APA Research Paper

ntroduce the topic

Grab the reader’s attention (e.g., describe a real-world problem, pose a question, use an interesting and relevant anecdote)
Identify the focus of the paper within the topic area you have selected.
Introduce the items you will be discussing in your paper regarding your topic. These items should track to the information covered in the body of your paper, the headings used in body of the paper, and the conclusion.

2. Body

Define the major concepts associated with the focus of your paper and give real-world examples of those concepts. Describe how they relate to your topic.
Describe the evidence presented in the literature that you reviewed that will convince the reader that you have indeed identified important predictors of success in your topic area.

3. Conclusion

Summarize the major points made in the body of your paper
Apply what you learned in the course of writing this paper to your educational/career path. Outline a specific plan that you will follow over the next year or two to achieve success in the topic area that you have chosen. Give specific examples of steps that you will take toward achieving success and connect those steps to what you learned in your review of the literature.

Paper Topics
You will be writing a research paper for this course, which will investigate a topic and theme we’re exploring during the semester. You may choose any of the following topics:

Techniques and strategies for succeeding in college
Techniques and strategies for assessing and developing career goals
Techniques and strategies for preparing for the job market and interviewing
Techniques and strategies for preparing for graduate school

 
Brief Paper Overview: What Do Students Need to Do?

Narrow your topic to a more specific focus.

For example, you might narrow the succeeding in college topic to focus on time management or study skills to help you succeed in college. Or, that topic could be narrowed to focus on how community/campus involvement is related to college success. You could also look at different types of “success”—are you focusing on academic success? Or even ability to develop connections with other students, faculty, or mentors while in college? You could address how to overcome specific challenges faced by students at a largely commuter campus/first generation college students/nontraditional students, etc. There are lots of directions to take within each topic, so make it your own.

Using the PsycINFO database (), locate and review at least four scholarly, peer-reviewed, journal articles published in the last ten years related to your topic, See Library Search pages later in this module for tips on how to locate these articles.

Write a 5-page APA-style paper that introduces the reader to the focus of your paper, summarizes the literature regarding your topic, and provides a conclusion paragraph in which you apply what you have learned to your educational/career path