An APA thesis is a paper or dissertation written in accordance with the American Psychological Association’s guidelines (APA). The American Psychological Association is one of two organizations that have established widely accepted and used thesis guidelines, the other being the Modern Language Association’s thesis guidelines (MLA). These two types of guidelines are used to establish a common style for the content of a thesis in progress. The MLA guidelines are likely to be used by an undergraduate student writing a paper for a literature class on Shakespeare’s sonnets. A student completing a graduate degree in psychology, on the other hand, would write an APA thesis, adhering to both the American Psychological Association’s and the accrediting institution’s guidelines.
When writing an APA thesis, students must concentrate on the thesis format and citation style. These two issues are the cornerstones of the American Psychological Association’s requirements for students writing an APA thesis. Essentially, once a student has written a well-written paper based on solid research and ideas, it must be formatted and dressed with citations in a specific way to qualify as an APA thesis. The type of font used, the size of font used in different sections of the paper, such as the body of the paper and the title page, the use and placement of page numbers, and the format of the acknowledgements page are some of the formatting issues related to an APA thesis.
In addition, there are some guidelines for the content of an APA thesis. It is critical, for example, that students refrain from using biased or derogatory language. In fact, this is widely regarded as an important rule in the composition of most academic papers. In general, any language that could offend a certain population should be avoided unless it is part of a citation that supports or informs one of the thesis’s main arguments. The institution that is awarding the degree may also have rules about what types of language are acceptable or not. These guidelines should be studied and followed as well.