclusions in present tense. Content Begin with a short restatement of the purpose of the study. Discuss the result of each hypothesis test, beginning with a statement of whether the hypothesis was supported.

25 25 Discuss all results, even non-significant ones. Provide information on limitations and next steps. End with an overall summary and conclusion ( take home message). A special note on wording: Non-significant and insignificant have different meanings. Non-significant refers to whether the results occurred significantly above chance levels, while insignificant means that something is trivial or not important. The figure that follows provides some ideas of what to include in the discussion. For courses with labs, the lab instructor will provide more information on the content of the discussion section.

26 26 Lab Reports: The References Section The reference list appears at the end of the discussion. It provides the information necessary for the reader to locate and retrieve any source you have cited in your paper. Begin on a new page and type the word References centered at the top of the page (not bolded and without quotation marks). Follow the guidelines specified in Section 1 of this document. Lab Reports: Appendices Appropriate for materials that are relatively brief and that are easily presented in print format (e.g., copy of an unpublished questionnaire, word lists, detailed description of a complex piece of equipment, etc.) Each appendix begins on a new page and appears after the list of references and any attached figures. If there is only one appendix, label it Appendix. If there is more than one, use letters to identify each, in the other that they appear in the paper (e.g., Appendix A, Appendix B) To create an appendix, go to a new page and type the label at the top center, in bold (e.g., Appendix or Appendix A). On the line below the label, type the title of the appendix in bold lettering and in title case. Attach the appended materials starting on the line below the title. An example is shown in the sample lab report.

27 27 SECTION 3: PARAPRHASING AND AVOIDING PLAGIARISM In general, plagiarism is the use of another person s words, phrases, or ideas without proper acknowledgement. Mount Allison, like most other educational institutions, regards plagiarism as a form of academic dishonesty and the penalties for plagiarism can be severe. 2 In writing, plagiarism can occur when: You copy a direct quote from an author without citing the source of the quote and/or without indicating that it is a direct quote; You paraphrase another s work too closely, even if you cite the source (often called mosaic plagiarism); and You model your work too closely on the work of another person. Many students understand how to avoid the first type of plagiarism but struggle to avoid the second two types. A general strategy to avoid plagiarism is to: 1) Place the information completely in your own words, and 2) Always cite the source of your facts and information, and 3) List your sources in a reference list. Use Your Own Words (Paraphrase Properly) The phrase use your own words sounds simple but it is often very challenging for students, especially those in first and second year. Placing the material into your own words takes practice and effort. Here are some strategies you can use: Take notes in your own wording as you read the original work (better than highlighting the original). 2 See Mount Allison s Academic Calendar, section 10.6 Academic Integrity for more information:

28 28 o Be sure to mark down the information necessary to create the reference entry o If you must write something word for word, put it in direct quotes and put the page number. Remember to paraphrase it when you add it to your paper. As mentioned above, many instructors do not allow direct quotes on assignments or lab reports. Make sure you understand the material very well before you start to write your paper. The more you understand it, the less likely you will be to plagiarize. When it is time to write, use your notes to make a point form outline of what you want to say. Put all of the original sources away and write from memory, using your notes and outline as a guide. (If you cannot do this, you may not be ready to write and should consider re-reading the source materials.) Finally, compare your writing to the sources to make sure you adequately paraphrased and have kept the meaning of the material. Look also for important ideas or concepts that you may have missed and add those to your paper. There are several resources on how to recognize and prevent plagiarism listed in Section 4, below. An Example of Improper and Correct Paraphrasing Original Source * Where most students err in terms of unintentional plagiarism is not in failing to acknowledge ideas, but in paraphrasing incorrectly. Many novice researchers assume that if paraphrasing means putting a passage "in your own words," this can be accomplished by simply substituting synonyms for key terms. Stealing syntax, or sentence structure, is as significant an offence as stealing an idea because, as you know from your own writing experience, trying to phrase a point exactly is a difficult art. Proper paraphrasing depends on thorough

29 29 comprehension of material, not on a thesaurus. Trent University (2015). Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting. Retrieved from Improper Paraphrase (Mosaic Plagiarism) Where most students make the mistake of unintentional plagiarism is not by failing to cite, but in paraphrasing improperly. Many novice researchers assume that if paraphrasing means putting the material "in your own words," this can be done easily by substituting synonyms for key terms. Copying syntax, or sentence structure, is just as bad as stealing an idea because, as you know from your own writing experience, trying to phrase a point exactly is difficult. Proper paraphrasing requires thorough comprehension of material, not a thesaurus (Trent University, 2015). Notice how most of the words, the sentence structures, and the order of the sentences are the same as the original. This is not properly paraphrased, even though there is a citation. Proper Paraphrase Unintentional plagiarism often occurs because novice researchers do not understand how to paraphrase properly. They have been told to put the material into your own words but they may assume that it is acceptable to merely replace a few words with synonyms or to change the sentences around. However, this still a theft of ideas, as it requires no real effort. Paraphrasing is difficult and requires a solid understanding of the material to be done correctly (Trent University, 2015). Notice that the meaning of the original content is kept, but the word choice, sentence structure, and overall style is clearly different than the original. A citation is provided.

30 30 SECTION 4: RESOURCES APA Style (These resources present the FULL APA format requirements) APA Help: Basics of APA Tutorial: Using APA Format: Tricks for APA Format in Microsoft Word: Resources/WritingCenter/Instructional-Videos/ Planning to Write Very, Very Useful Assignment Calculator (helps plan a detailed timeline based on type of assignment and due date): Research Tips (a series of short how-to articles): Understanding Your Research Paper Assignment: Writing & Grammar Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Also: Exercises for practice: How to Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing: Resources for Writers (also has some APA material): Resources/WritingCenter/Resources-for-Writers/ Transitional Words and Phrases (great list!):

31 31 Commonly Misused Words: Basic Grammatical Terms That You May Have Forgotten Since High School: Passive versus Active Voice: and also: Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism What is Plagiarism: Note Taking and Avoiding Plagiarism: The Writer s Handbook: Avoiding Plagiarism: Plagiarism: How to Recognize and Avoid It:

32 SECTION 5: SAMPLE LAB REPORT Page # in header above margin (this would normally be page 1) 32 Descriptive title about 12 words long. Variables are clear, type of study is clear (effects of), and population is named. Effects of Retesting, Note-taking, and Highlighting on Recall in Undergraduate Students Monique LeBlanc Cognitive Processes Mount Allison University Name, course, university, date all centered and doublespaced under the title. August 1, 2014 NOTE: This is a sample report to help students visualize the final product. This document does not point out all the APA requirements, so always double-check the department s APA guide and the requirements for your specific assignment.

33 Not indented. One paragraph for entire abstract. Abstract Centered and not bolded. Starts on a new page. 33 The current study examined the effectiveness of various study strategies among 118 undergraduate participants (87 female, 31 male, mean age = years). Participants studied two text passages by highlighting one and taking notes on the other. They completed two tests; one immediately after studying and another one week later. The second test included repeated test items and new test items. The results indicated a strong testing effect with performance on repeated items significantly better than on new test items (p <.001). These results suggest that students should integrate repeated testing into their studying. Includes something from each section. Purpose, participants, design/tasks, main results, conclusion. Be concise this abstract has 93 words. Aim for about 120 words, but make sure you include all the main parts.

34 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins all sides Title, centered and not bolded Effects of Retesting, Note-taking, and Highlighting on Recall in Undergraduate Students Students are often faced with the challenging task of studying for several midterms or exams 34 at once, while also juggling class schedules, assignments, or work schedules. It is therefore important for students to maximize their study time and to employ strategies that will promote a high rate of recall. The purpose of the current study was to examine three such strategies: retesting, note-taking, and highlighting. Indent all paragraphs Roediger and Karpicke (2006) performed one of the first studies examining the effect of retesting on recall. They felt that taking tests was not seen by students or educators as a study strategy but only as a method of assessment and that tests could assume a formative role as well as an evaluative one. They explained that taking multiple tests on material to be learned could promote better recall, a phenomenon called the testing effect. Roediger and Karpicke (2006) suggested that the experience of attempting to answer test questions promoted practice in Define and explain new terms recalling information and this practice could lead to enhanced recall on a subsequent test. Roediger and Karpicke (2006) sought to recreate the testing effect found in previous Purpose & rationale experiments and to eliminate a possible exposure confound in previous research. They explained that in past experiments, participants were divided into two groups: one group studied the test materials and the other studied the materials and completed a pretest on the materials. The confound was that participants who studied and took a pretest were exposed to the test material twice before the final test; perhaps the testing effect was simply due to this added exposure. Roediger and Karpicke (2006) asked their participants to read and study two prose Basic method & design passages in one of two ways: by rereading (Study-Study condition) or by testing (Study-Test condition), thus controlling exposure. In a series of experiments, they also manipulated the length of study time, the number of repeated study sessions, and measured recall at various time

35 intervals. Their major finding and their explanation of why it happened. 35 Overall, Roediger and Karpicke (2006) found no differences on recall performance when participants were tested within five minutes of studying but they did find differences in recall after two days and after one week. On these tests, passages studied through retesting were recalled better, even if no feedback was given regarding performance on earlier tests. Therefore, Roediger and Karpicke (2006) found support for the testing effect and eliminated exposure as a possible confound, suggesting that practice in recalling information enhanced overall learning. They suggested that this occurs because it allows students to practice the skill of test-taking and information retrieval and that educators should incorporate repeated testing into their class schedules. Full citation first time in paper Einstein, Mullet, and Harrison (2012) were aware of the research on testing effect but suggested that students were not and tended to use rereading as their predominant strategy instead. Einstein et al. (2012) suggested that students might overestimate their ability to recall information simply due to their familiarity with the material from rereading. Furthermore, they suggested that students may not realize that the struggle to recall information is an effective way to improve memory. Therefore, they sought to replicate Roediger and Karpicke s (2006) study in an applied classroom setting to encourage students to use testing as a study strategy. Twenty-six male and female students enrolled in a Memory and Cognition course participated in Einstein et al. s (2012) study, which followed the procedures established by Roediger and Karpicke (2006). Students completed the experiment as part of a laboratory project for the course. At the end of the semester, the students also anonymously rated the laboratory project and whether they were more likely to use retesting as a study strategy as a result of the project. The overall results of Einstein et al. s (2012) study demonstrated the testing effect: Short form for rest of paper

36 36 students recalled more information for passages using the Study-Test strategy than for the Study- Study strategy. They also indicated that although students were initially unaware of the testing effect, they intended to use it more often in the future. Overall, Einstein et al. (2012) concluded that the testing effect methodology is applicable in classroom settings. Transition sentence linking studies and ideas While the testing effect has received much scrutiny over the past several years, students do commonly employ other methods of studying, such as taking notes from or highlighting information in their textbooks. As such, it is important to examine the effectiveness of some of these alternate strategies. Researchers examining study strategies often base their methods on depth-of-processing theory proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972). Craik and Lockhart s (1972) classic study was designed to address the limitations of memory theories that were popular at that time, which indicated that memory was simply the transfer of information to and from various memory stores in the brain. Craik and Lockhart (1972) proposed that the process of storing and retrieving involved more than the simple transfer of information and felt that memory operated more like a processor. They argued that information processed more deeply (i.e., semantic encoding) would benefit recall when compared to information processed more shallowly (i.e.: visual encoding). Depth of processing theory is now widely accepted in the field of memory; however, few studies have examined the testing effect from a depth of processing viewpoint. The present study was designed to examine both the testing effect and the difference between note-taking and highlighting on recall in a classroom setting. Following the general method outlined by Roediger and Karpicke (2006), participants studied by note-taking or highlighting. They were also pretested on half of the studied material to examine the testing effect. Final testing took place immediately after the study sessions and again after a one-week delay. Format check: If your margins, spacing, and font size are correct there will be 23 lines per page

37 37 Depth of processing theory suggests that deeper processing of information should produce better recall over shallow processing of information. The literature on the testing effect suggests that practice in retrieving and recalling information though testing should produce better recall over other study strategies, especially in the long term. Three hypotheses were developed to examine these possibilities: First, scores on a final recall test should be higher for material studied by taking notes than for material that was highlighted; second, scores on a final recall test should be higher for the items that were pretested, displaying a testing effect; and third, the difference between the scores on pretested items and non-pretested items should be larger after a one week delay than at immediate testing. Participants Subsection: left justify and bold Method After intro, bold & centered Numbers rule (spell out, digits, etc.) One hundred and eighteen students from a pool of 124 students enrolled in an undergraduate psychology class at a small Liberal Arts university participated as part of a class project. Participants mean age was years (SD = 1.04) and most (60.23%) were in their second year of studies. There were 31 males and 86 females and the majority of the participants were Caucasian (88.41%). Of the 118 participants, 60 were in the note-taking condition and 58 were in the highlighting condition. Incentives were not provided and participation was voluntary. Materials Citation for source of materials The two passages used by Einstein et al. (2012) were used in this study. These passages were originally taken from an English as a second language test and discuss one of two topics: sea otters and the sun. Each passage is approximately 350 words long. Einstein et al. (2012) had also developed 12 short answer questions for each passage; these questions and the corresponding answer keys were used in the present study. A copy of these materials is included Even with citation, materials are described and appended

38 in Appendix A. Materials described nothing about procedure here 38 A short demographic questionnaire asking about participants age, gender, year of study, and ethnicity was developed and included in a study and pretest booklet that contained the reading passages and instructions, a distraction task (a general hidden figures test), and the first short answer test that was comprised of six items from each 12-item test. There were four versions of this booklet so as to counterbalance the order of passages (sea otter or the sun) and study format (highlight or take notes). A follow-up testing booklet was designed for the final recall test. This booklet included six previously tested and six novel questions for each study passage. Two versions of this booklet were created to counterbalance the order of the topic of the tests. Sample booklets are included in Appendix B. Procedure Straightforward & concise Participants were told about the study and provided consent. Participation was in a group setting, with a within-subject repeated measures design. First, participants received the study and pretest booklet, with the various booklets assigned at random to each participant. Participants were given seven minutes to study the first passage according to the instructions for that passage and then did the same for the second passage. They then completed the demographics questionnaire and were given six minutes to complete the hidden figures test. Finally, participants answered the 12 pretest questions. Participants were not given feedback on the results of this pretest. One week later, participants returned to complete the final short answer test and were debriefed. Test Scoring Can use subsections in other parts of paper Results After method, bold & centered Participants free recall answers were scored as either correct or incorrect according to