Research Methods Paper 3

Checklist – Paper III: Literature Review (Study Two)

Use the check sheet below to make sure your paper is the best it can be! Make sure you answer “Yes” to all questions before submitting your paper! The first two sections duplicate the checklist from Paper I, but those elements in purple are unique to Paper III – Literature Review

General Paper Format (This section is identical to the Paper I and II Checklist)

Yes No

1. Is everything in your paper (including headers, the main body of your mini- literature review, and your references) in 12 point Times New Roman font?

2. Is everything in your paper double spaced, including references (here I mean the spacing above and below each line, not the spaces following a period)?

3. Do you have one inch margins on all sides of the paper (one inch from the top of the page, one inch from the bottom, and one inch from each side)

4. Are the first lines of all paragraphs indented roughly 1⁄2 inch?

5. Are your paragraphs aligned left? (That is, text should be flush left, with lines lining up on the left of the page, but text should NOT line up on the right side of the page – it should look ragged)

6. Do you need help figuring out how to configure a word document in APA format (inserting headers, page numbers, proper indents, etc.)? If YES, I highly recommend watching this video which walks you through setting up an APA formatted paper! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pbUoNa5tyY

Title page (This section is identical to the Paper I and II Checklist)

Yes No Header

1. Do you have the phrase “Running head” in your header (with a lower case h)?

2. Is the rest of your Running head title in ALL CAPS?

3. Is your Running head in 12 point Times New Roman font?

4. Do you have a page number (1) that is flush right (also in 12 point Times New Roman font)?

Title / Name / Institution

1. Is your title 12 words or less (as recommended by the APA)?

2. Do all title words with four letters or more start with a capital letter?

3. Are your name and institution correct?

4. Are your title, name, and institution elements centered and in 12 point Times New Roman font?

Literature Review (This is similar to Paper I, but new elements are in bold purple text)

Yes No Header

1. Is your header title present and identical to your header title on the title page?

2. Is your header title in ALL CAPS and 12 point Times New Roman font?

3. Does your header on this second page omit the phrase “Running head”

4. Do you have a page number starting on page 2

Title for the literature review

1. Do you have the identical title you used on the title page rewritten at the top of your literature review?

2. Is this title centered?

Yes No

Literature Review Continued

Main body of the literature review

1. Does your literature review start broadly, giving a brief overview of the paper to come?

2. Does your literature review start to narrow down toward your hypotheses?

3. Do your paragraphs transition from one to the next? (That is, avoid simply listing studies you read. Tie them together. How does Study A in paragraph A relate to Study B in paragraph B?)

4. Does your paper end in your hypotheses? (More specifically, you should have a hypothesis for each of your main dependent variables. Hypotheses might focus on main effects, interactions, or both main effects and interactions)

Citations for the literature review

1. Did you cite a minimum of ten references (eight of which must be empirical, peer-reviewed articles)? Note that you can give a lot of detail for some references but only a sentence or two for others. How much detail you go into depends on how important the article is in helping your support your hypotheses

2. Are your citations in APA format (That is, ONLY the last name of the author(s) and date of publication)? Note that you will NOT include first names, initials, or the title of the article the authors wrote when citing. That information belongs in the references pages only

3. If you quoted, did you provide a page number for the direct quote?

4. If you paraphrased in any way, did you cite the source of that information?

References Page (There are new elements here in bold purple text)

Yes No Title for the references page

1. Do references start on their own page?

2. Is the word “References” centered?

References – Make sure these are in APA format!

1. Are references listed in alphabetical order (starting with the last name of the first author listed) for all ten articles you referenced?

2. Are all citations from the literature review referenced?

3. Is the first line of the reference flush left while subsequent lines are indented (Note: Use the ruler function for this. DO NOT simply tab)?

4. Did you use the “&” symbol when listing more than one author name?

5. Did you include the date of publication

6. For article references, is the article title (which is not italicized) with only the first word and proper names starting with a capital letter?

7. For article references, is the name of the journal present with all major words starting with a capital letter (and this journal title is italicized)?

8. For article references, is the volume number italicized

9. For article references, are the page numbers present (not italicized)

10. For article references, is the DOI present