When you looked at the pages of the APA Pocket Style Manual as part of your reading assignment, you saw instructions on what sections should be included in a report and very specific formatting instructions on things like tables, graphs, charts, quotations, headings, references, and a variety of other items. In this course and others you take. For this discussion board, answer the following questions.
Discussion Topic:
1. Suppose your instructor requires you to follow the formatting instructions in the APA Pocket Style Manual exactly. Is he or she being too picky and should they lighten up a bit?
2. Are specific formatting instructions necessary in a research report? Why or why not?
3. If you are submitting a research report for publication or presentation, why should you be concerned about formatting?
Posting Instructions: You should make your initial discussion board posting no later than the fourth day of the week. Later in the week, return to the discussion, read the postings of your classmates, and comment on at least two of those. Remember to follow similar practice for other discussions throughout the course.
The Research Report
Most of Chapter 17 is devoted to what makes up a good written research report. The final few pages discuss oral presentations of research. You should be familiar with both of these. The sections on the written report are general in nature. Many colleges, universities, professional organizations, and journals will have a specific format that they expect you to follow in a research report. If you are doing a research project for a college course or one that you hope to have published in a journal, you need to find out if there is a prescribed format and get information on that format. Although required formats vary, most include the elements covered in Chapter 17. Read through the examples included in the chapter as well as those in the appendices.
Formatting Papers in APA Style
Read pages 39 through 51 of the APA Pocket Style Manual, then skim through pages 52 through 125.
Pages 39 through 51 give a brief summary of some of the formatting requirements for a research report in APA style. Prior to attempting to write a report following APA requirements, you should have access of the complete version of the latest edition of the APA Manual. Because ERAU requires APA style to be followed in most courses, you should be familiar with these requirements.