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Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER 1

Title of Your Paper

Your Name

University of Maryland University College

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Abstract

(Not required in any course paper – for informational purposes only)

An abstract is a synopsis of the contents of your paper. It will begin with your thesis or a one-

sentence statement of the findings. It is not a substitute for an introduction to your paper. An

abstract is a summary of the main points and argument of the paper, and should generally be 150

– 200 words and should be written as one paragraph. An abstract or executive summary should

be able to stand on its own as a separate document. Most students write the paper before the

abstract as every point in the abstract must be in the paper. There are no citations in an abstract.

For more information, you can consult this resource:

APA Style Blog

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Title of Your Paper (centered, not bold)

Most papers will begin with an introduction. In APA style, it is assumed that the first part of

the paper is the introduction, therefore there is no need to title this section as such. The

introduction should present the problem or issue that will be addressed in the paper. It should

state why the topic is important, why there is a need to write about it, and how you have found

and analyzed information to come to some reasoned conclusions. The introduction will serve as

an advance organizer for the reader. It should be concise and focused. If it wanders or says

nothing of merit, consider re-thinking what you are trying to say. Many times, if the meaning of

the writing is unclear, you are not yet clear about your ideas.

Subheadings

Subheadings allow your reader to follow the direction of your paper, and they will help you

organize your material. Think of subheadings as the levels of an outline that you might create

before you start writing your paper. The first level subheadings are equivalent to the Roman

numeral level of an outline, and should be bold and centered in title case. The subsequent levels

will be progressively different. The letter (A,B,C) level of your outline will be the second-level

subheading and will be left-aligned, bold, and in upper and lower case. The Arabic number level

of your outline will be the third-level subheading and will be indented, in lower case text and

will end with a period. The body text will begin just after the period. That is about the extent of

the headings you will use in most classes, but you can consult this APA helpful blog for more

details.

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Spacing (This is a

first level heading.)

Your entire paper will be double-spaced, with the first line of each paragraph spaced or

tabbed. APA calls for writers to use Times New Roman because it is a clear type font and the

12-point size is eminently readable. When you set up your paper from the cover sheet, you will

set your margins at 1 inch all around. Use left alignment except in the case of your cover sheet

and headings. Do not use right justify for your paper.

Citing Your Sources

In-text citations are used to give credit to other authors for their ideas. You will also always

cite specific facts that are not your own and any quoted material in the body of the text. An in-

text citation should be in parenthesis and include the last name of the author followed by a

comma and date of publication (Name, Year). When there are two authors, an ampersand (&) is

used. When there are more than two authors, the rules get more specific, so please refer to the

APA examples guidance from the UMUC library.

Direct Quotes (This is a second level heading.)

Direct quotes must also have a page number or para associated with the citation. They are

formatted like this (p. x). Depending upon the placement of the in-text reference, the page

number can be placed in the same parenthesis as the author and year, or in a separate parenthesis.

Short direct quotes should appear in the body of the narrative with quotation marks.

Block Quotations

Longer quotes (more than 40 words) should be typed in an indented block without quotation

marks. Here is more specific guidance to format block quotations. Avoid over-dependence on

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others’ ideas. Your paper should not be a series of quoted ideas from other authors. Even if

cited properly, this will not be your original work, and that is what is required in graduate school.

It would be helpful to review the keys to effective paraphrasing to avoid unintentional

plagiarism. You will be served by taking advantage of UMUC’s academic integrity resources, to

include a review of the academic integrity tutorial. You should routinely refresh your citation

skills to ensure that your work is above reproach and original.

No date, no page

If a date is not available, use n.d. (no date). If an author’s name is not available, use the title

of the document in a signal phrase or give the first word or two of the title in parentheses. If no

page number is available, the citation should include any information that will help the reader

find the quotation. For example, if the electronic document contains numbered paragraphs use

para X. If the document contains headings, cite the heading and paragraph number within the

heading. The rules are flexible here due to necessity as Web pages use a wide variety of formats.

When there is no author for an article, you will provide the short title in the “in text” citation.

Refer to the APA examples for no author and a longer explanation here.

Academic Writing Tips

Please devise a meaningful title for your paper that reflects your unique thesis statement. For

example, titling your paper “Research Paper” or “Critical Thinking” is not especially helpful to

your reader. What did you research? More importantly, what did you find? While a title of “The

Glass Ceiling” is better than “My Report,” it is not as effective as calling it “How Mentors Help

to Overcome the Glass Ceiling”. In fact, it is better to write the title as a statement after research,

as you should know the answer to your original research question.

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In general, research papers should be written in past tense since they typically report on

research/conceptual frameworks that were written in the past. Phrases like “Piaget says…” are

not appropriate. Instead you would say, “Piaget said …” or “Piaget found …” APA discourages

the use of first person (e.g., I, me, my). However, first person is appropriate when the writer is

describing his/her own experience or stating his/her own opinion (which should ONLY take

place in your well- marked conclusions section). Generally, phrases like “This paper

discusses…” are preferable to “I will discuss…” Again, the use of first person would sometimes

be acceptable in the conclusions section, but it is generally wiser to avoid any use of the first

person in an academic paper. Also, avoid the use of second person (“you,” “yours”), and

informal language or slang. If you are going to use an acronym, please spell it out first with the

acronym in parentheses before using the acronym regularly. Avoid the use of jargon or too

many acronyms when you are writing to a general audience. Consider the good example of

articles written by journalists who must explain complicated concepts in clear, understandable

language. An example that comes to my mind is a memorable article from The New Yorker,

entitled The Matchmaker about a top salesperson for Steinway pianos in the New York

showroom. In this article, the reader learns about Erica Feidner, her family and talent, a whole

lot about Steinway pianos, and this woman’s particular gift for matching unique Steinway

pianos perfectly to specific clients.

Tone

The tone of your paper should be objective. The purpose is to provide an objective and

balanced presentation. The purpose is not to persuade nor call readers to action, except perhaps

as part of the conclusions section. Your paper should provide pros and cons and multiple points

of view. You should seek empirical evidence to support your thesis and not rely solely on

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“armchair theorists.” Your opinion should not be center stage, as your argument should be based

on fact. If you fairly state the views about an issue, you may then have the credibility to offer

conclusions.

If there is a grammatical error in the original text, please use brackets to either correct the

mistake or use [sic] to let your reader know that you did not make the mistake. For example, if

the original text has a typo, you can use brackets to correct it: “Be [the] change that you wish to

see in the world.” Here is an example of a mistake that you can leave “as is” by using [sic]: “I

ain’t ’fraid of no ghost [sic].” (To correct the mistakes – “I’m not afraid of a ghost” – would take

away from the spirit of the statement, but at the same time, you want to be sure that your readers

know that you realize the original statement isn’t correct grammatically.

Use of bold and italics are also discouraged in APA except in the instances identified above.

They are not typically used within the narrative for emphasis. (This document is an exception.)

If you refer to the title of a book or publication in your narrative, it should appear in italics. If

you refer to the title of a journal article, it should appear in quotation marks.

Tables and Graphs

APA classifies visuals as tables and figures. This includes graphs, charts, drawings, and

photographs. Tables should be labeled as Table 1, Table 2, and so on. The title of the table

should be typed on a separate line in title case below the table number. The title should be in

italics. Both table number and title should be typed at the left margin. The source for the table

should appear in a note (with the word note in italics) below the table. See Table and Figures 1

for more on tables, and Tables and Figures 2 for more on figures from OWL.

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Footnotes are discouraged in APA. Generally, you should try to integrate the information

into your narrative. If the information is lengthy, it is better to place it in an appendix (which

should be placed after the reference list). You should be using in-text citations and a references

list to cite your sources.

Conclusion

The body of your paper should end with a conclusion. You may have an objective

conclusion, or you may share your thoughts, experiences and opinions here (and nowhere else in

the paper). You should not begin a completely new path of logic in the conclusions sections as

you are wrapping up the sum of your argument in this section. This is a hard section to write

oftentimes, so use the same advice as for the introduction. If you find that this section has no

depth and does not make any conclusions, step away to clarify how you want to finish, and come

back to try again.

References

References will be double-spaced with a hanging indent (first line at left margin and second

subsequent lines indented). Please create this indent by going into Paragraph and choosing the

indention choice there. Do not count on using the space bar to manually space the indent. There

should not be an extra line of space between items, and the items should be double-spaced.

References are listed in alphabetical order by last name of the first author. If there is no author,

alphabetize the entry by its title.

--insert page break- your References will always be in the perfect place!

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References

(centered, in same size and font, not bold)

The following are some common resource types, but you should consult your style guide or the

UMUC APA examples for details on other types of resources. Remember that reference

citations will be double-spaced, hang-indented. Refer to this OWL help on References.

The following formats are just to show the order of things for different types of resources.

Online journal:

Last name, First initial. (Date). Title with first letter of first word in caps and rest in lower case

letters. Journal name, Vol (no), page range (x – x). Retrieved from url or doi

Website:

Last name, First initial. (Date). Title with first letter of first word in caps and rest in lower case

letters. Website. Retrieved from url or doi

E-book:

Last name, First initial. (Date). Title. Retrieved from url or doi. (Note that you will not need to

include publishing data unless book is a hard copy.)

Report:

Office or department. (Date). Title using the capitalization rule. (Publication No.) Retrieved

from url or doi