well i used this to start writing my papers.Am just copy pasting this stuff from my E-mail
Introduction
The goal of the introduction is to justify your study. Introduce the research question, summarize and cite the research done to date, and identify a question that has not yet been answered (your study). At the end of the introduction, state the hypotheses that you tested.
Requirements
Give background. This section gives the history behind your research question. Identify the key research
done in the area so far and the value of your study.
Copyright 1997-2004, University of Washington APApaper.pdf
04/21/04
Cite all relevant research, not just the studies whose results you agree with. Identify studies that support
contradictory findings, and suggest what might underlie the differences (look especially at the introduction
and discussion sections of the articles you are comparing).
State hypotheses and predictions. At the end of the introduction, state the hypothesis that you tested and
specific predictions that follow from it.
How to Proceed
Find an old review article. Reading a review article or book chapter is an efficient way to start to get an overview of a new research area. Then, to follow up on the important areas and authors you have identified in the article, use online search databases to:
- Look for later studies by the authors cited in the review article (e.g., PsycInfo).
- Find other studies that cite the authors cited in the review article (e.g., SSCI, or Social Science Citation
Index).
Make an outline that shows the progression of research that has led to your hypotheses.
For each main point, start by citing noncontroversial assumptions of findings. Then discuss areas in which conflicting results, if any, have emerged. Try to explain the source of the disagreement (e.g., insensitive measures, inadequate design, conclusions that went beyond the data or didn't go far enough).
At the end of the introduction, identify questions that have not been addressed that led to your hypotheses. If there are more than one or two hypotheses, list them ('This study will test the following hypotheses: (1) ... (2) ... (3) ...'). It may be necessary to give a conceptual overview of the experiment here as well, but save the details for the Method section.
Avoid plagiarism by giving credit where credit is due. Whenever you cite someone else's ideas or use their language, give the name of the author and the year of publication (see References; APA citations). Using old review articles as a starting point for your paper is not plagiarism, but don't present someone else's ideas as though they were your own. Your paper must, of course, provide your own synthesis of your research.
In scientific writing, it is much more common to paraphrase an author's ideas than to use direct quotes (see APA citations). If you use direct quotes, however, also cite the page number, like this: "insert quote here"
(Abel, 1989, p. 93).
Use specific language and support your arguments with concrete examples. Specify referents (e.g., "this illustrates" should be "this experiment illustrates"). Subjective phrases like "I feel" or "I think" often signal unsupported statements that need to be explained.
Don't hesitate to evaluate and critique what you have read. Many novice writers are good at writing detailed descriptions but balk at evaluating the work of established researchers. Evaluation requires more work and entails more risk, but without it, your paper lacks original synthesis, which falls short of the goal of the paper: to make an original contribution to a research area.
How to reference
Below are the most common citation styles used for writing lab reports (see also pp. 194-221 of the APA Manual, 5th ed., and our APA citations handout).
Requirements
Use APA format unless instructed to do otherwise. Capitalization, spacing, punctuation, and underlining must be exactly as specified. Correct APA style is important because it will make your paper easier to read and help you to present information accurately. Keep in mind that publishers convert APA-formatted manuscripts into the specific format used in their journal (and non-APA journals may not even use APA style), so don't just copy a style that you see in a journal.
How to Proceed
List all authors cited in the text in alphabetical order. Do not list authors that you did not cite in the text, or cite authors of primary citations when you read only the secondary citation (see APA citations).
Use the correct citation format for each source (see examples below, the APA manual, or APA citations).
Double-space each citation, indenting each line after the first (hanging indent). Instructors may allow older formats, or single spacing with a double space between references, but this is not APA format.
Examples:
Journal with one author:
Sanders, G. P. (1990). Animal models of discrimination learning. Journal of Learning and Behavior, 81, 635 - 647.
Journal with two or more authors:
Becker, L. J., & Seligman, C. (1996). Infant social behavior: Developmental issues. The Development of Children, 5, 1 - 43.
Book:
Bernstein, T. M. (1965). The careful writer: A modern guide to English usage. New York: Atheneum.
A study cited within a later study (secondary citation):
Copyright 1997-2004, University of Washington APApaper.pdf
04/21/04
Smith (cited in Jones, 1996) argued that …
The example above refers to a 1996 paper by Jones (which you read), in which Jones cited a 1954 paper by
Smith (which you did not read). Always try to read the original article (see APA citations for an explanation).
If you think that you must refer to Smith's study, but you are unable to read Smith's paper, then cite only
Jones in the reference list. In the text, cite Smith, but not the year of Smith's study, as shown above.
Source:
University of Washington
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