Make a title page for your paper. This page should contain the title of your paper, followed by a line with your name (first, middle initial and last), followed by another line with the name of your educational institution. This information should be centered on the page horizontally, and slightly above the center vertically. The title page should also contain a running head saying, "Running head:" followed by the title of your paper. Every other page should include only the title of your paper as a running head.
Write an abstract for your paper on a new page. Other than the running head, this page should contain only the word "Abstract" on the first line (centered horizontally) and a 150- to 250-word summary of what is to come in your paper. According to Purdue OWL, this "should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions." This is vital for experimental reports and similar papers, but not always necessary for literature reviews and similar works.
Write the body of your paper. This should include an introduction explaining why your topic matters and --- in an experimental report --- what problem you tried to solve. An experimental report should go on to explain your method and results in detail, then discuss these results.
Write a reference list (or bibliography) with detailed information about each source you cited in your paper or used in your research. A basic reference list entry for a book should follow this format according to Purdue OWL:
Author, A.A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
Italicize the title of the book in your reference list. The list is alphabetized by the author's last name. After the first line of each entry, the reference list is indented a half-inch.