Formatting

• 1). Set the font of your word processing program to times new roman font, and set the font size to 12.
  
  
• 2). Set line spacing for "double" and alignment for "left." Double space everything, even the title, references and tables. Set all margins, left, right, top and bottom, for 1 inch.
  
  
• 3). Write an abbreviated title, called a running head, in capital letters for your paper and put it in the header with the page number and left-justify it. The header should look like this: Running head: SOCIAL LEARNING 1.
  
  

Paper

• 1). Include all seven major sections of an APA paper: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and references. Include tables if appropriate.
  
  
• 2). Insert the running head on the first line, flush left on the title page, using the same format as for the header. Center the title, author(s) and affiliation (where the research was conducted), top to bottom and left to right.
  
  
• 3). Start a new page for the abstract and center the heading "Abstract." Summarize the paper in six or eight sentences. Do not indent the paragraph.
  
  
• 4). Start a new page for the introduction, but type the title of the paper as the heading, not introduction. Introduce the problem and discuss literature related to it in the introduction. State the purpose of your paper and your hypothesis (what you predict your research will find) and how they relate to each other.
  
  
• 5). Indicate how you tested your ideas in the method section. Do not start a new page. Center the heading "Method." Describe the participants, research design and procedures.
  
  
• 6). Describe what you found in the results section. Do not start a new page. Center the heading "Results." Include the analyses you used and report the statistical results.
  
  
• 7). Interpret your results in the discussion section. Do not start a new page. Center the heading "Discussion" on the top line. Discuss your research in the context of existing literature. Discuss why the hypothesis was supported or not supported. Make suggestions for future research.
  
  
• 8). Start a new page and center the heading "References" at the top. List each reference alphabetically by the last name of the first author, using a hanging indent. Put the name flush left and indent the second and subsequent lines. Include the last name of the author, initial, year of publication, place of publication and publisher. For example, Estrich, S. (1987). Real rape (the title is italicized). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.