In this course, you may be tasked with finding research studies. Research studies are typically long, in-depth treatments of a narrow question, rather than a comprehensive look at a broad question, and are designed to seek evidence to answer a question using data. These studies differ from the opinion pieces that one typically finds on the open web. They will typically be found in library databases, rather than on the Internet. Using research studies is important because your assertions will be backed by evidence rather than just conjecture.
A research study must:
Research articles are almost always published in scholarly journals. The articles often follow the format of a lab report and contain headings such as: Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.
Empirical studies are nearly always presented in academic journals. They report on the process and results of primary research. They contain sections on: literature review, methods and materials, results and conclusions. Sometimes the sections have slightly different names. Empirical articles tend to be more complex than other types of literature, but the abstract can help give you a general understanding of what will follow in the article.
Below is an example of a empirical study published in a journal article. (click on image for full article)
You can tell it is a journal article because you can see the title of the journal, the volume, the pages and the date. This information is in the top left hand corner in the above example, but it can be on the opposite side, or at the bottom depending on the journal.
If you were going to cite the above journal in your bibliography, it would be cited as:
Bell, E. R., Greenfield, D. B., Bulotsky-Shearer, R. J., & Carter, T. M. (2016). Peer play as a context for identifying profiles of children and examining rates of growth in academic readiness for children enrolled in Head Start. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 108(5), 740-759. doi:10.1037/edu0000084
To cite the article within the text using parenthetical format, use:
(Bell et al., 2016)
Please consult the APA manual, printed guides located at the citation center, or the library's APA LibGuide.