1. Benefits for You American Psychological Association format is widely accepted in the social sciences, and this format is accepted for all formal papers in this class

2. TITLE  Should consist of a few well chosen words indicating the subject of the report  Reflects the scope of the report accurately

3. ABSTRACT  Short paragraph of 150 words or less that summarizes your experiment, including pertinent information about your experimental subjects, materials, results, and conclusions  Scientists read to decide whether they are interested (or not) in looking at the rest of the paper

4. INTRODUCTION  Gives the background of the experiment  Should include an explanation of the general problem or area being investigated, explaining why this problem is of interest and outlining what information is already known about the problem  You must consult outside references or reread relevant parts of your text  Should also present the question you are trying to answer or the hypothesis you are testing  Mind that you never prove your hypothesis – you just support or refute it

5. MATERIALS AND METHODS  Should include a concise description of the materials, procedures, and equipment used so someone can repeat the experiment  Any equations you use in your calculations should be presented in this section

6. RESULTS  Present your findings in a logical, non- chronological order  Use graphs and tables  Tables are referred to as tables, all other items are referred to as figures (ex. graphs, pictures, drawings, maps)

7. DISCUSSION  Give your interpretation of the data and relate them to the questions you posed in the introduction

8. CONCLUSION  Presents all the important conclusions and the discoveries that the researcher wants the reader to know  Concludes the entire experiment and brings all the sections of the paper together

9. REFERENCES  Lists in alphabetical order by author all published information that was referred to anywhere in the text of the paper  Examples would include your class text, Internet resources, class notes, lab manual, and other resources

10. “I feel like I repeat myself a lot in this paper.”  Repetition is a major part of writing scientific papers because you will talk about the same activity or experiment in different sections of the paper  Repetition is necessary

11. “It’s overwhelming!”  Rushed work is very obvious to your instructor  Break the paper into sections and finish each section for a particular date on the calendar.  Pace Yourself

12. “Arghhh! They’re waiting until the last minute!”  Quality work rarely comes while walking to class out in the hallway  Pace yourself

13. “Arghhh! The students are not using resources!”  Don’t be afraid to ask for help or clarification.  Don’t be afraid to get your work checked over in advance at the ERC (room 4187)  Refer to the Web sites listed in your guide for further clarification

14. Your textbook will look like this on your References page: Campbell, N., & Reece, J. (2005). Biology. San Francisco: Pearson. And within your actual paper: Campbell and Reece (2005) found that “although…” or “…and the results are the same” (Campbell & Reece, 2005). When a source that has two authors is cited, both authors are included every time the source is cited.

15. Your lab will look like this on your References page: College Entrance Examination Board. (1997). Laboratory 12: Dissolved Oxygen and Aquatic Primary Productivity. Biology Laboratory Manual for Students (pp. 136-142). And within your actual paper: “…affected the results” (College Entrance Examination Board, 1997).

16. Your manual will look like this on your References page: Hach. (1972). Dissolved Oxygen Test Methods Manual. Ames, Iowa: Hach Company. And within your actual paper: “…affected the results” (Hach, 1972).

17. Your CD-ROM Guide will look like this on your References page: Biology. (1999). Interactive Study Partner, Biology. [CD ROM]. San Francisco: Benjamin /Cummings. And within your actual paper: “…affected the results” (Biology, 1999).

18. Thanks for feigning interest. Come to the ERC for extra help. Room 4187.