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APA is the standard set forth by the American Psychological Association. Their mission is to create clear cohesive communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives. APA style manual is the chosen standard for writers, editors, students, and educators in social and behavioral sciences because of the authoritative and easy to use reference and citation system.
This Research Guide is intended to provide basic rules and tools for utilizing APA Style.
APA Style has three main parts:
Helpful Hint! APA Style format is just as important as citations.
Take a look at the LRC Writing Guide for more information and tools to assist you in presenting your research.
APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed., 2nd printing).
There are five distinct level headings for research papers.
Refer to Table 3.1. p. 62.
Publican manual of the American Psychological Association. (2016). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Typeface: Times New Roman
Font size: 12 point
Line Spacing: Double-space
Margins: 1 inch at the top, bottom, left, and right of the page
Line length and alignment: Do not adjust lines
Paragraphs and indentations: Every first line of a paragraph and first line in footnotes, if footnotes are included should be a five to seven space or 1/2 inch (tab). Remaining the lines should be uninformed to the left-hand margin.
- Exceptions to indentation rule:
If included:
**Note, not all professors require all of the pieces of a research paper that is listed here. Requirements set forth by your professor will always supersede instructions provided in these general guidelines.
One of the most common problems with citations is what should be cited and how to cite sources. A good rule of thumb is to always cite any idea that is not your own.
This guide will provide basic information and tools on APA citation rules.
Reference
The Editors will be used in the text with the date. For reference, the editors will be used in addition to adding Eds in parentheses after the name and before the year published.
Reference
Dobbs, A. W., & Sittler, R. L. (Eds.). (2016). Integrating LibGuides into Library Websites.
Lanham, WA: Rowman & Littlefield.
In-text citation
Reference
When citing sources that you find from a Point-of-Care Database (e.g. Dynamed, UptoDate) treat the record as if it was a website. You may need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time.
General Format
DynaMed Plus
A doi number is a digital object identifier (DOI) this provides a stable, long-lasting link for online articles. They are unique to the document and consist of a long alphanumeric code.
Example:
Author or Producer Last Name, First Name Initial, Director Last Name, First Name Initial. (Date of publication).Title of the video/ movie. Country of Origin: Studio or distributor.
Online video (ex. Youtube):
Author or Producer Last Name, First Name Initial. (Year, Month Date). Title of the video. Retrieved from URL.
Figures and images need to be cited to avoid plagiarism. This includes any images and figures that retrieved online (ex. websites, databases, image searches).
Citation guidelines for figures/ images in a research paper
Example:
Figure#. Caption (A brief explanation of the figure and how it connects to the paper. The caption information should allow the image to stand alone). Title of the work. (Date of last update{Year, Month Day}). Retrieved from URL.
Online Image
Example:
Artist's last name, artist's initials. (Year) Title of Work. Retrieved from URL.
The purpose of tables and figures in documents is to enhance your readers' understanding of the information in the document. However, before tables or figures are included in research one must address
This guide will provide basic APA standards on tables and figures in research.
Notes are placed below the table
If the table is from another source include that information below the table in notes.
Table 1
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Subhead Colum Head Column Head Column Head Row 1 100 275 16.6 Row 2 400 350 15.4 Row 3 800 900 51.3 Row 4 1399 1600 |
Font size must be between eight and fourteen point
Captions and legends appear below the figure.
According to SCU Policy 5.5.3 Academic Integrity Code The academic community, like all communities, functions best when all its members treat one another with honesty, fairness, respect, and trust. Southern California University of Health Sciences expects high standards of scholarship and integrity from all members of its community. To accomplish its mission of providing an optimal educational environment and developing leaders of society, the University promotes the assumption of personal responsibility and integrity and prohibits all forms of academic dishonesty.
The most common form of academic dishonesty is plagiarism.
According to SCU Policy 5.53.1, Plagiarism is defined as failing to acknowledge adequately the source of words or ideas which are not one’s own. When a student submits academic work that includes another’s words, ideas, or data, whether published or unpublished, the source of that information must be acknowledged with complete and accurate references and if verbatim statements are included, with quotation marks as well. Simply put, students should document quotes of others through quotation marks and footnotes or other citation methods. By submitting work as one’s own, a student certifies the originality of all material not otherwise acknowledged. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:
1. The quotation or other use of another person’s words, ideas, opinions, thoughts, or theories (even if paraphrased into one’s own words) without acknowledgment of the source;
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2. The quotation or other use of facts, statistics, or other data or materials that are not clearly common knowledge without acknowledgment of the source;
3. Copying or buying of all or any portion of another’s academic, research, or creative work — even with the author’s or creator’s knowledge and permission — and submitting it, in part or in its entirety, as one’s own. This includes material available through the Internet or other electronic sources and any material which has been copyrighted. Students are hereby advised that when such material has been copyrighted, its unauthorized use constitutes not only a breach of academic integrity, but a violation of the law and may incur civil or criminal penalties.
Copyright: Legal monopoly that protects published or unpublished original work (for the duration of its author's life plus 50 years) from unauthorized duplication without due credit and compensation. Copyright covers not only books but also advertisements, articles, graphic designs, labels, letters (including emails), lyrics, maps, musical compositions, product designs, etc. According to the major international intellectual-property protection treaties (Berne Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and WIPO Copyright Treaty), five rights are associated with copyright: the right to (1) Reproduce the work in any form, language, or medium. (2) Adopt derive more works from it. (3) Make and distribute its copies. (4) Perform it in public. (5) Display or exhibit it in public. To acquire valid copyright, a work must have originality and some modicum of creativity. However, what is protected under copyright is the 'expression' or 'embodiment' of an idea, and not the idea itself. A copyright is not equivalent of legal-prohibition of plagiarism (which is an unethical and unprofessional conduct, but not an offense), and does not apply to factual information.
Resource: copyright (©). BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved August 14, 2017, from BusinessDictionary.com website: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/copyright.html.
The Seabury Learning Resource Center's copyright page is intended to provide policies, procedures, and guidelines governing the reproduction of copyrighted materials and patrons' responsibility with regard to copyright. All patrons who use LRC materials and resources are expected to comply with applicable copyright laws. For assistance or questions, please email scuhslibrary@scuhs.edu.
This document was developed by representatives of the Association of American Universities, the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of American University Presses, and the Association of American Publishers. These organizations represent sectors which play central roles within higher education in the creation, use, and management of copyrighted works. The principal objective of this project was to bring together these groups, which have different perspectives and often conflicting views on the appropriate use of copyrighted works, to produce a document that conveys their common understanding regarding the basic meaning and practical significance of copyright for the higher education community.
Copyright 2005
Faculty: if there are articles you would like to distribute to your class or use as required reading, please fill out the handout to provide us with complete citations. Submit the form to Kathleen Smith at kathleensmith@scuhs.edu and allow 48 hours for a response.
The process of compiling research and writing a paper can cause anxiety, however, with adequate preparation and the right tools apprehension will diminish. This Research Guide is full of resources. From understanding what your professor is asking for, to polish up your final draft, this section includes instructions and tips on all stages of the writing process. Click on the side navigation to find written explanations and a few short videos.
*This guide is intended to help students organize and write quality research papers for classes taught in the natural sciences. Note, if you have specific questions about a writing assignment, you should seek advice from your professor before you begin. Requirements set forth by your professor will always supersede instructions provided in these general guidelines.
LRC offers one-on-one research assistance (by appointment)
Read your assignment carefully.
Ask for help from your instructor, classmates, or librarian.
Helpful link from UNC-Chapel Hill with the exercise below!
Further your thinking by ‘questioning the question’. This helps you focus by drawing out sub-questions about the question and topic.
Generate ideas through brainstorming. Come up with as many ideas as you can as quickly as you can. Don’t evaluate or discard anything – you can do that later – just jot them down. Use mindmaps, drawings, and lists; whatever comes to mind and stimulates your thinking. Look at what you’ve noted down. Pull out the points that are relevant to the question and discard the rest.
A good research plan (roughly ten pages) should include the following information: topic, background, objectives, methods, data, and execution. It should also demonstrate that the author is familiar with his/her topic and related research.
A common challenge when beginning to write a research paper is determining how to narrow down your topic. Even if your professor gives you a specific topic to study, it will almost never be so specific that you won’t have to narrow it down at least to some degree [besides, grading fifty papers that are all about the exact same thing is very boring!].
A topic is too broad to be manageable when you find that you have too many different, and oftentimes conflicting or only remotely related, ideas about how to investigate the research problem. Although you will want to start the writing process by considering a variety of different approaches to studying the research problem, you will need to narrow the focus of your investigation at some point early in the writing process. This way, you don't attempt to do too much in one paper.
NOTE: Apply one of the above strategies first to determine if that gives you a manageable research problem to investigate. You will know if the problem is manageable by reviewing the literature on this more specific problem and assessing whether prior research on the narrower topic is sufficient to move forward in your study [i.e., not too much, not too little]. Be careful, however, because combining multiple strategies risks creating the opposite problem--your problem becomes too narrowly defined and you can't locate enough research or data to support your study.
Research Design is a detailed outline of how an investigation will take place. A research design typically includes how data will be collected, what instruments will be employed, how the instruments will be used and the intended means for analyzed data collected.
With this in mind, the length and complexity of describing research designs in your paper can vary considerably, however, a well-developed design will achieve the following:
Empirical Studies
Literature Review
Theoretical Articles
Methodological Articles
Case Studies
Resources
research design. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved August 15, 2017, from BusinessDictionary.com website: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/research-design.html.
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Adapted from:
Mandalios, J. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources. Journal Of Information Science, 39, 470-478. doi:10.1177/0165551513478889
Meriam Library at California State University, Chico. (2010, September 17). Evaluating information-Applying the CRAAP test. Retrieved from http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf
After viewing the guide, attempt the Writing Activity below for further practice and then do the RADAR CHALLENGE, an exercise for analyzing an academic source in depth.
A brief summary of the research contents
Provides quick information about the topic including problem, methodology, participants (if any), findings, and conclusion.
Qualities of a good abstract:
An annotated bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.). An annotated bibliography includes a summary and/ or evaluation of each other sources. Depending on the assignment, your annotation may do one or more of the following:
Annotated bibliographies are useful when organizing sources for research projects.
| Abstract | Annotated Bibliography |
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Tips That Will Make Your Abstract a Success!
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Annotated Bibliography Samples
How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
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A thesis statement is the main idea, central message, or point of your paper/ research. A thesis statement focuses your idea in one or two sentences. It should present the topic of discussion, a brief comment about your position on the topic, and what the paper/ research is about. The thesis statement also provides a guide for your writing to keep your argument focused.
Typeface: Times New Roman
Font size: 12 point
Line Spacing: Double-space
Margins: 1 inch at the top, bottom, left, and right of the page
Line length and alignment: Do not adjust lines
Paragraphs and indentations: Every first line of a paragraph and first line in footnotes, if footnotes are included should be a five to seven space or 1/2 inch (tab). Remaining the lines should be uninformed to the left-hand margin.
Exceptions to indentation rule:
Revising a paper means to take another look at it. This is more than a simple proofread, this is an opportunity for you to look at your paper critically: reconsidering your arguments, reviewing your evidence, refining your purpose, reorganizing your presentation, fix any grammatical errors, and address any APA formatting issues.
Group projects are assigned to deepen your understanding of the course material, in addition to expanding personal and teamwork skills.
Project planning is the establishment of the research scope and defining the objective. For best results, the team should create a shared project plan, also known as a project management plan, that contains the scope, objective, and the task needed to accomplish the objective.
Since project plans are essential for the group to reference the look and content will vary.