Writing a Research Report in APA Publication Style By Dr Rojnath Pande

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Writing a Research Report in APA Publication
StyleBy Dr Rojnath Pande
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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 study
• APA format simplifies writing process

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Major Sections of Research Article Manuscript

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
• Subjects
• Apparatus
• Procedures
• Results

• Discussion
• References
• Appendices (if needed)
• Tables
• Figure Captions
• Figures

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Major Sections of Senior Seminar Manuscript

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• 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
• References
• Appendices (if needed)
• Tables
• Figure Captions
• Figures

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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!)

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Activity Levels in Children Kris A.
GrappendorfCalifornia State University,
Bakersfield
Page Header
Activity Levels in Children 1
Running head ACTIVITY LEVELS IN CHILDREN
Running Head
Title
Author Affiliation
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Abstract

• Center type Abstract
• No indentation (left justified)
• A concise summary (max. of 960 characters 120
  words) of research project
• Goes on a separate page (page 2)
• Although the abstract is first, it is often
  written last, after the paper is finalized
• abstract is usually published in data bases

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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Reporting Statistics

• APA format for reporting statistics
• Reporting t-tests
• Group A was significantly slower than group B,
  t(38) 3.21, p lt .01.
• Reporting ANOVAs
• There was a significant main effect for training,
  F(2, 63) 4.01, p lt .05.
• Reporting chi-squares
• Boys were significantly more likely to drop out
  of the program than girls, X2(1, N50) 7.96, p
  lt .01.

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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

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Sample Table
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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

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Sample Figure Caption

• Figure Caption
• Figure 1. Percent reporting improvement during
  the week.

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Sample Figure
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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

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References

• Every study mentioned in the paper must be
  included in the references
• Ordered alphabetically by author and date
• Examples of reference format
• Sagen, 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.

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Writing Style

• Want to achieve good technical writing
• Precise
• Concise
• Well organized
• Writing manuals can be helpful
• Strunk Whites (1979) Elements of Style
• Zinssers (1994) On Writing Well

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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