Running head: WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

[maximum of 50 characters, counting letters,

punctuation, and spaces) in all upper-case letters]

Writing a Research Paper in the APA Style for Scholarly Publishing

(No more than 12 words)

Rebat K. Dhakal
Kathmandu University School of Education

Author Note
Rebat K. Dhakal is a doctoral student at the School of Education, Kathmandu
University, Lalitpur, Nepal.
This research was supported in part by grants from the University Grants
Commission, Nepal.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rebat K. Dhakal,
School of Education, Kathmandu University, Hattiban, Lalitpur, Nepal.
E-mail: rkdhakal@kusoed.edu.np

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Abstract

An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article; it allows readers
to survey the contents of an article quickly and, like a title, it enables persons interested in the
document to retrieve it from abstracting and indexing databases. Most scholarly journals
require an abstract. Word limits vary from journal to journal and typically range from 150 to
250 words. When preparing your manuscript, begin the abstract on a new page and identify it
with the running head or abbreviated title and the page number 2. The label Abstract should
appear in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered, at the top of the page. Type the abstract
itself as a single paragraph without paragraph indentation. Most people have their first
contact with an article by seeing just the abstract, usually in comparison with several other
abstracts, as they are doing a literature search. Readers frequently decide on the basis of the
abstract whether to read the entire article. The abstract needs to be dense with information.
By embedding key words in your abstract, you enhance the user's ability to find it. A good
abstract is accurate, nonevaluative, coherent and readable, and concise.
Keywords: formatting, APA, cover page

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Introduction

This guide provides an overview of the process of preparing and submitting a

scholarly manuscript for publication in a scholarly journal. Write the introduction to the paper
(without an Introduction heading because it is assumed). Be sure to clearly state the issue as
you see it along with your thesis statement. Outline what you plan to discuss in the following
pages.
Setting the Scene (Level 1 Heading)
This is a sample paper guideline only, and therefore it is not mandatory that all papers
begin with introduction. Some people begin with background whereas other with scene
setting, and yet some without any heading. APA encourages you not to state anything for the
introductory section as in the above paragraph. You may have some other (creative and
innovative) ways of organizing your paper. Please, therefore, do not consider this solely as
the best format to follow. Yet, it is always better to know what goes into the introduction
section.
Introduce the problem. The body of a manuscript opens with an introduction that
presents the specific problem under study and describes the research strategy. Because the
introduction is clearly identified by its position in the manuscript, it does not carry a heading
labeling it the introduction.
Before writing the introduction, consider the following questions:
Why is this problem important?
How does the study relate to previous work in the area? If other aspects of this study
have been reported previously, how does this report differ from, and build on, the
earlier report?
What are the primary and secondary hypotheses and objectives of the study, and what,
if any, are the links to theory?

WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

How do the hypotheses and research design relate to one another?

What are the theoretical and practical implications of the study?
A good introduction answers these questions in just a few pages and, by summarizing
the relevant arguments and the past evidence, gives the reader a firm sense of what was done
and why.
Level 2 Heading
This also serves an optional design since it is not necessary that all papers should have
level 2 headings. Some paper may have level 1 headings only. Therefore, you do not need to
consider this as a must have feature in your paper. A note to remember, unless you have a
level 1 heading in your paper, you cannot imagine having a level 2 heading either.
Level 3 heading. Like level 2 headings, level 3 headings are optional, and these are
even less common than level 2 headings. Therefore, you do not need to consider this as an
imperative part of your paper. The same rule applies here too that has been mentioned in
level 2 heading referring to the prerequisite of the earlier level heading for the existence of
the current level heading. To keep it simple, you must have a level 2 heading when you have
a level 3 heading since level 3 heading is obviously a subtopic of level 2 heading.
Level 4 heading. This is also an optional feature of the design of your paper. This
feature may be used when your paper discusses specifically a series of hierarchical in-depth
(sub) topics under some overarching headings. It is worth reminding you all that unless you
have a level 3 heading, you cannot have a level 4 heading either.
Level 5 heading. This level is hard to find in general papers unless they have a series
of hierarchical subtopics. Unless you have level 4 headings, you will definitely not have a
level 5 heading in your paper. That means if you have a subcomponent of a level 4 heading,
then only you will have a level 5 heading in your paper.
Follow the following format of the levels of headings (APA, 2010, p. 62):

WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

Table 1
Levels of Headings
Level of
heading
1
2

Format
Centered, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
Flush Left, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

Indented, bold, lowercase paragraph heading ending in a period.

Indented, bold, italics, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a

period.

Indented, italics, lowercase paragraph ending with a period.

Method
The Method section describes in detail how the study was conducted, including

conceptual and operational definitions of the variables used in the study. Different types of
studies will rely on different methodologies; however, a complete description of the methods
used enables the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of your methods and the reliability
and the validity of your results. It also permits experienced investigators to replicate the
study. If your manuscript is an update of an ongoing or earlier study and the method has been
published in detail elsewhere, you may refer the reader to that source and simply give a brief
synopsis of the method in this section.
Results
In the Results section, summarize the collected data and the analysis performed on
those data relevant to the discourse that is to follow. Report the data in sufficient detail to
justify your conclusions. Mention all relevant results, including those that run counter to
expectation; be sure to include small effect sizes (or statistically nonsignificant findings)
when theory predicts large (or statistically significant) ones. Do not hide uncomfortable
results by omission. Do not include individual scores or raw data, with the exception, for
example, of single-case designs or illustrative examples. In the spirit of data sharing

WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

(encouraged by APA and other professional associations and sometimes required by funding
agencies), raw data, including study characteristics and individual effect sizes used in a metaanalysis, can be made available on supplemental online archives. Discussing the implications
of the results should be reserved for presentation in the Discussion or conclusion section.
Discussion
After presenting the results, you are in a position to evaluate and interpret their
implications, especially with respect to your original hypotheses. Here you will examine,
interpret, and qualify the results and draw inferences and conclusions from them. Emphasize
any theoretical or practical consequences of the results. (When the discussion is relatively
brief and straightforward, some authors prefer to combine it with the Results section, creating
a section called Results and Discussion.)

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References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Fels, L. (n.d.). Complexity, teacher education and the restless jury: Pedagogical moments of
performance. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education,
1(1), 73-98. Retrieved from http//www.complexityandeducation.ca
Lamsal, H. P. (2013). Financing in primary education in Nepal from an equity perspective
and its role in social change (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). School of
Education, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal.
Mulford, B. (2007). Successful School Principalship in Tasmania. In C. Day & K. Leithwood
(Eds.), Successful principal leadership in times of change (pp.17-38). Dordrecht, the
Netherlands: Springer.
Netemeyer, R. D., Krishnan, B., Pullig, C., Wang, G., Yagci, M., Dean, Wirth, F. (2004).
Developing and validating measures of facets of customer- based brand equity.
Journal of Business Research, 57, 209-224.
Rousseau, J. J. (2007). Emile or on education (B. Foxley, Trans.). San Francisco, CA:
Berrett-Koehler. (Original work published 1762)
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization.
New York, NY: Currency Doubleday.
Shrestha, P. (2013a). Education and development. Kathmandu, Nepal: Author.
Shrestha, P. (2013b). Sociology of education. Kathmandu, Nepal: Guinness.
van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive
pedagogy. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.

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Appendix

Like all other optional headings above, this is also a matter of choice depending on
the nature of your paper. Therefore, it is not mandatory that you have this section in your
paper. In case you have a text item to be kept in the appendix, e.g. interview guidelines, you
may refer to it as Appendix: Interview Guidelines. If you have many text items that go into
the appendix section, you will write Appendices and on a new line you will type Appendix
A: Title and on a new page, Appendix B: Title (all without inverted commas, of course).