Guidelines for Diploma Thesis: APA Style

1. Guidelines for Diploma Thesis: APA Style Prof. Dr. Vilma Tafani

2. Suggested Outline for Diploma Thesis (APA Style) • Title Page • Abstract – (a one-page summary of your Diploma Thesis, giving readers an idea of what it contains (write this last) • Table of Contents • Introduction: Include the following where applicable: • Establish the problem • Give the need for the study, why you undertake this study • Give the purpose of the study • Demonstrate an interest in the study • Base your exposition on the professional literature and personal experience

3. Literature Review (Exploration of existing literature) • Review, summarize, or critique any relevant literature • Use the review of literature to demonstrate support for the general and specific need for your study • Methodology and Procedures • Detail your methodology, describe the steps you took for your research • Materials used and how you developed them • Restate what kind of research you are doing, research ways, research questions, clear approach to data collection, try to avoid – I - … It will be investigated through….,.,

4. Results, include the following where applicable: • Present and discuss the results of your research or study, this includes research results and content of materials you used • Evaluate any difficulties or problems you encountered • Critique or justify your procedures or steps • Describe any activities, results, procedures from your experience

5. Conclusions • Summarize your findings • Suggest further uses of your study • Give any recommendations • Appendices • Include charts, diagrams, tables, visuals, tape scripts, questionnaires • Include students’ work, samples, lesson plans • Bibliography

6. Requirements for Diploma Thesis Preparation • Form: • One original and two copies should be signed by the supervisor and are required to be handed to the Head of the Department • The appearance be neat, well-organized and professional throughout. A minimum of 12-point font size must be uniformly used. • The title page, submitted to Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Human Sciences, Prepared by …., Supervisor … • Crossing out errors is not permitted

7. The left margin is to be 1.5 inches to permit binding, the right hand and top and bottom margins, one inch each • The text is to be double-spaced, except for quotations of more than four lines which will be set apart (single-spaced, indented on both left and right) • Any citations used must follow an in-text format. Any notes must be endnotes or footnotes. End notes and bibliography will be single spaced, with double spacing between notes and entries. • Pages, including pages of illustrative material, bibliography, and appendices are to be typed and numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Page numbers should be located centered at the bottom, in the center of each page. • The Diploma Thesis should follow APA Style • It should be 40 – 60 pages

8. Other important requirements • The outline and the proposal may be modified during the research and writing period with the approval of the supervisor. • The student teacher must submit 3 copies at least 15 days prior to the final date of the presentation • For Fall Graduation the Diploma Thesis should be handed a month before the final date of presentation • The supervisor should sign his/her name and the date at the bottom of the title page of both the original and the copies, signifying approval. In cases where there is a second supervisor his/her signature of approval is required. • Any plagiarism will be penalized.

9. All Diploma Thesis require an in-depth, critical literature review of relevant research. • Student teachers should follow the advice and suggestions of the supervisor and meet the deadlines for each chapter and the preliminary drafts. • The Diploma Thesis should have a clear title capturing and stating the thesis of the study or research • It should have a good overall organization; logical, cohesive and sequential segments. • It should be significant, unique and applicable to language learning and teaching; it should make a modest contribution to the related discipline; it should synthesize and integrate ideas from various integral sources

10. It should be well written, having accurate word choice, natural expression, accurate punctuation, clear references, reasonable sentence variety & length, tense sequence, correct spelling, etc. • It should demonstrate that the writer has consulted and cited a lot of relevant background sources, has attributed ideas appropriately, either by direct quotations or paraphrasing, and including them in the bibliography • It should demonstrate the student teacher’s enhanced knowledge of the area treated

11. Put your experience in the introduction or conclusion: every step you are going to take, put data collection by time line, date – interview, date – questionnaires, date – video, record, the tools you are going to use, at home create a table comparing your data, a kind of analysis, data analysis (all these go to the appendix). • In the methodology chapter should be written (see Appendix A, B), materials used – everything goes into the back, appendix • Your research questions should match perfectly methodology, methods. • Participants, no name, no institutions, put a different name or X, • Methodology chapter should have no citations • Be always consistent

12. Limitations: • At the end of the chapter should be possible limitations (with the results) • You cannot change methodology after the chapter is approved. • You can introduce something that you missed, in the conclusion saying: it would have been nice to… interview more… to do some other activities… • You cannot start collecting data without methodology section being approved. • Source consulted: David Nunan book: Research Methods in Language Learning (CUP) • Thesis Guide (Handout)

14. Introduction: • Include the following where applicable: • Establish the problem • Give the need for the study, why you undertake this study • Give the purpose of the study • Demonstrate an interest in the study • Base your exposition on the professional literature and personal experience

15. Literature Review • (Exploration of existing literature) • Review, summarize, or critique any relevant literature • Use the review of literature to demonstrate support for the general and specific need for your study

16. Methodology and Procedures • Detail your methodology, describe the steps you took for your research • Materials used and how you developed them • Restate what kind of research you are doing, research ways, research questions, clear approach to data collection, try to avoid – I - … It will be investigated through….,.,

17. Results • Include the following where applicable: • Present and discuss the results of your research or study, this includes research results and content of materials you used • Evaluate any difficulties or problems you encountered • Critique or justify your procedures or steps • Describe any activities, results, procedures from your experience

18. Conclusions • Conclusions • Summarize your findings • Suggest further uses of your study • Give any recommendations • Appendices • Include charts, diagrams, tables, visuals, tape scripts, questionnaires • Include students’ work, samples, lesson plans • Bibliography