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How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich-APA StyleHow to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
APA Style – What is it?
APA style is the format that is preferred when writing papers in the Humanities. It allows the writer to incorporate his/her own ideas and cite the research to back up those ideas. It makes reading your paper much more enjoyable! It is as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
1. Bread : your beginning paragraph. Introduce your topic and tell the reader what you plan to do in your paper.
“ How do kids develop? What steps do they go through from infancy to adolescent years? We may have our own opinions, but I will explain how the major theorists, Erikson, Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, and Vygotsky have theories that contradict each other, agree with each other, or are a modification of each other’s theories.”( student paper, 10/13/’04) I will also give examples of how each theory can be used in the classroom.
2. Peanut Butter: develop your ideas as stated in your introductory paragraph.
“They form ideas based on their perceptions, focus on one variable at a time, and over-generalize based on limited experience. This is what leads them to say the strangest things. In a classroom setting for Piaget’s theory, there should be a lot of story telling and little discussion. There should also be a lot of toys for the children to examine and tell the difference.” Here the student gives concrete examples of what the teacher would do in the classroom.
3. Jelly : the resources that back up your ideas. These must be scholarly, based on research, not just some opinion.
Summarize the findings and cite the reference. References must be listed at the end of your paper, alphabetically, by author. Your references must ALSO be listed WITHIN your paper or points will be deducted.
“In a study conducted by George Gerbner, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he concluded that children’s Saturday morning programs contained the most physical violence than any other show and 94% of all children’s shows contained violence in some form or another. (APA online, 2004)”
You can also quote your source (do not use too many quotes):
“Children learn from each other and develop language skills and grasp new concepts as they speak and listen to each other. “Like Piaget, Vygotsky believed that much learning takes place when children play.”(Mooney, 2000)”
4. Bread : summary paragraph.
“While all these theories vary, there is truth to all of them. In observing children, you can see various stages of each theory developing. The parents serve a very important role in a child’s development and socialization. In every theory, the way an adult interacts with their child will affect them the rest of their life. It is important for an adult that interacts with young children to know and understand these theories, so they can interact with the child accordingly.” ( student paper)
5. Plate for the “sandwich” : properly cite your references and list alphabetically by author. These must be cited within your paper by author and year: (Burk, 2002)
References
Berk, Laura E. (2002) Infants, children, and adolescents, 4th edition, Allyn and Bacon
Mooney, Carol G. (2000). Theories of childhood, Minnesota: Redleaf Press
NAEYC. (February 2, 1998). Media Violence in Children’s Lives, Retrieved Nov. 19, 2004, from http://www.naeyc.org;resources/positon_statements/psmevi98.htm
Stepping Stones Video Series “Theories of Development”.
6. How does your sandwich look?: good form means double spaced, correct spelling and punctuation.
Make your nouns and pronouns agree in number, example: “Once children grow older, they will fuss and want it back.” Keep your sentences short and easy to follow.
7. DO NOT PLAGERIZE, DO NOT PASS OFF SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK AS YOUR OWN. This is like dropping a perfectly good PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH in the DIRT AND GIVING IT TO YOUR INSTRUCTOR. Instructors can tell the difference between student work and scholarly writing. Give credit where credit is due.
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