MANUSCRIPT

STRUCTURE
AND
FORMATING
APA 6TH EDITION
SUBMITTED TO: MS SUMAIRA GULZAR
SUBMITTED BY : REEMA PERVEZ
DATED : 22-08-2014
MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
PAGE FORMAT
One inch margin from top, bottom and right side. Whereas 1.5 inch margin form left side.
Page number is placed in the header top right corner of the page.
Text should be in Times New Roman and font size should be 12.
Left side of paper is justified only.
Double spacing throughout the paper.
5-7 space indention before every paragraph. There is no extra spacing between
paragraphs.
BASIC RULES
Observe double spacing after period and single spacing after commas, colons and semi
colons.
Quotations should be written in double quotation marks.
Any number below ten should be written in words. If number is less than one, in case of
decimal fraction, use 0 before decimal point.
MANUSCRIPT ELEMENTS:
TITLE:
A title should;
Summarize main idea of manuscript
Be simple and stylish, if possible.
Identify variables or theoretical issues under consideration and relationship
among them.
Be fully explanatory when read.
Avoid words that serve no useful purpose.
Be no more than 12 words.
Be in upper and lower case
Be between left and right margin
Be positioned in upper half of page
AUTHORS NAME (BYLINE):
First name, middle names (s) and last name.
Use same order throughout publication career.
Omit all titles and degree
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION:
Mention two institutions only if two institutions aided substantially in research
work.
If author has no institutional affiliation, list city and state of residence below
author name.
If affiliation has changes since work has completed, give current affiliation in
authors note.
Names of authors should appear in order of their contribution.
Centered between side margins.
For names with suffixes separate name from suffix with space instead of comma.
Institutional affiliation must be centered under authors names in next line.
BYLINE VARIATION EXAMPLE
One author
No affiliation
Authors name
City, state
Two authors
One affiliation
Author 1 and author 2
Institutional affiliation
Three authors
One affiliations
Author 1, author 2 and author 3
Institutional affiliation
Two authors
Two affiliations
Author 1
Respective affiliation
Author 2
Respective affiliation
Three authors
Two affiliations
Author 1 and author 2
Their institutional affiliation
Author 3
Institutional affiliation
AUTHOR NOTE:
Provide affiliations.
Acknowledgements.
Disclaimers.
Perceived conflict of interest.
Point of contact for reader
Not required for students writing thesis
1. First paragraph
Departmental affiliations of all authors at time of study.
Name of author as in byline, comma, department name, comma, university name,
and semi-colon, next authors name, and so on, end with period.
In case of no institutional affiliation give city name and state.
In case of authors affiliation outside United States, provide city and country
name.
Include province for authors from Canada or Australia.
No degrees should be given
States names should be spelled out.
2. Second paragraph
Identify changes in author affiliation subsequent to the time of study.
[Authors name] is now at [affiliation].
Affiliation should include department and institution.


3. Third paragraph:
Acknowledgments:
Identify grants or other financial support (and source, if appropriate)
Do not precede grant numbers by No. or #
Acknowledge colleagues (who assisted in conducting research or critique of
manuscript)
Do not acknowledge the persons routinely involved in the review and acceptance
of manuscripts- peer reviews or editors, associate editors, and consulting editors
of journal in which article is to be published.
If any idea proposed by the reviewer is to be acknowledged, do so where the idea
is discussed in text.
Explain special agreements concerning authorship e.g. authors contributed equally
to the study.
End with thanks for personal assistance in manuscript preparation.
Special circumstances:
o Manuscript based on data also used in previously published report.
o Publication of related reports.
o Any relationships may be perceived as conflict of interest.
o Employer or granting organization requires a disclaimer such as report does not
reflect views of that organization.
Mention special circumstances before acknowledgements in third paragraph.
4. Fourth paragraph:
Complete mailing address for correspondence.
End this paragraph with email address and no period.
FORMATTING OF AUTHOR NOTE
Place author note on title page (below title and affiliation).
Centre the label Author Note.
Start each paragraph with an indent.
Author note is not numbered or cited in the text.

ABSTRACT:
Single paragraph. No indention.
Do not include information that is not present in article.
In case of replication of study mention authors name and year of publication.
Report rather than evaluate.
Clear and concise.
Use verbs rather than their noun equivalents.
Be brief and informative.
Only 4-5 most important concepts of paper.
Active voice
Use important words
Do not repeat words
150-250 words
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.
INTRODUCTION:
Does not carry a heading.
Identified by its position in manuscript.
Describe importance of problem.
State differing opinions or theories in unbiased tone.
State relevant literature.
Provide citations for previous and recent scholarly work.
Difference between previous and recent studies.
Avoid non essential information.
Logical continuity between works.
State hypothesis.
Approach towards solving the problem.
Begin introduction on new page.
Running heading and the page number 3.
Type title of manuscript in lower an upper case centered at top of page.
All other headings occur in running text.
Do not start new page for every heading proceeding introduction.
METHOD:
Conceptual and operational definitions of variables used in study.
Identify sub sections.
Any experimental manipulation or interventions used and how they were
delivered.
Sampling procedure, sample size and precision.
Measurement approaches and psychometric properties of instrument used.
Research design. If design is complex, include description in sub headings.
If humans participated in the study, report the eligibility and exclusion
criteria, including any restrictions based on demographic characteristics.
Sampling procedure:
o Sampling method
o Percentage of sample approached that participated
o The number of participants who selected themselves into sample.
State how sample size was determined.
Provide evidences that study has sufficient power to detect effects f substantive
interest.
Include in the Method section information that provides def-initions of all
primary and secondary outcome measures and covariates, including measures
collected but not included in this report.
Specify research design.
Provide a description of how participants were grouped during data acquisition.
RESULTS:
Provide dates defining the period of recruitment and follow up.
Analysis of data and reporting of results.
Results should be reported in unbiased tone.
Do not review basic concepts and procedures.
Do not give references for commonly or basically used statistical procedures.
Report missing data statistically along with empirical evidence.
When reporting the results of inferential statistical tests or when providing
estimates of parameters or effect sizes, include sufficient information.
Report any analysis performed that were exploratory but not necessary.
Provide number of respondents who did not complete study.
If interventions or experimental manipulations were used, provide confirmation
on whether they were delivered as anticipated.
Provide demographics (baseline data) of each group.
DISCUSSION:
Explain significance of the outcomes.
Basis for interpretations.
If study is replicable what model or phenomenon can be modeled by results?
Warranty of application on basis of research.
Unsolved problems or new problems identified by results.
REFRENCES:
Start references on new page.
FOOTNOTES:
Content footnote should supply only one idea.
Present important information in text not in footnote.
Footnote also contains information about copyrights (if any).
APPENDICES:
A list of stimulus material.
Detailed explanation of complex theories.
A complete list of articles, in case of Meta data analysis, which are not referred in
text but aided in research.
Detailed demographic description of subpopulations in the study.