Sample APA Style Paper

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Below is a sample paper (also available in PDF format) compliant with the 5th edition of APA's Publication Manual.
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   1

    Running head: SAMPLE APA STYLE PAPER













                     Publication Style of the

               American Psycholoical Association:

                      A Demonstration Paper

                          Your Name Here

                       Name of Institution

















            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   2

                             Abstract

    Do not indent the first line of the abstract! This is a

    summary of the paper which must not exceed 120 words. All

    numbers may be typed as digits.

































            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   3

                     Publication Style of the

               American Psychological Association:

                      A Demonstration Paper

         The text of the paper begins on a new page. This is

    the introduction, in which the background is laid for the

    study. It can be quite lengthy if a complex theory must be

    explicated in order to make sense of the study. The argument

    developed in this section must be of excellent quality since

    the remainder of the paper rests upon understanding the

    logic presented here.

    Sample Reference Formats

         Sometimes evidence from a published work will be

    discussed and the work will be cited within parentheses at

    the end of the sentence (Miller, 1956). Please note that

    when citing multiple-author works within parentheses an

    ampersand must be used (Alba & Hasher, 1983). If multiple-

    author publications are cited outside parentheses, the word

    "and" must be spelled out in full, as in Alba and Hasher

    (1983). For works with three, four, or five authors, all

    authors' names must be given in the first citation, as in

            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   4

    Smith, Adams, and Schorr (1978). In the second citation,

    only the first author's name is given, followed by "et al."

    (Smith et al., 1978).

    Direct Quotation Examples

         According to Miller (1956), "the measurements of memory

    span . . . are suggestive [regarding the amount of information

    that a person can remember], but not definitive" (pp. 91-92).

    The job of a teacher is "to provide appropriate experiential

    evidence and make the cultural tools and conventions of the

    science community available to students" (Driver, Asoko,

    Leach, Mortimer, & Scott, as cited in Hewson, Beeth, &

    Thorley, 1998, p. 202).

                              Method

    Participants

         Margins should all be one inch wide. All lines must be

    double-spaced. Indent the first line of all paragraphs

    except for the abstract, block quotes, titles and headings,

    subheadings, table titles, notes, and figure captions.

    Materials

         Use a 12-point font. A serif font (such as Times New

            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   5

    Roman) is preferred for text, but lettering on figures

    should be in a sans serif font (such as Arial). Mono-spaced

    fonts are also acceptable.

    Design

         The numbers zero through nine are spelled out (except

    when it is a table or figure number, or a metric measurement,

    etc.). The numbers 10 and above are written as numerals.

    Procedure

         Single-space after commas, colons, semicolons, sentence

    terminators (i.e., periods, question marks, and exclamation

    marks), and periods separating parts of a reference citation

    and initials in people's names. Exception: Do not space after

    internal periods in abbreviations (e.g., a.m., i.e., U.S.) or

    around colons in ratios.

                             Results

         If you include a table to summarize the results of your

    study, refer to it in the body of your text (see Table 1).

    When formatting a table, type the table number and then (on

    the next double-spaced line) type the table title flush left

    and italicized. Note that there are no periods used after

            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   6

    the table number or title.

         When using columns with decimal numbers in a table,

    make the decimal points line up. Note that APA-style tables

    do not contain any vertical lines.

         Figures must also be referred to within the body of the

    text (see Figure 1).





























            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   7

                            References

    Alba, J. W., & Hasher, L. (1983). Is memory schematic?

         Psychological Review, 93, 203-231.

    Hewson, P. W., Beeth, M. E., & Thorley, N. R. (1998).

         Teaching for conceptual change. In B. J. Fraser & K. G.

         Tobin (Eds.), International handbook of science

         education (pp. 199-218). London: Kluwer Academic

         Publishers.

    Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus

         two: Some limits on our capacity for processing

         information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.

    Smith, E. E., Adams, N., & Schorr, D. (1978). Fact retrieval and

         the paradox of interference. Cognitive Psychology, 10,

         438-464.













            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   8

                             Appendix

            Order of Elements in an APA Standard Paper

                   Title page, numbered page 1

                   Abstract, numbered page 2

                   Text (start new page, numbered page 3)

                   References (start new page)

                   Appendices (start each on a new page)

                   Author note (start new page)

                   Footnotes (start new page)

                   Tables (start each on a new page)

                   Figure captions (start new page)

                   Figures (start each on a new page)

















            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   9

    Table 1

    Mean Alpha Power Scores as a Function of Type of

    Processor and Passage

    ____________________________________________________

                                        Passage
                                ________________________

    Type of processor            Exposition      Poetry

    ____________________________________________________

    Reading alpha data

      Analytic                      0.93          1.76

      Holistic                      3.96          1.98

    Recall alpha data

      Analytic                      0.71          1.93

      Holistic                      2.64          0.82

    ____________________________________________________












            
 
 
 
                                               Sample Paper   10

                          Figure Caption

    Figure 1. Mean proportional recall as a function of

    passage and level of subordination.