Mla Running Ahead

Abstract

The text of the abstract goes here. It should be a single paragraph has a block format, that is, the first line should not be indented. The purpose of this section is to provide a brief and comprehensive summary of the study. It should be accurate (do not include information here that is not in the body of the manuscript), self-contained (spell out abbreviations), concise (120 word maximum), and specific (begin this section with the most important information and limit it to the four or five most important concepts, findings, or implications of the study). As part of the theme of being concise, use digits for all numbers except when they begin a sentence. Avoid citing references in the abstract. Paraphrase rather than quoting. Use active rather than passive voice (but without personal pronouns). Use past tense for procedures and present tense for results. It is a good idea to write this section last. Also notice that everything about this manuscript is double spaced. The next section begins on a new page. If you press and hold down the ctrl key while you press the enter key, MS Word will force a page break.

Title of the manuscript is retyped here

Begin the introduction here. Retype your title and center it at the top of the introduction as indicated above. Notice that these paragraphs should have a normal (.5 inch) indent. The main purpose of this section is to tell the reader why you performed the study. In other words, you have to inform the reader of the research question and indicate why it is important, and how it is unique when compared to previous studies. It starts out broad and becomes more and more specific. For example, you might begin by defining any relevant terms. Then go on to review the relevant literature. Avoid an exhaustive and historical review. Then go on to make clear the connection between previous research and the present work. You might include any hypotheses and the rationale for them. The final paragraph usually contains a statement which clearly and explicitly states why the study was performed. Thus, this section should contain an absolute minimum of four paragraphs: the general introduction, the literature review, the connection of the present study to the literature and the explicit statement of purpose..

Method

Subjects or Participants

Indicate who participated in the study, how many, and how were they selected. Include any details which are relevant to the study (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, strain, weight, etc.). If the subjects were human, what type of reward or motivation was used to encourage them to participate?

Apparatus

Describe what materials were used and how they functioned in the study. If you use a piece of equipment, you must give the model number, company, and state where the company resides (as a two-letter abbreviation). You must give the dimensions (and perhaps other descriptive details) of any important items used in the study. Standard equipment such as furniture, stopwatches, pencils and paper, can usually be mentioned without providing a lot of details. In fact, you may often simply mention these items in passing as part of the procedure. Be careful not to describe procedures in this section.

Design

Describe the design and clearly spell out the independent and dependent variables. Indicate what the levels of the independent variables were, and whether the factor(s) were repeated, matched, or independent. Describe how the subjects were assigned to groups. Describe any control procedures used.

Procedure

Carefully summarize each step in the execution of the study. Indicate what a typical test, trial, or session involved. Describe any phases that the study had or any instructions that the subjects received. When referring to groups, try to use descriptive labels.

Results

Look carefully at the results. That is, take a good hard look at all those numbers you collect. Think of different ways to summarize them, as well as to make sense of them. This section will be easier to write if you make any tables and/or figures you intend to use first.

Briefly state the main findings in words. That is, first give a general description, then go into the details. When presenting the results of statistical tests,