What is your favorite resource for teaching APA research papers?

[Melissa in CA]

My oldest, currently taking Psychology in college, is having to write his very first APA research paper. He's feeling a bit overwhelmed to say the least. I thought perhaps I could find something simple to help walk him through it. He needs simple step by step instruction, nothing too complicated or he'll shut down. He is my learning disabled who struggled his whole entire life with academics (ex. two full years to complete Alg 1). If he can pull off this paper, it will be a milestone for him.

Any advice would be appreciated!

~Melissa

[Bev in B'ville]

If you haven't already done so, pick up the APA Manual (5th Ed.) from your local bookstore. It has sample papers and how to's in there for every step of the paper.

My dd just wrote her first research proposal. She tends to think very linearly (Title first, then abstract, then intro....then conclusion). I told her to write the methods section first. If there are results or expected results, write that section next. Then, write the introduction section. Follow that with the conclusion section with suggested future research topics arising from his study. It should be fairly easy by that point. The abstract and the title are last. (In case you're wondering, I used to teach this at a university here and have published several papers using the APA manaul.)

HTH.
Bev

[Linda in NM]

The O.W.L. site from Purdue--I believe it's even got a downloadable APA paper--lots of info and very easy to use. (I recommend it to all my college students...)

[MaryM]

Seconding LindaNM's suggestion and here's the link:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

[Melissa in CA]

Thanks ladies! :D