Apa style

MSEDU November 2009 APA Template

Title of Your Paper, Centered, and Using Both Upper and Lowercase Letters
Your Name Here
Universidad del Valle de Mexico

Note the spaces between these 2 sections
Instructor’s Name
Course Title (Research Projects)
Date

Center the Title of Your Paper Here
Please regard this APA document, originatingfrom the UVM faculty, as providing a template for most of your assignments in the Research Projects program, particularly the Applications, Reflections, Final Challenges, and Internship Activities that you will be writing throughout the program. (Lesson plans are exceptions as APA style cannot be applied to them.) If you read this essay carefully and print a copy for your use, it will be a great helpas you create your assignments. Because Research Projects students do not write extensive research papers, the appropriate requirements for your assignments will differ slightly from those for bachelor’s students. Nonetheless, this is an approved and specifically designed document for Research Projects students. We ask you to write most of your assignments in the form of essays, with opening andclosing paragraphs, a clear purpose that is accomplished in the course of the essay, and logically organized paragraphs that develop your ideas. Please notice what this introductory paragraph accomplishes. As you construct your introductory paragraph, remember to engage the reader and to express the purpose you hope to fulfill in the paper. In addition, the introduction may offer a roadmap or aplan for the paper as a whole.
This template generally follows APA formatting, but the exceptions are significant. A number of features appropriate for a long manuscript or for a dissertation are not necessary for relatively brief Research Projects assignments. For example, you do not need an abstract for every assignment. You do not need a running head, nor are you obligated to use anyrunning head within the body of your essay. Moreover, because you are formatting your assignment as essays, and because your assignments typically call for your description of your classroom practice, it is appropriate for you to write in the first person singular.
Throughout your paper, consider the way a paragraph looks on the page. The indentation and length of a paragraph convey a message tothe reader, suggesting a brief or extensively developed unity of an idea. Two naturally emphatic places in any paragraph are the opening sentence and the closing sentence. Take advantage of these positions in a paragraph; use them for emphasis and for guiding your reader.
The opening sentence of any paragraph provides a natural opportunity to direct the reader from one idea to another. Thesentence may function as a combination topic and transition device, suggesting to the reader where this particular section is headed. You may also use single words or phrases to connect your ideas to one another. Think of transitional expressions such as the following as glue or signposts: also, in addition, moreover, therefore, similarly, in contrast, although, however. It is the author’sresponsibility to demonstrate for the reader the relationship between one idea and another so that the reader never has to guess at the logical organization of your ideas.
Another way that you might wish to indicate organization to your reader is the use of headings. However, in most Research Projects assignments, no headings are required. If your paper exceeds five pages, or if you think thatheadings will help to convey the organization and clarity of a particularly complex. Remember that headings alone will not accomplish what your writing should accomplish. In other words, your heading may announce “Conclusion,” but if a number of paragraphs introducing new ideas follow that heading, it is rather like a false advertisement and will confuse the reader.
Because this is a...