APA Format BASICS

*ALL FONT MUST BE 12 PT TIMES NEW ROMAN – NO EXCEPTIONS! Title Page The title page is the first page of your research paper and must include the following: 1. Running head: TITLE to be written at the top left of the page. 2. Page Number 1 to be written at the top right of the page. 3. Title, Name, Subject, Teacher Name, & Date to be centered, double spaced and written in the middle of the page. *ALL FONT MUST BE 12 PT TIMES NEW ROMAN – NO EXCEPTIONS!

Title Page Example Running head: DANGERS OF PLAGIARISM 1 Dangers of Plagiarism & Its Repercussions John Smith Language Arts Ferrara April 11, 2013

Research Pages Advanced Classes – 5 pages MINIMUM of research. This DOES NOT include your title page or references page. Your ENTIRE paper is a MINIMUM of 7 pages. Regular Class – 3 Pages MINIMUM of research. This DOES NOT include your title page or references page. Your ENTIRE paper is a MINIMUM of 5 pages.

Research Pages Each page should have the title of the paper on the left hand corner and the page number on the right hand corner. Everything is DOUBLE-SPACED. DO NOT SPACE ANY MORE. You are not fooling ANYBODY with ridiculously spacing and doing so DOES NOT FOLLOW APA Format. ALL MARGINS are to be 1 inch. All font is to be 12 pt, Times New Roman. Your title goes at the beginning of the first page of research. After you write your title, begin typing your introductory paragraph. After writing your first introductory paragraph, write your first heading. All your headings needs to be bold. Do not write your headings in ALL CAPS.

First Research Page Example DANGERS OF PLAGIARISM 2 Dangers of Plagiarism & Its Repercussions Attention Grabber. Make sure your attention grabber is interesting. If it’s a quote, you need to signal the quote. Example, Anne Frank once said, “QUOTE”. If you start with a quote you also need to explain it. After your attention grabber you write background information. There is plenty of background information on the Holocaust so you should not have any issues writing information. Also note that the H in Holocaust is ALWAYS capitalized. Finally, write your thesis statement. 1st Heading Your topic sentence should NEVER be a quote. Remember, your topic sentence is what your entire paragraph is about. Make sure to use transitions and include a closing sentence for each paragraph. 2nd Heading Plagiarism is a HUGE problem. HUGE. If you did not write it, you need to cite it. The proper way to cite is as follows. According to Ferrara (April 2013), “Papers that include any plagiarism will receive an F and be subject to a referral for academic dishonesty.” Please note that even if you paraphrase, you MUST cite your source. NEVER use first names when citing, only last names.

Research Pages DANGERS OF PLAGIARISM 3 3rd Heading The second time you cite the same source, you do not need to signal the quote. Example. “Each student is capable of synthesizing information without plagiarizing.” (Ferrara April 2013) If your paper does not include in-text citations for ALL your references, you will receive an F. Conclusion If you do not turn in a conclusion, your paper is incomplete and will receive an F. Remember, a conclusion is NOT restating the points of your paper. The conclusion should include a thoughtful analysis of your research and include one of the conclusion strategies discussed in class.

References Each paper needs to include a References page. Papers that do not have a references page will be considered incomplete and receive an F. Each reference needs to be cited with the research paper. Wikipedia is NOT a valid reference.

References Example DANGERS OF PLAGIARISM 4 References All references should be in ABC order by author’s last name. All references need to be aligned to the margin. If there is not enough space on the first line, the second line needs to be indented. Be sure to double space references. No more, no less. You are REQUIRED to have a MINIMUM of four sources. You WILL receive a lower grade if you do not.