APA Style etc.

Today Update on measures Update on articles/introduction Brief review of APA style Group meetings For Thursday: An introductory paragraph! (draft) I will post these slides

Articles Briefly describe your article Say how it might relate to your study Will it be a general reference article or a specific example article? Is it an article you’ll describe in detail in one or two paragraphs, or one that you would include in a summary with several others?

Measures? Progress Questions? –How many measures to use? –How long will your survey be? –What will you have time for? –How to measure “demographics?” –Will you measure race/ethnicity? And if so, how?

APA Style Formatting –Document –References –Citations Language –Bias –Jargon –grammar

APA Style Formatting Empirical Studies –Title Page –Abstract –Introduction –Method –Results –Conclusion –References –Tables/Figures

APA Style Formatting Everything In the Document is Double-spaced This includes References Table captions Figure captions And by the way also References

Title page Will include a title You can all have different title Title should be descriptive, not overly complicated Not more than 12 words, generally Your first name, initial and last name No degrees or titles (e.g. Dr.) Your institutional affiliation

Title Page Will also include “the running head” in all caps. The “running head” is the short version of the title that you will put at the top left of every page Author note –Your complete affiliation; any special circumstance; your name and contact info

Abstract A brief summary A concise, non-opinionated report Coherent and readable Describes –The problem, the participants, the method, the findings, the conclusions. –One or two brief sentences for each, at most 150 to 250 words, depending

Introduction? It presents the problem under study and identifies the research strategy (APA, 6 th ) It tells us why we should care It tells us about theory and related research, and how this study will build on or respond to related research It clearly states the general research question, and also the specific research question or hypotheses

Abstract This article examines depressive symptoms over a 4-year period in a racially diverse community sample of 1, to 22-year-old emerging adults using latent growth and mixture modeling and data collected at three time points. Participants were high school seniors randomly chosen from nine public schools in a metropolitan region in the Northeastern United States. Mixture analyses yielded four distinct groups: one large group with low, stable rates of depression, a smaller group who began with higher levels of depression that then declined steeply, a group who began with moderate levels that steeply increased, and a small group with high stable rates of depressive symptoms. We examined risks for depressive symptoms including poverty status, African American race, Hispanic ethnicity, gender, and trauma history, controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) as represented by maternal education. Some risks predicted membership in more than one symptom group, lending support to the idea that emerging adulthood is a period of diverse outcomes, in which previous circumstances may predict to multiple pathways, and established risk factors do not always lead to poor outcomes.

Introduction—Generic Outline 1. Summary Intro Paragraph 2. Background—starts with big picture or important picture, may be multiple paragraphs 3. What the research has found (MP) 4. Where the research is lacking, or what your central focus is—details (MP) 5. Summary exit paragraph—restates what has come so far, ends with specific research question or hypotheses

Introduction—Generic Outline Summary intro paragraph –Tells the reader where you are going, enough detail to give a direction so the reader can organize their thinking, but not too much detail. –May refer in brief to things you’ll expand on later –Like the preview to a TV show

Introduction--Language Straightforward Not wordy Simple sentences No sentence over 3 lines (my rule). Restrained

Introduction--Language Edit edit edit edit Less is more Don’t use the same noticeable words over and over again Use a thesaurus

Introduction-Language Use proper grammar –Pronouns should match singular/plural –.e.g. not “he…they” or “a person…they” Verb tenses –Can be difficult –Ask for help –Ask someone else to read your work Punctuation goes within “”

Introduction--Language Avoid present participles and gerunds where possible –E.g. “ing” as noun or verb forms –Ick: “the thinking about this issue has been…” –Preferred: “Accumulated thought about this issue…” Avoid i.e. and e.g. unless you are sure what they mean

Introduction-Citations Citations in the text –Multiple cites alpha by author –Multiple cites separated by “;” –“&” not “and” if in parentheses –“et al.” not “et. al.”