Scientific vs. Design Process Writing a Scientific paper in APA style Home Scientific vs. Design Process References Main Body Format: Abstract Page Setup Headings Title Page In-Text Citations http://www.cobbk12.org/Wheeler/Library/research/APAGuide.pdf http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx

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Centered, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase Page Setup Margins should be 1” around the page The font should be 12 pt. throughout the entire paper including headings and titles The paper should be double-spaced with no extra spaces between paragraphs or sections Serif font (such as Times New Roman) should be used for the text and a Sans Serif font should be used to label diagrams and charts Headings Level A (main) headings should be Centered, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase Level B (sub) headings should be Aligned left, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase Level C (paragraph) headings should be Indented, bold, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. home

In-Text Citations Basic Format (Author, year) home

**A running head is a shortened version of your full title Title Page Running Head and page number – right justified – Title capitalization Appears on EVERY page The words “ Running Head:” with the running head all in caps – left justified **A running head is a shortened version of your full title (max. – 50 characters) Full title centered Author(s) Affiliation (school) home

Abstract Poor Abstract Good Abstract The abstract gets its own page (page 2) Your abstract should be one paragraph, with a maximum of 125 words, which summarizes the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the paper. It is the last section of your paper that gets written Examples: Poor Abstract Good Abstract home

home Good Abstract A Poorly Written Abstract   Article Title: Elements of an Optimal Experience Abstract This paper presents and assesses a framework for an engineering capstone design program. We explain how student preparation, project selection, and instructor mentorship are the three key elements that must be addressed before the capstone experience is ready for the students. Next, we describe a way to administer and execute the capstone design experience including design workshops and lead engineers. We describe the importance in assessing the capstone design experience and report recent assessment results of our framework. We comment specifically on what students thought were the most important aspects of their experience in engineering capstone design and provide quantitative insight into what parts of the framework are most important. Critique: This abstract begins well with a concise statement of the objectives of the paper, but then wanders from good technical writing style from there. The abstract is written in the first person (e.g. “We explain…”, “We discuss…”, “We comment…”, etc.). No results are presented. This poorly written abstract describes only the organization of the paper. Example: “Next, we describe… We comment specifically on what students thought were the most important aspects of their experience in engineering capstone design…” Instead, the abstract should summarize the actual results and how they were obtained. “A statistical analysis was performed on answers to survey questions posed to students enrolled in a capstone design course at Georgia Tech. The analysis showed that students thought the most important aspects of their experience in engineering capstone design were quality of the instructor and quantity of student/instructor interaction time.” home Good Abstract

A Well Written Abstract   Article Title: Women Engineers in Kuwait: Perception of Gender Bias Authors: P.A. Koushi, H.A. Al-Sanad, and A.M. Larkin of Kuwait University Abstract The greatest obstacle to the development of policies for the curtailment of gender bias is lack of information on the scope and effects of the problem. This study represents an attempt to quantify attitudes toward gender bias among profession women engineers working in the State of Kuwait. The major findings that emerged were as follows: a) Since 1970, Kuwait has witnessed an enormous growth rate in the participation of women in higher education. b) With respect to the job-related factors of salary scale, professional treatment, responsibility, benefits, and vacation, a clear majority (68%) of the professional Kuwaiti women engineers surveyed expressed a feeling of equality with or even superiority to their male counterparts. c) The one job-related factor in which significant gender bias was found to be in operation was that of promotion to upper management positions. In this criterion, the women engineers surveyed felt “less than equal” to their male colleagues. Critique: This abstract begins with a succinct statement of the problem and the objective of the paper. Overall results are clearly presented. home Poor Abstract

Main Body Discussion Results Methods Introduction home back

General Specific Examples: Main Body Introduction A good Introduction will answer the following questions: General What is the real world problem your study will address? This should be a brief discussion of the big idea of your project What have others found? The introduction summarizes the relevant literature (using peer-reviewed/scientific journals). You need to relate the works of others to your topic   Examples: What will you be doing & how does it apply to the “real world” problem? Poor Introduction Good Introduction What is your hypothesis? Specific home

Main Body Poor Introduction GOOD Introduction Poor Introduction home

Main Body Good Introduction POOR Introduction Good Introduction home

Main Body Methods Examples How you answered your question – PROCEDURE!!    There should be enough information here to allow another scientist to repeat your experiment. (not every little detail) It should be written in the past tense and in paragraph form. It should not be written like a recipe or a bulleted list. Do NOT put results in this section. Methods Examples home

Main Body Methods home

Main Body Results This section presents the results of the experiment but does not attempt to interpret their meaning The data should be summarized in text and be presented in tables and figures (graphs) Number all tables and figures separately beginning with 1 (i.e. Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, etc.). Do not attempt to evaluate the results in this section. Report only what you found; hold all discussion of the significance of the results for the Discussion section. You must refer in the text to each figure (graph) or table you include in your paper.   home

More Detailed Discussion Information and Examples Main Body Discussion In this section, you will explain what the results mean or why they differ from what other workers have found.  Specific Explain your findings Compare your findings to what others have found Evaluate the findings Infer from the findings General home More Detailed Discussion Information and Examples

References The References page should be a list of all the sources you used. If a source is not cited in the text, than it should not be included in the references page. Should be in alphabetical order by author’s last name All entries should start on the left margin. All other lines should be indented 5 spaces. This is called a hanging indent You may omit any elements (author, date, etc.) that are not available. If the publication date is not given, use the abbreviation (n.d.). However, if a page fails to list more than one or two of these items, you should avoid using it as a scholarly resource. home