Overview of the Sections in an APA Style Paper

You should consult the OWL website for a more detailed explanation of the APA style and a sample APA paper. This is simply an overview of the sections of an APA paper.

Your paper should include the following sections:

Title page: This page contains the title of your paper, the author’s name and institutional affiliation (Charter School of Wilmington), a running head and a page number.

Abstract page: The abstract is a summary of your paper. It should include the problem under investigation which should include your hypothesis, the participants or subject, the method used, the main findings, and the implications of these findings. As it is a summary, this section should only be about 10-15 sentences. The Abstract should be written last so that you can clearly and briefly summarize your project.

Introduction: In this section, you need to develop the background of your subject so that you and the reader understand the significance of your project. The most important part of your introduction is your hypothesis statement wherein you will predict the outcome of your experiment. In this section of your paper, you should note previous research done on your topic. You should also explain why previous research was not sufficient and how you addressed the problem in your project design.

Method: In this section, you will thoroughly describe how you carried out your experiment. There are three (3) subsections contained within the method; participants or subjects including the control and the variable groups, apparatus (measures), and procedure. It is very important to use detail when explaining your method so that other researchers can try to replicate your experiment (Scientific Method).

Results: The Results section contains a summarization of your data, mathematical analysis and a presentation of your findings. Tables and Figures can be added to this section if they clarify the written discussion and are brief. Longer tables and detailed figures should be referenced and added to the end of the paper. Other information that is not a table or figure should be referenced in the paper and added to the Appendix section. A common way to report results is to
            1. Restate your hypothesis including control and variable for the reader.
            2. Summarize the results for each of the statistical tests that you completed to prove or disprove your hypothesis.
            3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for each subsequent hypothesis, if needed.

Discussion: In this section, you will analyze and evaluate your findings. You must compare and discuss your hypothesis to your results, explain possible sources of error, and explain the significance of your findings. You should conclude with a discussion on the possible next steps to extend the research.

References: Consult the OWL website

Tables and Figures: Consult the OWL website

Appendices: Consult the OWL website