Your One-stop Writing Workshop (at least for my classes)!

Welcome to this very resourceful page! If you have any questions concerning writing in APA format that are not answered by the information on this page or the OWL at Purdue link provided below left, please submit the question through the Discussion Board at left.
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The purpose of this page is to provide to you some knowledge on how to write an empirical or theoretical paper you can be quite proud of! You will use these skills again and again if you take any science, education, engineering, or psychology courses in college. Writing empirical and theoretical papers also helps you to organize your thoughts, develop your powers of observation, apply theoretical scientific principles to empirical findings, and analyze empirical data. 

While some attention will be given to writing theoretical articles, this page will focus on the more challenging requirements of writing empirical studies. Please print out the Check-off list I have provided below before writing your paper, so you are fully aware of the requirements.

Writing Empirical Studies

According to the Sixth Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association [APA], 2010), empirical studies - such as those you write for your General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Advanced Physics courses, represent reports of the research you are carrying out in say, a laboratory environment. These reports contain ". . . distinct sections that reflect the stages in the research process and that appear in the following sequence:

  • introduction: development of the problem under investigation, including its historical antecedents, and statements of the purpose of the investigation; 
  • method: description of the procedures used to conduct the investigation;
  • results: report of the findings and analyses; and
  • discussion: summary, interpretation, and implications of the results" (p. 10).​

There are numerous other paper types that use APA formatting, such as theoretical articles, methodological articles, and case studies - to name a few, but for our class, we will be writing what are called empirical studies.

Theoretical Articles

One could view a theoretical article much like a literature review. In the process of advancing a new theory of interest, you need to provide a background and history of the phenomenon you are addressing, and the theory you are challenging. This background must be supported by references to the primary literature - those articles found in peer-reviewed journals, not on Wikipedia, websites, or popularized science magazines and books (these are at best secondary sources).

As an example, if you are writing a paper critical of the materialistic conclusions drawn from the Stanley Miller and Harold Urey experiments of the 1950's, and want to propose a design hypothesis instead, you would write under the format of a theoretical article. In such an article you would reference papers documenting the original experiments published at the time, together with those critical of Miller and Urey's assumptions, and advance a theory that better fits the data.

Unlike Empirical Studies, the sections contained within a theoretical article can vary in order of their content.

Constituents of Empirical Studies in More Detail

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While the list above introduces the constituents contained within an empirical study, they all require more clarification.

​Title Page
First and foremost, make sure that any manuscript you turn in has a Title Page, that includes the title - which is a concise statement identifying the "variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them," (APA, 2000, p. 23), your own name, and your institutional affiliation (see figure at right).  

For our class purposes, the author's note should include the names of your lab partners, and crediting me if you use my data in your report. 

Do note on the Title Page the words at top: "Running head: CALORIMETRY TO COMPARE THE ENERGY CONTENT OF FOODS." You will need to insert this on the Title page only, and on subsequent pages include only the title in caps, "CALORIMETRY TO COMPARE THE ENERGY CONTENT OF FOODS."

Introduction 
The purpose of the introduction is to introduce the specific problem under study and describe the research strategy.  You may want to consider these questions before writing, and answer in the body of your text:
  • Why is this problem worth investigation in the first place?
  • Based upon your theoretical understanding of the principles surrounding the problem, what are your primary and secondary hypotheses? 
  • What are the objectives of the study and how are they linked to theory?
  • Summarize the research design and your findings.
After the abstract, the introduction is the most difficult thing to write - you should save it for after you write the methods, results, and discussion sections (in that order).

Method
This section describes in detail how your study was conducted. This should be so complete that anyone with your similar background could carry out the investigation. In this section you want to include all materials, equipment, chemicals and techniques used in the execution of your investigation. You may divide this into subsections, so that one section enumerates the materials you used, and another the protocol. If you performed two different types of experiments, these may similarly be divided into subsections.

Do not include results in this section. As an example, do not say, "We measured the increase in temperature and found it to be 116 degrees Celsius." Instead say, "We noted the increase in temperature and recorded it in Table 1.3."
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Results
Here you include measured values, calculated values, and statistically derived values. Feel free to include graphical representations of your data, such as data tables, pie charts, and graphs.

You want to be sure to not merely present these visual elements, but describe them.  As an example, in this calorimetry lab, you would not let your data table alone present your percent error for a peanut versus the crouton; make a statement: "Note that the percent error for the peanut (12.81%) demonstrates that our empirically-derived numbers were much more accurate when compared to theoretical values, than those for the crouton (81.57%)."

Discussion
After presenting your results, the discussion allows space to evaluate and interpret them. You might answer whether the results supported your original hypothesis? If not, why? What could you have done to improve on the experiment? What were the limitations of your study? Perhaps the study could have been improved by performing more than a single trial? You might state something such as, "Our calorimetric setup had many limitations, since much of the heat released by the burning food was not directed onto the flask, but lost to the surroundings." Simply put, the discussion section is where you simply discuss your results.

References
These acknowledge the work of scholars you cite, and provide a reliable means by which readers of your paper can locate their work. Start  your reference list on a new page, and double-space all entries. You may want to include your textbook, it would appear as follows:

References for course textbooks
For General Chemistry labs:
Wilbraham, A.C., Staley, D.D., Matta, M.S., & Waterman, E.L. (2002). Chemistry. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

For Organic Chemistry labs:
Karty, J. (2014). Organic Chemistry: Principles and Mechanisms. WW Norton & Company.

For Advanced Physics labs:
Wilson, J.D., Buffa, A.J., & Lou, B. (2007). College Physics, Sixth Edition.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Vinaja, S., Ridgely, J., Shoemaker, T., Smith, S., & McDivitt, B. (2017). Physics: The foundational science - laboratory manual. Pensacola, FL: A Beka Book.

References for lab protocol handouts
For General Chemistry Hydrometer/ Specific Gravity lab:
Providence Extension Program/ General Chemistry course (2019). Using a Hydrometer to Determine Concentration of Sugar in a Commercial Soft Drink. Loveland, OH: Self-publish.

For General Chemistry Calorimetry lab:
Providence Extension Program/ General Chemistry course. (2018). Energy Content of Foods – Calorimetry. Loveland, OH: Self-publish.

For Organic Chemistry Biodiesel lab:
Loyola University of Chicago - Institute of Environmental Sustainability. (2017). Biodiesel Labs - Teacher Manual with Student Documents. Retrieved from: https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/sustainability-new/pdfs/biodiesel/Biodiesel%20Curricula%20-%20Version%205.0.pdf

For Advanced Physics Hooke's Law lab:
Providence Extension Program/ Advanced Physics course. (2018). Hooke's Law. Loveland, OH: Self-publish.

Credits for this Webpage:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition: American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association.