The APA research paper order is a common style for many academic papers. As such, familiarizing with the APA writing style is vital to understand the style to avoid issues when writing APA papers.
This article will analyse the APA structure and highlight various elements to have in mind as you edit an APA paper.
What is APA structure?
APA is a common method of presenting your research or thesis question. This type of format is usually reserved for social sciences, psychology, anthropology, education, and criminal justice.
Before you begin your paper it is always better to outline your work and get an idea of what you are going to be presenting.
A guideline helps lead your research and helps you with each section to be covered by the research paper.
For an APA paper, each section follows the other. Each section requires a title centered on the page .when citing an APA we use an in-text citation style that uses the author’s last name and year of publication.
A proper APA-style paper has several sections that are important and should never be skipped no matter the rush you are in to finish.
Read on to properly understand how to organize an APA research paper. The following are components of an APA paper structure:
- Title page
Should be interesting and inform your reader of your topic.
- Abstract
This should include a page header, and the word abstract should be centered.
- Main paper
Includes the introduction which is one or two paragraphs. These paragraphs should introduce what is being proven or disproven.
It also includes the thesis statement. This shows the direction of your paper and is underlined.
It also has the body. Each body paragraph includes a topic sentence. All topic sentences should be underlined. It should be no more than 6 sentences and no less than 4 sentences.
Each topic sentence explains what will be covered in the paragraph. They also help transition and link paragraphs together.
The body of your argument should clearly show the direction of your argument.
It also includes the conclusion. This brings cohesion to your paper and helps summarize your themes and sub-points.
- Paper format
This includes the total number of pages excluding the pages with the title and reference. It also includes the font size and margins.
- References and citations
This includes the main and ancillary source materials. The main source materials include primary source documents such as books and scholarly articles.
The ancillary materials include; cited think tanks, and popular writings and should have no less than 7 sources.
When using in-text citations one should identify words or ideas from a particular source.
- Tables and figures
A proper APA table format follows the following rules. A topic in bold above the table, a brief title under the table number.
It should have no vertical lines. It should only have horizontal lines where necessary for clarity.
The figures should be in bold. Any relevant notes should be below the figures.
Other rules on how to organize an APA research paper
There are other rules that all scholars using the APA format must follow universally. All APA research document texts should be double-spaced and a margin of one inch observed on all sides. The title needs to be centered on the title page, the fonts should be legible and no paragraph should be indented.
An example of an APA outline for a research paper has all the above components and guides one on how to organize an APA research paper.
Each section of your research paper holds different types of information about your study.
The division of the information helps address all your research and helps explain your thesis question.
What is the results section of a research paper in APA?
This is the part of your research paper that explains what the researcher found after analyzing their data. The main purpose is for the collected data to answer the research question probed in the introduction. This is done even if the findings challenge the hypothesis.
This section is where you put the details of your data analysis and interpretation. It should give a clear indication of what you expect to get out of your research. You also report the findings of your study based on the methods used to gather information.
Parts of an APA paper
Some of the chapters of an APA paper include: the abstract, a literature review section, the introduction, the methods section, the results, discussion and a conclusion.
Final take
Organizing your APA paper requires a little finesse and understanding of your topic or research. As this is mostly a social science paper, you should avoid writing in the first or second-person subject. We recommend that you check an example of APA outline for research paper to better familiarize yourself with the APA format.