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Your Guide to Using the APA Report Writing Format

APA Format of Report Writing Guide for Producing a Scientific Good Report

Recording data in the form of reports has been a significant and usual practice. Reports are well-planned, and research documents and the form of reports can differ from audience to audience.

Concise, accurate, and objective should the fundamental approach for writing an essay. One can write a report for different purposes; they can be business reports, expense reports, sales reports, incident reports, corporate reports, etc. The format of the report may also vary based on its form.

There are different types of report writing format used for various purposes:

Long Reports and Short Reports:

The reports can be internal and informal. Based on the need, the reports can be both long and short. If the reports are longer than ten pages and formal, they are called long reports. The brief reports that are less than ten pages are generally informal. Many business organizations use short reports for their internal assessments.

Internal and External Reports:

Some reports are for the use of the organization only, and they travel within the organization. External reports are to be used outside the organizations as well. It can be a report to be shared with the stakeholder or the customers or the general public.

Periodic Reports:

The periodic reports are written regularly to check the process with projects, business activities. Most organizations publish incident reports, sales reports, progress reports, and others regularly that fall into the periodic report category. The companies produce annual reports, which are periodic reports.

Analytical Reports:

The organizations or companies produce analytical reports to analyze the data and evaluate their business strategies.

Besides the business reports, there are different types of technical reports, for example reports for scientific research papers. The researchers can produce a report describing their processes, strategies, objectives, methodologies, limitations, findings, and other things.

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What Is APA Style?

The particular style of documentation used by the American Psychological Association is known as the APA style. The researchers and students use this style for the reports and documentation related to psychology, anthropology, science, sociology, and other educational topics. The main features of the APA writing style are the in-text citation and reference page.

For the APA style citation, the researchers need to write the author’s name and date within the research paper. The in-text citation refers back to the reference page.

The researchers need to put a detailed list of their reference materials, with information like the author’s name, page number, publication date, and other things. Here is a guide to writing a report in the APA report in the APA format.

Some General Features to Be Followed for APA Style:

There are specific general guidelines mentioned in the 6th edition:

●     For typing the report, the writers need to use 12pt Times New Roman font.

●      The page margins should be one inch.

●      The writers must apply double line spacing.

●     The writers need to use a running head on every page.

●      The writers should use a half-inch indent for every new paragraph.

Format of a Report Writing Using APA Style:

For writing a good report, precision is the key. While writing research reports, business reports, or science reports, the writer needs to ensure that they maintain comprehensibility. A well-written report always attracts readers. The writers need to follow a basic format for writing a letter –

  1. The Headings:

The headings can range from the significant headings, heading 1 to the titles of the chapters. The writers use headings levels 2 to 5 for subheadings. The heading1 should use a centered, bold, title case capitalization, while heading2 uses left-alignment, bold, and title character capitalization. Heading3 uses indent, bold, and sentence case capitalization.

  1. Title:

The title of a report is the gateway to it, and therefore it must be practical and precise. Any obscurity in the case of the title may create confusion about the purpose of the article. The author shall use the title based on their searches and findings.

Though many journals put a particular world limit for the title, the writers should deliver the report’s agenda on its title.

The APA format title page contains running heads, including page number, full paper title written in title case, author name, or names without mentioning their degrees, titles, institutional affiliation.For writing the title, apart from the above features, APA styles’ available features are also applicable.

  1. Abstract:

The abstract of the report is stating the whole report in short. It is like the report’s summary, and researchers need to note the problems addressed by them, procedures, methodology, results, implications, and precisely.

After a small, basic introduction of the report, the writers can mention their purpose and then paraphrase or summarize all these topics. For APA style, the abstract is a one-paragraph summary of the whole project that should have more or less 250 words. For APA format, the abstract page should have a centered heading “Abstract.”

The writers should not use any heading style for this. They must include the specific important keyword at the end of the abstract.

  1. Introduction:

The introduction must have two aspects; the writers can include their study about the topic and the existing literature they have gone through before taking up the particular case for the research. They should also write about their proceedings, methodology, and approach while dealing with the subject.

  1. Method:

The method must have a description of the processes followed. The examiner needs to know about the various steps that the writer followed while writing the report. It makes the whole report more credible.

  1. Results:

This section of the report generally deals with the findings of the researchers or writers. They also need to write about their observations in this section.

  1. Discussions:

One should include the analysis and description of the results in this part of the report. The writers can write about the observations and findings that have led them to some particular conclusions. They can also state the concerns and limitations that they faced while working on the report.

  1. Reference Page:

For APA reference, the sources cited in-text are listed on the reference page. The writers need to include the author’s name, page number, publication date, and other relevant information regarding the work, based on the APA citation format.

The writers can list the names alphabetically. Even if the writers are rewriting the sentences taken from the parts of their reference article and using it in their work, they need to do the citation. Failing to do so leads to plagiarism. The writers can use the rewrite tool to avoid plagiarism.

  1. In-text Citation:

For the APA citation, the in-text citation is a must. The writers must include the name of the author and date of the work in the in-text citation.

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