Report and formatting

Assignment Title >>    Report and formatting

Essential questions for this activity:

How can I organize and present data in ways that are easy to understand?

What skills can I develop to understand graphically presented data?

End product for this activity:

Your are going to write and format a report of about 500 words to meet simple APA formatting guidelines.

 >> Instructions

Guidelines:

• The report will include approximately 500 words – all of which must be written by you, except for the copy you use for block quotations.
• No more than 20% of your paper can be in block quotes.
• It will need to be about a topic for which you can easily find sources.
• You may use your text from your web site as a beginning.
• It can be written in any narrative form, but third person detached, will probably work best.
• It will have page numbers.
• The report will be formatted to meet basic APA guidelines. They are listed below.

You will write the copy for the report, but you may use copy from the web site you created earlier. It must include factual information about your topic and at least three references from outside sources. One source must have enough information to constitute a block quotation of 40 words or longer.

Page formatting

Using the paragraph and font menus.

Go to the page with the sample report text and copy the page contents to begin practice formatting.

Check your work against the examples.

 >> Instructions

1. Build your paper according the format requirements listed below.
2. You can check your work against the example we created in class.
   - Remember you can copy the styles you created by using Shift + Control + C and paste them by applying Shift + Control + V.

Remember the formatting requirements we discussed in class.

Margins:  one inch on all sides (top, bottom, left, right)

Font Size and Type:  12-pt font (Times Roman or Courier are acceptable typefaces)

Line Spacing: Double-space throughout the paper, including the title page, body of the document, and references.

Spacing after Punctuation: Space once after all punctuation. This includes using one space (not two) following punctuation marks at the end of sentences.

Alignment: Flush left (creating uneven right margin)

Paragraph Indentations: 5 spaces

Pagination: The page number appears on the upper right edge of each page of the paper

Paper: Use plain white 81/2 x 11 paper.  Multiple pages are stapled in the upper left-hand corner.  Do NOT enclose in binder or file.

Sample guidelines for APA formatting
Take special note of pages 5-7

This is an excellent youtube video about how to begin the formatting for your document.

Go to this link for the Knight Cite Citation creator.

Check your sources against the format you received from Knight Cite and the example we created in class.

 >> Instructions

We need to be able to identify worthwhile sources. The attached Power Point is designed to help you ask some good questions as you consider whether a source is a good one to use.

Power Point Link

Here are the questions in the Power Point - and they are questions you should consider as you evaluate a web site. I believe the questions shown in bold are the most important and if you can't identify them, don't use the source.

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Evaluating web sources

• Here are some good standards to use when evaluating web sources:
• Is the author an expert in the content?
• Is the site free of bias? If it is biased, does it clearly say so?
• Does it show when it was last updated?
• Is it easy to use? Does the navigation work consistently?
• Can you easily contact the author – by name and professional affiliation?
• Does the author show other sources on the web?
• Is it widely viewed as a reliable source?
• Does the address show a commonly available URL?
• Does the site claim to hold secret information? 

 

To follow

Use the following sources to practice formatting on the Knight Cite page.

http://www.fpri.org/articles/2014/03/russian-invasion-ukraine

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/26/britain-king-richard-iii-tyrant

If you want to find a copy of the Format Practice, click here.

And remember - you can copy the formatting from your practice format report and paste it to your own report! Just select a paragraph that matches the one you want to create and use Shift + Control + C then Shift + Control + V.

 

APAGuidelines

Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials.
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize and italicize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
 

Use a reference and a block quotation for paraphrasing or block quotes 40 words on longer. Here’s an example:
Jones's (1998) study found the following:
Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)
 

For quotations less than 40 words in a sentence, refer to the author, the date of the publication, and where it is found. Here’s is an example.
According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

If  you are using a web source, insert the paragraph number instead of a page number. Here is the paragraph symbol ¶. You can also find it under Insert > Symbol. It's located at the right side of the menu bar.