APA guide line
General APA Guidelines for Writing Style & Format
Although your research report may eventually be published in a professionally formatted two or three column journal, everyone must start with a typed or word- processed manuscript. The publication manual of APA provides detailed information on the proper method of preparing a manuscript to be submitted for publication. The methods it presents are generally accepted and appropriate for most scientific writing.
Some Elements of Writing Style
A research report is not the same as creative writing. You are not trying to amuse, entertain, challenge, confuse or surprise your reader. Instead the goal is to provide a simple, straightforward description and explanation of your research study. The publication manual contains hundreds of guidelines and suggestions to help create a clear and precise manuscript, and we will not attempt to repeat all of them here. In addition you can access some of the manual’s information at www.apastyle.org. In the meantime, this discussion of four general elements will help you get a good start. Attached to this document is the mini version of the publication manual.
Impersonal Style
A research report is not a personal story and should be written in an objective and impersonal style. A simple rule is to minimize using first person pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “my” or “we”. Do not include phrases like “I think …..” “I believe….”, “this is important to me”. Instead of saying “I tested the children,” use the passive form, “the children were tested,” or let the participants become the subject of your sentence, “The children completed the questionnaire”. Although the latest editions of the publication manual does allow increased use of first person pronouns and active sentences (as opposed to passive), keep in mind that you are writing a research report not a personal journal.
Verb, Tense
When describing or discussing past events, when you present background material to introduce
Although your research report may eventually be published in a professionally formatted two or three column journal, everyone must start with a typed or word- processed manuscript. The publication manual of APA provides detailed information on the proper method of preparing a manuscript to be submitted for publication. The methods it presents are generally accepted and appropriate for most scientific writing.
Some Elements of Writing Style
A research report is not the same as creative writing. You are not trying to amuse, entertain, challenge, confuse or surprise your reader. Instead the goal is to provide a simple, straightforward description and explanation of your research study. The publication manual contains hundreds of guidelines and suggestions to help create a clear and precise manuscript, and we will not attempt to repeat all of them here. In addition you can access some of the manual’s information at www.apastyle.org. In the meantime, this discussion of four general elements will help you get a good start. Attached to this document is the mini version of the publication manual.
Impersonal Style
A research report is not a personal story and should be written in an objective and impersonal style. A simple rule is to minimize using first person pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “my” or “we”. Do not include phrases like “I think …..” “I believe….”, “this is important to me”. Instead of saying “I tested the children,” use the passive form, “the children were tested,” or let the participants become the subject of your sentence, “The children completed the questionnaire”. Although the latest editions of the publication manual does allow increased use of first person pronouns and active sentences (as opposed to passive), keep in mind that you are writing a research report not a personal journal.
Verb, Tense
When describing or discussing past events, when you present background material to introduce
Citations: I. State a fact or make a claim in the text; then cite your source in parentheses within the same sentence. For example: It has been demonstrated that immediate recall is extremely limited for 5-year-old children (Jones, 1998) Previous research has shown that response to an auditory stimulus is much faster than response to a visual stimulus (smith & Jones, 1999) Note that both the author(s) last name (s) and the date of publication appear outside the body of the sentence (i.e II. You may want to use the source as the subject of your sentence. In this case only the year of publication is noted in parentheses. For example: In a related study Jones (1998) found that….. In related study Smith and Jones (1999) found that …….. To report an empirical result, for example, you could use. Jones (1998) demonstrated……. To cite a theory or speculation you might use Jones (1998) argued………..