The paper must be 8–10 pages, not including a title page, and should include an abstract, acknowledgements (if any), references, and tables.
Title page
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Tables
General Writing Instructions:
Once your proposal has been approved, you can begin the task of researching and writing a thorough literature review of your topic. Remember to use scholarly sources and APA style throughout your paper. You should continue to develop your outline as you find more articles. Your outline will help to keep your thoughts and your writing organized. I will be happy to review your outline as your paper topic develops. You must start your paper early and work on it gradually throughout the course.
Responding to all the comments from your rough draft will help to ensure success on the final draft of your paper. Do not lose momentum. Continue to work consistently on your paper; you may turn it in before the due date. The final paper will include a well-developed introduction, body, and conclusion. It will be at least 8–10 pages in length (of text) and include at least 5 scholarly references. Your final draft should be free of grammatical errors, and APA style errors should be corrected at this point. You should have a good grasp of your subject matter, and your writing should convey that. Keep your writing clear and concise. Long and awkward sentences are not impressive; good and clearly expressed ideas are. Again, checking the grading criteria will help to ensure that you earn a good grade on your paper.
Checklist for your Paper
I. Organization
Does the paper have (in this order) a Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References?
II. Style
1. Is everything (yes, everything!) double-spaced?
2. Are all measurements and units in metric?
3. Are the units abbreviated (m for meters, mg/l for milligrams per liter, etc.)?
4. Use italics where needed (please see http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/italics/)
5. Is everything correctly spelled?
III. Content
1. Does the title strike a balance: general enough to interest readers but specific enough to describe the contents?
2. Does the abstract adequately present the goals, methods, key results (with some actual data such as counts, averages, etc.)?
3. Does the introduction set the stage for the topic as a whole?
4. Does the introduction end with an explicit description of the hypothesis and the objective of the study?
5. Have I kept results from sneaking into the Methods section?
6. Are the methods sufficiently described so that someone else could repeat the study, or fully evaluate what we did?
7. Are all the important results expressed in words (that is, not hidden in a table and merely referred to in the text)?
8. Are all results expressed in the past tense?
9. Have I kept speculation and interpretation out of the results section?
10. Does the discussion review and interpret the key results rather than reviewing only other published studies?
11. Make sure you discuss the inadequacy of the study in the discussion?
IV. References
1. Are all papers cited in the text found in the references (and vice versa)?
2. Have I limited my use of secondary sources and used primary sources?
3. Are all references formatted in APA style?
4. Have major points been backed up with appropriate references rather than forcing the reader to take my word for it?
V. Tables and Figures
1. Are all tables and figures necessary? Could the information be easily expressed in the text? Is there duplication between tables and figures?
2. Are the tables and figures organized to minimize space?
3. Do all tables and figures have fully self-explanatory captions? That is, could a reader understand the figure or table without reading the rest of the paper (and vice versa)?