Summary:
Written for undergraduate students and new graduate students in psychology (experimental), this handout provides information on writing in psychology and on experimental report and experimental article writing.
Appendices: When appendices might be necessary
Appendices allow you to include detailed information in your paper that would be distracting in the main body of the paper. Examples of items you might have in an appendix include mathematical proofs, lists of words, the questionnaire used in the research, a detailed description of an apparatus used in the research, etc.
Format of appendices
Your paper may have more than one appendix. Usually, each distinct item has its own appendix. If your paper only has one appendix, label it "Appendix" (without quotes.) If there is more than one appendix, label them "Appendix A," "Appendix B," etc. (without quotes) in the order that each item appears in the paper. In the main text, you should refer to the Appendices by their labels.
The actual format of the appendix will vary depending on the content; therefore, there is no single format. In general, the content of an appendix should conform to the appropriate APA style rules for formatting text.
Footnotes and Endnotes: When footnotes/endnotes might be necessary
Because APA style uses parenthetical citations, you do not need to use footnotes or endnotes to cite your sources. The only reasons you need to use footnotes are for explanatory (content) notes or copyright permission. Content footnotes contain information that supplements the text, but would be distracting or inappropriate to include in the body of the paper. In other words, content footnotes provide important information that is a tangent to what you are discussing in your paper.
The footnote should only express one idea. If it is longer than a few sentences, then you should consider putting this information in an appendix. Most authors do not use footnotes because they tend to be distracting to the readers. If the information is important, authors find a way to incorporate it into the text itself or put it in an appendix.
If you are including a quote that is longer than 500 words or a table or figure in your paper that was originally published elsewhere, then you need to include a footnote that acknowledges that you have permission from the owner of the copyright to use the material.
See our APA guidelines on Footnotes and Endnotes for more information.
When to use tables
Tables enable you to show your data in an easy to read format. However, you do not need to present all of your data in tabular form. Tables are only necessary for large amounts of data that would be too complicated in the text. If you only need to present a few numbers, you should do so directly in the text, not in a table.
How to use tables
Each table should be identified by a number, in the order that they appear in the text (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, etc.). When using a table, you need to refer to the table in the text (e.g., "As shown in Table 1,…") and point out to the reader what they should be looking for in the table. Do not discuss every piece of data that is in the table or else there is no point in having the table. Only mention the most important pieces of information from the table.
The table should also make sense on its own. Be sure to explain all abbreviations except standard abbreviations such as M, SD, and df. Don’t forget to identify the unit of measurement.
APA style has a specific format for tables. Tables should appear at the end of your paper, after the reference list and before any appendixes. Every table needs a unique title after its label. The title should be brief but clearly explain what is in the table.
From the course: Writing a Business Report Video is locked. “ - Will your business report need an appendix, or if more than one item, the plural appendices? Probably. How do you determine if an appendix is
necessary? Ask questions such as, "Do I have information "that is not essential to explain my findings, "but that supports my overall analysis?" "Information that my reader might want to see, "but not at the moment he is actually reading the report?" One example of information that could be included in an appendix is summary graphics or visuals, a visual that doesn't support a specific body section, but shows the summary of all the statistical data in the report, and maybe in an easy-to-read
table. For example, in the report body might be a chart comparing the sales in four branch stores as representative examples of the north, south, east, and west. But the reader might want to see more than these four locations that you're analyzing. So sales for all branches could be provided in a table placed in the appendix. You might even include a map… Unlock the full course today
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Writing the appendices