Most research papers are thesis statement-driven. Sometimes a thesis statement is referred to differently, depending on the area of study. It might be referred to as a hypothesis statement, a problem statement, a research question or something similar. Whatever it's called, it drives the research behind your paper. You need research to prove your thesis statement or support the overall idea behind your paper. Within your paragraphs, you break down your thesis statement into smaller ideas and present your research as evidence to support them. Each paragraph holds one main idea, but it can include one or more pieces of research evidence in the form of a paraphrase or direct quote. Every time you quote or paraphrase others' ideas, you must follow a certain publishing and documenting style for citations in your research paper to avoid plagiarism.
The two main publishing styles followed by most American schools are based on the Modern Language Association, or MLA, and the American Psychological Association, or APA, publication manuals. Sometimes schools follow other styles depending on the instructor and the course, such as Chicago Manual of Style or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE, computer society style. Although the two main styles --- MLA and APA --- have similar documentation and formatting requirements, including citing in-text references and listing references at the end of your research paper, the way in which you set these aspects of your paper up are different for each.
A paper in APA format should be written in a 10 to 12-point font with 1-inch margins on 8.5 by 11-inch sized paper. The text should be double-spaced.
An APA in-text citation includes the following information and is formatted as such: (Author, year, page number). According to the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition," you're not required to include the page number after a paraphrase, but it's preferable. Also, if you include the author's name within the sentence text, you're not required to also include it in the in-text parenthetical citation.
MLA papers should be written on 8.5 by 11-inch paper with 1-inch margins. The text should be double-spaced in 12-point font. The page numbers should appear in a header in the upper-right hand corner of each page.
An MLA in-text citation includes the following information and is formatted as such: (Author page number). According to MLA, you're not required to include the year of the publication within the in-text parenthetical citation. If you include the author's name within the sentence text, you aren't required to also include it within the in-text citation. Note that there is no punctuation between the author's name and the page number in the citation.
APA formatting details of reference list entries depend on the reference type, but the basic entry for an article includes the following:
Last Name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Title of Publication, page numbers.
Indent the second line and all subsequent lines of the entry and italicize the publication title. Create a separate page for your reference list and include it at the end of your research paper; title it "References."
The way in which you format an entry in an MLA "Works Cited" list also depends on reference type. However, a basic entry for an article is formatted as such:
Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Title of Publication. Date. Place of Publication. Date of Retrieval. Medium of Publication.