English APA Format Essay

Research Paper (APA format)

Length: 8-10 typed pages

This research paper allows you to research and write about a topic of your choice. You may want to explore something related to your major, or you may choose to investigate something entirely different. I suggest that you begin by perusing The Electric Typewriter (https://tetw.org/Greats) and investigating a subject area that interests you. Find at least once article in the subject area and read it. If you decide to write your paper about this topic, you should read at least three other articles or sources about that also deal with it. At least two of these articles should derive from academic journals, as indicated on our Library's Ebsco research engine (these sources are "peer reviewed"—that is, reviewed by experts in the field before they are published).

Whenever you locate a source that you think you may use for your paper, you should first create an entry for it on your References page. Be sure to follow correct APA format (see Moodle for a sample research paper following APA style). You should take notes (or copy and paste) as your read through articles. You will first need to focus on a specific topic. Once you have completed your research, you should write short summaries (one or two paragraphs long) of each article you have read.

You will then write a draft of your paper with the following organization:

· Title Page

· Abstract (a one-paragraph summary of your paper)

· Introduction (one paragraph)

· Literature Review (a summary of the articles you have read without commentary)

· Discussion (your critical analysis of the articles)

· Conclusion (one paragraph that may include ideas about future studies that are needed)

· References Page

Once you have written a complete draft, you should re-write it. Pay attention to your diction (word choice) and grammar. Check your References page for correctness.

APA Formatting:

Each page should have a running head with the title of your paper and the page number. The title page includes the title, your name, and your institution of affiliation. After the title page, your second page consists of a one-paragraph abstract (summary) of your paper; I suggest your write one sentence for each paragraph of the body of your paper. You abstract is not indented. In your Literature Review section, typically each paragraph begins with the author's last name (followed by the date of publication in parentheses) and continues with a straight-forward summary of the source.