Research Paper Outline
1 inch margins on all sides, all pages
ALL text should be double spaced.
Indent paragraphs and block quotes ½
inch
Font should be 12-pt Times New
Roman
The words Running head are only found on the title page of the document.
The running head title is a short
version of the full title
The cover page is page 1
Title is concise in 12 words or less
Title, author info are about 8-9 spaces from the top of the page
Abstract heading is NOT bold;
centered at the top of page 2.No indent
The abstract is usually between 150-200 words. It should be an accurate, concise, objective and specific summary
about the whole paper.
The words Running head are removed
The title of the paper is repeated for the
introduction, it should be centered & uppercase – not
bold
Level 1 Headings are centered, bold and uppercase
each first letter
Indent ½ inch
One space after a period
Lead in citation or signal phrase
et al. is appropriate to use for a first citation only when there are five or
more authors. You may use et al. when you are citing three or more authors in second or subsequent
citations
Quotes must include a page (p.) or paragraph (para.)
number
Paraphrases must include a citation
(lead in or closing)
In any citation you must place a comma after every author and a
comma after the last author, before the year
Closing citation option
You do not need to cite the same author multiple times in text, UNLESS you introduce a new
author(s), in which case you would need to recite the original author if
you paraphrase or quote them
When citing two different authors
separate them with a semi colon (;)
Notice the quote citation and then a new author citation and then the writer recites the first
cited author
There are no quotations in a
block quote
The period comes before the citation
There is NO period after the citation
The entire quote is 1/5
inch from the margin on the left site only.
The right side is regular and not
justified
A block quote is used for quotes with 40 or more words and should be used sparingly.
The word References is at the top,
centered, not bold title case
The journal title is in italics and all major
words are capitalized
Volume number in italics
The title of the article has only the first word and proper nouns
capitalized
Page numbers of article
Always include the doi when the article is found within a library
database.
References are listed
alphabetically by the first authors
last name use the ampersand (&) for
multiple authors
The volume of the work should be in
italics
Journal articles that are found on the web (outside of the library databases) must include a retrieved from address and the words Retrieved from, do not include the date
NO hyperlinks
BOOK
Website
Web-based article
Use the date provided on the website – the last updated date or the date you
accessed the website
Book edition
Publisher location
Publisher
Title of the webpage when
no author is provided