APA Format Case Study
APA is used to conduct a research in social sciences. It is one of the most popular formats to follow, and it is obligatory to use it in writing a major number of students’ papers in many universities. Students are taught to write a case study format APA since it is also used for a scientific research.
How to Write a Case Study Paper in APA
Case study format APA means following the proper formatting style, but all other requirements for conducting a research still the same.
Start from choosing a topic. It is very positive if it is not set by circumstances, but in interesting for a researcher himself. This will affect the work itself in a positive way. If an author is interested in writing on this topic, then it will be interesting for others to read it.The next step is to decide on the amount of work that one is going to write. If there is a lot of material, then maybe it makes sense to make the topic narrower or re-qualify the scientific work in the thesis.
APA case study needs a well-developed plan. Writing a plan will help to organize the events that one want to tell the scientific community, his thoughts on this matter and the conclusions that he makes on their basis. Consider in the plan of scientific work that in the first part of it a task should be set and the state of affairs in the area that one intends to investigate should be mentioned. Then the experiments conducted should be described, and observations should be noted. In the end, the observations are analyzed, and conclusions are drawn.
What Format to Follow
General APA case study format includes a title page, an abstract, body pages, conclusion and reference list.
It also may contain appendixes if the research is large and requires using charts, graphs, and interviews.A title page should include the name of an author, the topic of his work, the name of the university or other organization where research was conducted and a running head. Running head is a brief statement (up to three words) that reveals the main idea the investigation is made on. It should be used on all of the pages of the paper. It should be typed in capital letters on all pages excluding a title page.An abstract is a brief summary, and it emphasizes the main theme of the paper, goals of a researcher, chosen methods, and obtained results.
An abstract as a rule ends with a set of keywords that characterize the paper. This is made in order that a scientific work will be easy to find in online and offline databases.The introduction should consist consistently of the following parts: the rationale for the topic, its relevance. The relevance of the topic is an explanation of why it is appropriate to address this topic right now, what is the scientific and practical necessity, in what state are current scientific ideas about the subject of research. The justification of the relevance of the topic should be followed by consideration of the degree of scientific elaboration of the problem. Here it is necessary to list the past and current researchers who dealt with this problem in different angles, indicate insufficiently illuminated items.
After considering the degree of scientific development of the problem, a smooth, logical transition to the research goal is carried out.The purpose of the research is its ultimate desired result, the solution of the scientific problem, which in the end should come. The objectives of the study are ways to achieve the goal. The formulation of research tasks is necessary to specify the research objectives. Tasks can be aimed at identifying, analyzing, summarizing, substantiating, developing, individual components of a common problem. It should be remembered that the enumeration of tasks sets the plan and internal logic of the text of the whole work.
An introduction should end with a thesis. The thesis should be argued using reliable sources, supporting and opposing opinions of other authors, real cases from practice and personal experience. The number of these arguments will depend on the volume of case study APA.
What Sources to Use and How to Cite Them
When a person is obliged to write a case study APA format, he is free to choose various sources for the research. They may include books, articles in periodicals, reliable online sources, movies, videos, interviews and scientific works of other authors.
The main requirement is that these sources should not be outdated since, in the case of use materials that are no relevant at the time of research, there is a risk to obtain wrong results.Citing a case study APA is an obligatory requirement in making of the reliable research. It is not obligatory to cite another work directly; sometimes it is allowed to paraphrase; however, the source of paraphrasing should also be mentioned. If it is a direct citing, it is enough to mention the surname of an author/authors, year of publication and page where this citation was initially written. When one cites a movie or a video, it is necessary to record at what minute of a track some words were said.
The bibliography should also be formatted correctly. Every used source should be mentioned in the following order: a name and a surname of an author, year of publication, the title of work, the name of publishing house or organization if it is a periodical, and a number of cited page/pages.
