Term paper

Layout of the paper: Delete this page in the Final Draft

General Instructions:

Line Spacing: double spacing

Font: Times New Roman or another clear, easy to read font, size 12 Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides

Alignment: left-aligned, do not justify Paragraphs: indent every first line (1 tab or 5 spaces)

Quotations: blocked (justified and indented on both sides)

Page numbers: consecutive numbers, top/bottom right.

Header: Running head (title of paper) top left. (Use Header for this)

Table of Contents: must be numbered on multiple levels and these numbers must be followed in the text.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction……………………………………………..………………………….. 1

2 First Major Heading…..…………….………………………………….……..……. 4

2.1 First Subheading (If Subheadings Exist)………….……………………………….. 5

2.2 Second Subheading (If Subheadings Exist)……….………………………………. 5

3 Visual and Tables..……………………………………...………………………… 6

4 Conclusions……………………………………….…………………………….… 7

5 References ……………………….……………….………………………………. 8

6 Appendix …………………………………………………………………………. 9

Title of your paper Date Page number

1 Introduction

In the “Introduction,” make sure that you orient the audience with sufficient background to understand what the problem is and why the problem was addressed. The “Introduction” must state what the topic includes and any limitations about the topic. (See Bailey 1.10 p. 72). Also, a good test for this section is to imagine how well it would help you know the topic and main ideas of the paper when you read it a year from now.

The introduction can be more than one paragraph. Be sure to indent all paragraphs. Headings are 12-point font, flushed left, and boldfaced. Use initial capitals in all headings. Discuss what needs to be discussed and clarified at the beginning of the paper. This part is usually an introduction to the purpose of the study, the method of research, background to the study, terminology or definitions, writings of other authors and any more information to direct the reader. However, not all sections need subheadings.

2 Second Major Heading

Headings are flush left, and boldfaced. Use initial capitals. At least one paragraph should follow a major heading before a subheading exists. The typeface given here for the text portion of this report is Times New Roman.

2.1 First Subheading

Subheadings should be 12 -point font and boldfaced. Insert one line before the sub-subheading and one-line skipped after. Use initial capitals. Note that subheadings are listed in the Table of Contents . Be conservative (don’t have too many) with subheadings in a term paper.

2.2 Second Subheading

If you have one sub-subheading, you must have a second. Otherwise, the first sub-subheading has nothing to be parallel with. Do not allow a heading or subheading to stand as a widow line at the bottom of a page. If the situation occurs, force a line break (hit Enter) before the heading or subheading.

3 Third Major Heading

Another formatting consideration concerns the incorporation of figures and tables. Shown in Figure 1 is a common format that serves reports well. Note that the word Figure is always capitalized, not abbreviated, and the discussion of the graph or table will be part of the essay and not a separate paragraph. A period (full stop) is a powerful piece of punctuation—its primary use is to end sentences. Do not dilute its power by having it do menial tasks such as saving three letters from a word that is short to begin with, like this...

Following standard convention, the formal introduction of Figure 1 occurs in the text before the figure appeared. In the introduction of an illustration, using pointers such as below or on the next page is undesired. Your technical reader knows where the illustration is supposed to be placed—after the paragraph that introduces it or on the next page if not enough space exists below the paragraph. Note that you should not break paragraphs in an APA document to insert an illustration. To distinguish the figure caption from the text, you should place the figure caption in a smaller typeface, as was done in Figure 2. Recommended for the line spacing of the caption is single spacing. For the caption, a nice touch is to place the name in the bold sans serif of the headings and have the caption’s text in the serif typeface of the chapter’s text. The caption begins with a phrase and is followed by a sentence (or two) that explains unusual details.