APA Writing Style American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5 th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.

Basic Formatting  Margins 1 inch on all sides.  Always double space  Left justify  Begin page numbering on title page and thru the end.

Basic Formatting Continued  Indent paragraphs 5-7 spaces. There are no spaces between paragraphs.  Font: Times New Roman or Currier. Not the default font style in Word!  Use only one space after each sentence, not two.

Title Page  Running Head: THE EFFECTS OF DOPAMINE ON WHITE RATS’ MEMORY  The Title Block: The Effects Of Dopamine On White Rats’ Memory Ike Duran California State University Bakersfield

Headers  Create Headers on the title page and every page.  The Header is flush right. It is the first 2 or 3 words of the title, then 5 spaces to the right is the page number.  In Word, go to View Header and Footer. Tab twice to get to the far right of your header. Type in the short title, then space 5 times then. Then hit close.

Sections of the Paper  First is the Title Page  Then is the Abstract  Then the Text or Introduction section  The Introduction starts with the title, centered and double spaced.

How to write an introduction  It does not need a label.  State specific problem  Describes the research strategy  When reading other articles, notice how they write their own introductions!

How to write an introduction II  In a couple of paragraphs, the introduction should answer these questions: Why is the problem important? How do the hypothesis and exp design relate to the problem? Theoretical implications and how does it relate to previous work in the area? What theoretical propositions are tested?

Introduction, Developing the Background  The lit. review usually starts after the first 2 or 3 paragraphs.  Discuss relevant literature only. Don’t discuss work that is only tangentially related to your work. A sudden digression or change of course: went off on a tangent during the courtroom argument.

Lit Review continued  Discuss research that presents the continuity between past work and your present work.  State the purpose and rationale for your method. “Why did I do it this way?”

Wrapping up the introduction  Questions I should answer What is my independent variable? Dependent variable? What results do I expect? Why do I expect these results?