Psy
330 Reporting Research
McBride Chapter
8
I. Structure of an APA-style paper
Title
page
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
Tables
Figures
Appendices
II. Title Page
The first page of
your article will be the title page.
It will include the title of the article, the authors’ names,
and the authors’ affiliations centered on the page.
Your title should
be concise and informative.
The
title page
will also contain a
running head that is a shortened version of the title.
Finally, the page
number appears in the header, right margin justified, of every
page in the article.
III. Abstract
Short summary of
study
About
120-150
words
Contains
a sentence or two
for each of the four major sections of your article:
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
IV. Introduction
Introduce the general topic/research question.
Review background studies in terms of relevance to
research question and
hypothesis
development.
Briefly describe current study.
State hypotheses and justification for hypotheses.
Overall, argue that current study is important and will
add new knowledge to the
field.
V. Method
Participants,
Design, Materials, Procedure
Can combine
sections
Participants--Number, Important
demographics, Where obtained, Compensation
Design--Type
of research design,
Variables
(dependent, independent),
¡How variables were
measured/manipulated
Materials/Apparatus--Description of
stimuli or scales used in the study, Where stimuli/scales
obtained or how developed, Description of any apparatus used in
the study
Procedure--Chronological
description of what the participants/subjects experienced in the
study, Description of instructions given to participants
(paraphrased, not word-for-word), Order of tasks
VI. Results
Dependent measure
analyzed
Statistical tests
used
Alpha level used
for tests
Descriptive
statistics/Figures/Tables
Statistical values
from tests
p
values from tests
Statements about
significant effects or relationships
VII.
Discussion
Review hypotheses and indicate if they were supported by
the results
Compare current results with those from past studies
Provide explanations of unexpected results
Suggest future directions for research
Summarize what was learned in the current study
VIII. References
The reference
section provides a complete listing of all the sources cited in
the article.
The references are
listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first
author. All subsequent authors are listed in the reference in
the order in which they appear in the publication. You should
also provide the publication year, title of the source, where
the source was published, and additional information about the
publication source.
References
Smith,
L. J., & James, T. R. (2009). The effect of smiling on mood.
Journal of Social Psychology, 25(1),
345-358.
doi:15.8567/839563925748