Counseling & Student Affairs

CH I

INTRODUCTION
Statement of the problem
Purpose of the study
Hypothesis(es)/research question(s)
Definition of terms
Significance of the study
Limitations of the study

CH II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Analysis of related literature

CH III

METHODOLOGY
Description of participants
Instrumentation, validity, and reliability
Procedures
Statistical procedures used

CH IV

RESULTS
Reporting of results and decisions made relative to each hypothesis,  research question, or objective
Summary of results

CH V

DISCUSSION
Recommendations

REFERENCES
APPENDIX(CES)

__

1. Margins are 1.5" on left and 1" on the other sides. Use a ruler to measure.

__

2. Numbers are not on first pages of chapters, but are next to top and right margins in top right hand corner.  Use a ruler to measure.

__

3. Headings are at appropriate level. (See APA Manual, p. 113)

__

4. Page numbers are all the same font as the text and not bold.

__

5. The word "data" is followed by a plural verb.

__

6. "Participants" is used instead of "subjects".

__

7. Turn widows and orphans off: Do not have single lines at the top or bottom of a page.

__

8. Do not have page long paragraphs anywhere in the thesis.  Break them up so they are easier to read.

__

9. Avoid the use of the first person: I, we, me, our.

__

10. Courier font with 12 point is used throughout.  No micro justification.

__

11. All quotations have page numbers and only quotations have page numbers.

__

1. Cover page is spaced appropriately.

__

2. Cover page content is correct.

__

3. Announcement page has correct content and spacing with no page number.

__

4. Acknowledgments page has correct content, spacing, and lower case Roman numbers (ii) at center bottom of page.

__

5. Table of Contents has correct format, spacing, and numbering.

__

6. Table of Contents has headings that are identical to those in the text, including same level.  Note single and double spacing.

__

7. List of Tables has correct format, spacing, and numbering.

__

8. List of Figures has correct format, spacing, and numbering.

__

9. Chapter numbers use Roman (I, II) instead of Arabic (1, 2).

__

1. Chapter I is a Level 5 heading.

__

2. Introduction is a Level 1 heading.

__

3. No page number on first page.

__

4. The following Level 3 headings occur in the following order: Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Research Question(s) or Hypothesis(es), Definition of Terms, Significance of the Study, and Limitations of the Study.

__

5. Statement of the Problem section goes from the general to the specific.

__

6. Purpose section has a sentence in it that says, "The purpose of this study was to.."

__

7. Research questions or hypotheses are stated so that they meet Borg and Gall criteria, as stated on pp. 68-70 in the 5th edition.

__

8. Only concepts defined are Level 4 headings.

__

9. All concepts defined are Level 4 headings.

__

10. Concepts that are defined are alphabetized.

__

11. For all concepts defined, the concept is repeated in a complete sentence after the heading.

__

12. The Significance of the Study section tells why it is important to conduct the study.

__

13. The Limitations section contains at least three limitations.  Some possible limitations are: the sample may not be representative, the tests may not measure what they were supposed to measure or may not measure it well, and another limitation.

__

14. If you used volunteers, then this is automatically another limitation. See Borg and Gall (5th ed.), pp. 227-230 to identify ways in which your volunteers are likely to differ from non-volunteer participants.

__

1. Chapter II is a Level 5 heading.

__

2. Literature Review is a Level 1 heading.

__

3. No page number on first page.

__

4. The introductory paragraph(s) end with a sentence that lists the Level 3 headings in the chapter in the same words as the headings and in the same order.

__

5. In general, there is a section for each major concept in the hypothesis as well as sections for studies that are similar to the one being conducted.

__

6. Each section starts off with an introductory paragraph telling what the section is about.

__

7. Topics are discussed in the same order as introduced in the introductory paragraph.

__

8. Each paragraph starts off with a topic sentence and items within the paragraph are related to the topic of the topic sentence.

__

9. Each section ends with a summary paragraph which gives the author's conclusions about the topics discussed in the section. In general, there is no new information and no references in the summaries.

__

10. The last section in Chapter II is a section entitled Summary, with a Level 3 heading. This summary section summarizes the author's conclusions from the literature review.

__

11. Section and chapter summaries include the author's own personal evaluations of the topics discussed.  What does the literature reviewed mean to the author?  The author should share his or her thinking with the reader.

__

1. Chapter III is a Level 5 heading.

__

2. Methodology is a Level 1 heading.

__

3. No page number is on the first page.

__

4. There is an introductory paragraph.

__

5. There are at least four sections given as Level 3 headings and in the following order: Participants, Measures, Procedures, and Data Analysis.

__

6. The Participants section tells about the population and sample in detail and meets the criteria given by Borg and Gall (5th ed.), p. 219.

__

7. The Measures section has sections devoted to each test (or measure, instrument, or treatment) used in the study.  Each test has at least one paragraph devoted to the validity of the test and one paragraph devoted to the reliability of the study.  Make sure that actual coefficients (r = .56) or ranges of coefficients are given for both reliability and validity for each test.  If there are no validity or reliability coefficients for a test (hopefully you did not use such a test) then state either that fact or that the authors did not report actual coefficients.

__

8. The Procedures section describes what you did in sufficient detail that another researcher can duplicate or replicate what you did.

__

9. The Data Analysis section should state what statistics you used and why you selected them.  Your advisor may help you with this.

__

10. If there is demographic data about your participants you may report them in the Participants section.  This keeps your Results chapter cleaner.  However, you may report the demographic data in your Results chapter.  If you do your demographic data in the Results chapter, you would report them first as Demographic Data.

__

1. Chapter IV is a Level 5 heading.

__

2. Results is a Level 1 heading.

__

3. No page number on first page.

__

4. If there are Level 3 headings in this chapter, usually they are for each hypothesis or research question.

__

5. If you administered tests, you will usually want to report the range of scores for each test.  Each range should be presented in a table which lists the scores for each participant, starting with the highest score and ending with the smallest score.  If you divided the scores in any way, draw lines indicated where these divisions or cutoffs were made (e.g., High, Medium, and Low).

__

6. For each table, the information in the text should summarize all the information in the table.

__

7. Tables should appear on the same or next page after they are mentioned in the text.

__

8. Move text up so that it fills in white spaces around tables.

__

9. Tables and Figures follow format essentially as given in examples attached. (See pp. 147-201 in APA Manual.)  You may use bold lines across the top and bottom to set off your table (as in example Table 1) if you wish and your software will do it.  You do not need to do this.  [I have crammed the example tables on the page so they would fit-so the spacing is not correct.]

__

10. See pp. 137-140 in APA Manual for ways to present statistics in the text.

__

1. Chapter V is a Level 5 heading.

__

2. Discussion is a Level 1 heading.

__

3. No page number is on the first page.

__

4. Provide a brief paragraph summary of the purpose and findings of your study.

__

5. Discuss all the results reported in Chapter IV and what you think they mean.  Discuss them in the same order as they were presented in Chapter IV; in other words, research question or hypothesis order.

__

6. You may draw conclusions from your discussion, but this is not necessary.

__

7. Close the chapter with a section called Recommendations, which is a Level 3 heading.

__

1. References is a Level 5 heading.  Page is numbered in upper right.

__

2. References are in alphabetical order.

__

3. All references in the text are in the Reference section; only the references in the text are in the References section; and all references in the text match (in terms of author's name and date) the references in the References section.

__

4. All references use the hanging indent.  Indent starts under fourth letter (hit space bar three times.)

__

5. All references follow APA style.  See pp. 207-281 in APA Manual.

__

6. Each Appendix had a cover sheet with APPENDIX A (etc., Level 5 heading) centered on the page.  Double spaced below APPENDIX A is the title of the appendix in Level 1 heading.

__

7. All appendix pages are numbered in upper right corner.