Crmj 300 Research Methods in Criminal Justice & Security

How to write and form a APA paper

Joshua Ryan Wells

American Military University

Professor Alex Ekwuaju

CRMJ 300 Research Methods in Criminal Justice & Security

Introduction:

In the essay you will read how to properly form a paper in the APA format. It will break it down from the cover page, to the introduction, the body, and then the reference page. Following the guidelines of the APA format will help in further classes.

When it comes to writing an APA paper there are certain ways to form this paper. The first thing your paper should find out is what type of paper you are writing about. Is the paper your essay a analyzing paper, a compare and contrast, a cause and effect, interpretation, or an argument essay. This is where you create a strong thesis statement. The title paper will first introduce the person reading the paper, knows what the topic is about, along with what class, the due date, and the names of the person writing the essay as well as the professor of the course. At the top of each page you will place the title of the paper along with the page number so the reader doesn't get lost or accident skips a page. After the title page you move to the next page which will compose of your abstract or introduction of the topic. This is a summary of the entire paper put into a least one sentence. It will compose the main ideas of the topic and the results of the topic. Then you will come to the body of your paper. You will need to set up the margins correctly to 1- inch margins all around, make sure you have the spacing set to double space, times new roman font and the size must be 12, and when you start the first paragraph make sure you indent it about a ½ inch. The thesis statement should be able to show the type of research you were able to complete on the topic. It can be used to create an argument on the topic you are researching about. To form the thesis you have to have a question for your essay and be able to answer and the answer to the question is what composes your thesis statement. After you have formed your thesis statement you will move onto the organizing of you paper. This is where the research on the topic comes into play. When you're researching a topic, you will be taking notes, writing stuff done. You're going to take all this research and start to organize it into whatever you topic of the essay may be. The research is where you will find the evidence to prove what you are trying to prove is true and accurate. This is what is also called the body or the sections of the paper and this all depends on the type of paper you are trying to write. In this portion of the paper is where you will telling your reader what it is your trying to tell them. The