Ye who ignoreth mine rules shalt not pass.

(Translation: any of these errors will result in point deductions)

In addition to the information below, More Grammar Help - is available at this site.

There is a free downloadable demo on APA style available at : http://calkins.apa.org/apa-style/demo.cfm

A. Formating your Research Paper.

The main components of a research-oriented paper include: A Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Conclusions (or Discussion), References. This link provides an interactive example of how to format a research paper. http://www.uwm.edu/People//pcsmith/HMRP/emppap.htm

If you are citing an idea or a research study in the body of your paper you need to put the author's last name (or names if multiple authors) and the date of publication. You do not include first names, initials, the name of the article, or the place (unless it is a cross-cultural study and the place is important). There are a few ways this can be done. Try to put the citation at the beginning or end of the sentence so that you don't interupt the flow of the idea. There are different ways to cite depending on number of authors, type of material, and where you get the information.

1. One or Two Authors: Always include the last names of the author or authors

Example 1: In one study they gave six month old babies two objects and recorded the amount of time they spent playing with them (Dresdan, 1973)

Example 2: Dresdan (1973) gave babies two objects at a time and recorded the amount of time they spent playing with them.

Example 3: Skippy and Moe (1999) concluded that preschoolers prefer smooth to chunky peanut butter but that by kindergarten the opposite is true.

2. Three to six authors. If the work has 3-6 authors, use the surnames of all authors the first time you cite the work. If you refer to the work again, include only the surname of the first author followed by "et al."

Example (first time): ...hypothesized that the babies preferred oatmeal (Army, Anderson & Oliver, 1994)....(Subsequent referrals): ...and found that the temperature and not the food itself was critical (Army et al., 1994)

3. More than 6 Authors: When a work has more than six authors, use only the surname of the first author followed by "et al.", even the first time you cite it.

Example: Two month old babies could float when thrown in the pool (Spitz et al.,1976).

4. Works with no authors: When a work has no author, cite the first two or three words of the title. Italicise or underline the title of a periodical or book and use double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter.

In the book College for Infants (1999) OR (for article) "Parent Traps" (1988) discusses the tendency to over schedule our children's lives.

5. Personal Communication: If you communicated with a reputable source or if you want to cite something I said in lecture or in a meeting with me, you put it in the body of your paper but not in the reference list. Use the initials and the last name and full date of the communication.

Example: According to A.L. Fay, the Ferber method does not work for all babies (personal communication, February 13, 2001).

6. Quoting: To quote a specific part of a source, use double quotation marks and include the year and the page, figure, table, or equation in the citation.

Example: "Most of the 3-year-olds and almost all of the four-year-olds knew that only the animate objects could move uphill on their own" (Cole & Cole, 2001, p. 356)

7. On-line Sources: There currently is no set standard in psychology for citing on-line material. Usually there are two types of on-line citation that you would use, Specific document or general website.

Specific Document: Use the same format as in numbers 1 to 4 above.

Example: He stated that babies will prefer cotton to synthetic clothing (Smith, 1997).

General Website: Include the full path to the website (you do not include this in your reference list; in the text is sufficient)

Example: Kidspsych is a wonderful Web site for children (http://www.kidspsych.org).

Specific page on a website: Include the full path, including the document.

Example: The first three months are often the most difficult and tiring (http://www.Pregnancy.com/prenatal/firsttrimester.html). (You don't need to include this in your reference list; in the text is sufficient)

8. Secondary Source Citation: If you are citing something that was cited in the book you are reading, you need to indicate this.

For example, the textbook cites many studies and you may want to cite one of them. To do this you have to indicate that you did not get the information directly from the source but from the secondary source, in this format: Author name (as cited in Authors name of where you read it).

Example: In Cole & Cole (2001, p. 298) it states "By the time they are 8 or 9 years old, children can use knowledge about morphemes to figure out the meanings of new words such as 'treelet'" (Anglin, 1993)

If you refer to this in your paper you could write: By the age of nine children have sufficient understanding of morphemes to determine the meaning of novel words (Anglin, as cited in Cole & Cole, 2001) or In a study by Anglin (as cited in Cole & Cole, 2001) nine year olds knowledge of morphemes was developed enough to enable them to figure out the meaning of novel words.

At the end of your paper you include a reference page. At the top center of the page use the header "References". Every article or book that you cite in the text needs to be included as a full reference in your reference list. The reference list is organized alphabetically (by first author's last name) and each reference includes all the authors' last names and initials. The first line is indented.

There are slightly different formats depending on if your reference is a book or a journal article or a secondary reference (when you cite something that you saw cited somewhere else, such as in your textbook.

1. Journal Articles: The general format is: Author last name, initial., author last name, initial., & author last name, initial. (date of publication). title of article. Journal name, volume number, page numbers. The first line is indented.

Example:

Smith, J.A. (1999). The effect of electric shock on learning rates in preschoolers. Journal of Bizarre Psychology, 43, 101 - 112.

Smith, J.A., Jones, L., & Brown, A. (1999). The effect of electric shock on learning rates in preschoolers. Journal of Bizarre Psychology, 43, 101 - 112.

2. Books: Format is Author last name, initial., author last name, initial., & author last name, initial. (date of publication). Title of work. Location: Publisher.

Example

Anderson, G. (1988). All about babies. New York: Basic Books.

When you are only referring to a book chapter in an edited book (where different people write different chapters of the book) the format is slightly different. You need to include the author of the chapter as well as the editor of the book.

Author, A. (date). Chapter title. In initial of editor. Editor last name (Ed.), Title of Book (page numbers). Location: Publisher.

Philips, K. (2000). Visual perception in infancy. In C. Granden (Ed.), Handbook of infancy (pp. 37 - 65). Cambridge: MIT Press.

3. Secondary Reference: If you cite a piece of research or an idea that was cited somewhere else, such as in your textbook, you indicated that you did not get the information directly from the source in the body of your paper. In the reference list you only reference the materials you did read, so for the example given about, you would only cite Cole & Cole in the reference list.

Example:

In a study by Anglin (as cited in Cole & Cole, 2001) nine year olds knowledge of morphemes was developed enough to enable them to figure out the meaning of novel words.

In the reference list you would NOT include Anglin but you would have a reference for Cole & Cole

Cole, M, & Cole, S.R. (2001). The development of children (4th Ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

4. On-line Reference. Include the author, date (most recent update if given or the date that you searched). Title of the article.[on-line]. Available: Specify full path and retrieval method.

Example:

Harner, R. (Update: August 12, 1999). Babies by the bunch. Available: Anonymous FTP: princeton.edu, Directory: ub/harner, File: babies.txt OR

Appleby, R. (Search: August 12, 1999). Help for new parents. Available: http://www.parents.com/help.html.

If there is no author but the site is run by an organization.

Example:

Baby.Com.(Update: January 15, 2001). Pregnancy Calendar. Available: http://www.baby.com/pregnancycalendar/.