Complete Title of Your Paper Here

Your Name Here

Tarleton State University

Abstract

The first section of the paper is typically an abstract. An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the paper; it allows readers to survey the contents of the paper quickly and, like a title, it enables persons interested in the document to retrieve it from abstracting and indexing databases. The abstract is not an introduction to your paper. It should be written last. Abstracts are typically 150 to 250 words. Requirements in length should be specified by the journal for publication or the assigning professor. The abstract is contained in a single paragraph on a page by itself (page 2 of the document) and is not indented. The title ‘Abstract’ is on the first line of this page and is not bolded or italicized. Also note that the running head is at the top of the page along with the page number. This running head is different than the one on the title page. See section 2.04 in the APA manual for additional information. When you are ready to write, and after having read these instructions completely, you can delete these directions and start typing. The formatting should stay the same. However, one item that you will have to change is the page header, referred to as the running head in APA style, which is placed at the top of each page along with the page number. The running head is an abbreviated version of your title that is printed at the top of the pages of the paper, so that if the pages are intermixed with other papers they will be identifiable. This abbreviated title should be no longer than 50 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Double click on the words in the page header. This should enable you to edit the words. The first page should include the words Running head, followed by a colon and the abbreviated title. All other pages will include only the abbreviated title and page number. The title is in all capital letters. You should not have to edit the page numbers.

Complete Title of Your Paper Here

The line above is the title of the paper. Margins in the paper should be set at 1 inch for top, bottom, left, and right. The type is left-justified only—that means the left margin is straight, but the right margin is ragged. Each paragraph is indented five spaces. It is best to use the tab key to indent. The line spacing is double throughout the paper, even on the reference page. There are never any extra spaces after headings or between sections. Two spaces are used after every sentence. The font style used in this template is Times New Roman and the font size is 12.

This first section of the paper is the introduction, yet it does not have a heading that actually says “Introduction.” See Section 2.05 of the APA manual for more information about writing an introduction. In this section, you would often start with a topic paragraph that introduces the problem under study. The “statement of the problem” is an essential part of the proposal. You will be asserting that this specific problem has not been addressed in the current literature. In the introduction, you will also include a sentence like “The purpose of this study is . . .” You should be able to summarize the goal of the study in this one sentence. Then be sure to identify why this is an important area of study. You should also have constructed one or more research questions. State them directly, as “For the purpose of this study, the following questions will be addressed: . . .” then list them numerically. Perhaps you have a research hypothesis that would also be stated in this section. Be careful to be objective and state your reasoning, not your opinion.

Definition of Terms

If you will be using any terms that are either not familiar to the reader or that will be used in specific ways, include a Definition of Terms section. Do not define common terms, but only those that might be misunderstood within the context of your paper.

Literature Review

In order to know whether the problem has been addressed, relevant literature on the topic must be reviewed. A literature review will provide a basis for your research. It may be helpful to separate the various studies into different categories. To do so, create Level 2 subheadings. These are headings in bold, left-justified.

Be sure to cite your sources in the introduction section and throughout the paper. Use in-text citations (Author, date). Page numbers are only required when using a direct quote. See section 6.11 in the APA manual for specific examples.

Delimitations

Tell the reader here what it is that you will not include in your study, what you will not be investigating and why you cannot or have chosen not to do so. This is the area that narrows your topic to time, place, and content.

Methodology

This section explains each step the researcher will take in order to answer the research question(s). Be very specific in what you plan to do. Use the following subheadings:

Research Design

You will explain the type of research here: survey, experiment, observation, secondary data analysis, action research, etc.

Participants

Specifically detail here who will be the participants in your study. Include all relevant demographic information, such as age, gender, race, etc. Describe how the participants will be chosen (random sample, convenience sample, etc.) and from what population they will be taken.

Procedure

Describe how you will conduct the research, including the order of activities from beginning to end. This should include enough detail so that someone else could conduct the study using your paper as a guide. You will explain how the data will be collected and identify any incentives offered to the participants.

Results

Since this is a proposal, you don’t have any results yet. However, you will summarize predicted results and also the how you plan to analyze the data to obtain results.

Discussion

In this section, you will evaluate your proposed research. What are the strengths and limitations of your proposed study? What is the significance of the study? Why may the findings be important? (no opinions here).

The reference list should appear at the end of a paper at the beginning of a new page (see below). It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. A sample reference page is included below; this page includes examples of how to format different reference types (e.g., books, journal articles, information from a website). The examples on the following page include examples taken directly from the APA manual. In APA style, capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns in the title of a book or article. This is a departure from the formatting of most other styles. See section 4.15 in the APA manual for examples.

Don’t forget to review the lecture page: Parts of a Research Paper for more information here: http://www.tarleton.edu/faculty/boucher/ResearchParts.htm#Research_Proposal

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Daresh, J. C. (2004). Beginning the assistant principalship: A practical guide for new school administrators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools (NIH Publication No. 02-2650). Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
health/prof/asthma/asth_sch.pdf