Running head: EXAMPLE APA PAPER 1. Example Paper Illustrating Some Conventions Employed. by the American Psychological Association Style

Transcription

1 Running head: EXAMPLE APA PAPER 1 Example Paper Illustrating Some Conventions Employed by the American Psychological Association Style Correct Version as of November 29, 2012 Sue Poppink Western Michigan University

2 EXAMPLE APA PAPER 2 Example Paper Illustrating Some Conventions Employed by the American Psychological Association Style This is a mock paper designed to show several conventions of the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Conventions such as level headings, the reference page and list, and within text citations are used in this paper. In addition, how to treat the titles of books, book chapters, journals and journal articles, when referred to within a document are illustrated, as are other conventions. The introduction goes here and does not require a level heading, because the level heading introduction is implied. Please note to double space the entire paper because you are creating a manuscript, rather than a published article. Infrequently, the APA style allows for single spacing such as in tables, and these deviations are explained in the APA manual; but generally, everything, that is, everything, is double spaced. APA Level Headings: Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading (1st) APA style provides five levels of level headings. Five levels of level headings are infrequently used, but may be necessary. Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading (2 nd ) Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (3 rd ) Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (4 th ) Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (5 th )

3 EXAMPLE APA PAPER 3 Within Text Citations This section provides examples and explanations illustrating how to paraphrase, quote directly from a reference, and cite books and journal articles within the text. Paraphrase To paraphrase, use only the authors last names followed by the year of the publication. For example: Palmer and Poppink (2012) indicated that students and faculty should enjoy their time at Western Michigan University (WMU) by living life to the fullest. Direct Quote To quote directly, a page number must be included. An example is: Palmer and Poppink (2012), referring to attending graduate school at Western Michigan University, state, Students can make the most of their time at Western Michigan University (p. 214). Please note there is a space after the abbreviation for page, which is indicated with a p. Another way to quote this is, Students can make the most of their time at Western Michigan University (Palmer & Poppink, 2012, p. 214). If a quote is less than 40 words, place it within quotation marks, as illustrated above. If a quote is more than 40 words, indent the entire quote on the left hand side with no quotation marks, as illustrated below. For example, pretend this paragraph is a direct quote from the American Psychological Association manual. Because it is more than 40 words long, the entire quote is indented on the left hand side with no quotation marks. The right hand side does not change at all. (American Psychological Association, 2010, pp )

4 EXAMPLE APA PAPER 4 Please note that the word pretend is italicized. APA style uses italics for emphasis. It does not use bolding or underlining for emphasis. Cite Books and Journal Articles within the Text This section illustrates not only how to cite books and journal articles within texts, but also how to refer to a book, a book chapter, a periodical, and an article, within the text of the document. Please note that books, chapters, articles, and periodicals are treated differently in the reference section than they are within the text. Within the document, books and periodicals are capitalized and italicized; while those documents inside them, that is chapters and articles, are capitalized and in quotation marks. In their book, The Joy of Graduate Studies at Western Michigan University, [book] Palmer and Poppink (2012) included a chapter specifically for students titled, The Students Guide to Earning a Graduate Degree at Western Michigan University [book chapter] which encouraged students to make the most of their experience at WMU. Poppink and Palmer (2013) published a condensed version of their book chapter on teaching as an article titled Joyful Teaching at Western Michigan University [article] in the periodical Michigan Collegiate Living [periodical]. In this article they continued to elaborate on living life to the fullest, particularly while teaching at WMU in the graduate college. Seriation and Numbering Two writing conventions that are often used in academic writing and fall under stylistic conventions are (a) seriation and (b) numbering. By seriation, I mean putting items in a list, as I have done in the prior sentence. There are several ways that APA uses seriation including (a) numbering paragraphs, (b) bulleting paragraphs, (c) using letters to order ideas in a sentence,

5 EXAMPLE APA PAPER 5 as I have done in this sentence. Please refer to page 63 of the APA manual for more specific instructions. As to numbering the most important thing to remember is that numbers below 10 are written out, while number 10 and above and expressed in numerals. This paper is six pages long, and has 18 paragraphs, for example. However, when the number 10 or greater begins a sentence, that number is written out. Ten people will read this paper today, for example. Please refer to page 111 in the APA manual for more instructions. Summary This paper illustrated some of the APA writing style conventions. I have a hard copy of this paper in my notebook for my classes at WMU, and use it help me examine students papers. It has most, but not all, of the conventions that are required in class papers. Please note that when referring to myself in this mock paper, I use the word I, and not the researcher or the author. APA does not use the third person when referring to oneself. I plan to continue to edit this paper in ways that will include even more conventions.

6 EXAMPLE APA PAPER 6 References Haybron, D. M. (2008). Philosophy and the science of subjective well-being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larson (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp ). New York, NY: Guilford Press. [Book chapter in book with editor] National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2002). Standards for advanced programs in educational leadership for principals, superintendent, curriculum directors, and supervisors. Retrieved from No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C (2002). [Statute] OR No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No U.S.C (2002). Palmer, L. B., & Poppink, S. (2012). The joy of graduate studies at Western Michigan University. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University Press. [Book, which is fabricated] Poppink, S., & Palmer, L. B. (2013). Joyful teaching at Western Michigan University. Michigan Collegiate Living, 12, doi: / [Journal article with a doi, which is fabricated] Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediated between perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), Retrieved from [Journal article with no doi number. Refer reader to the web site of the journal, not the article itself.] Thalner, D. (2005). The practice of continuous improvement in higher education (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (Accession or Order No ) [Dissertation]