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The Appendix (How to Use One in an Essay)

• 2-minute read
• 30th March 2017

The appendices in an essay are not typically essential, but they can play an important supporting role. Not everyone knows how to use an appendix in academic writing , though, so we’ve prepared this handy guide.

What Is an Appendix?

An appendix (plural: appendices ) is a section at the end of a book or essay containing details that aren’t essential to your work, but which could provide useful context or background material.

In the main body of your essay, you should indicate when you’re referring to an appendix by citing it in parentheses. For example:

The interviews show that most people like ice cream (see Appendix C).

What Should Go in the Appendices?

Appendices can include many things depending on your topic. Common examples of information added to an appendix include:

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• Raw data from tests
• Technical figures, graphs or tables
• Maps, charts or images
• Letters or emails used in research
• Sample questionnaires or surveys
• Full interview transcripts

What these have in common is that you might need to refer to them in an essay without going into too much detail. For example, you might summarise the results of a test in the ‘Results’ section of a dissertation, then include the full data in appendices to ensure clarity.

How to Format Appendices

Exactly how to format appendices can vary between universities, so you should always check your style guide. Generally, though, appendices should:

• Appear at the end of your document, often after the reference list
• Be divided into sections depending on topic (e.g. separate sections for questionnaire results and interview transcripts)
• Have each appendix section start on a new page
• Be labelled with a letter or number, along with a title clarifying content (Appendix A: Instrument Diagrams, Appendix B: Test Results, etc.)
• Appear in the table of contents at the beginning of your document

Are Appendices Included in the Word Count?

Appendices are not usually included in the word count for an essay. Consequently, you can focus on key information in your work and place extra data in an appendix without worrying about the word count.

However, you should always check your style guide on this. And remember that if you rely on something in your main essay, it needs to be included there: you can’t just shuffle it into the appendices to reduce the word count !

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Everything You Need to Know About Appendices in Writing

Appendices, the plural of appendix, are sections of academic writing with supplemental information about the topic that doesn’t fit in the main text. Appendices can include anything helpful to the reader but unnecessary to the topic’s progression; these may be charts, graphs, maps, videos, or even detailed explanations too lengthy for the body of the paper.

Appendices are used mostly in academic writing, so students may have to write them for papers at some point. This guide will answer all your questions, including “What are appendices used for?” and “Do appendices go after references?” But let’s start with a detailed analysis. What is an appendix?

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What are appendices in a paper?

Appendices are sections at the end of academic writing with nonessential information on the topic that still might be helpful for the reader. The key word there is nonessential —any information that is essential to the topic should be included in the main body of the paper. In other words, your paper should make sense without the appendices.

For example, let’s say your paper talks about the Mongol Empire. Your appendices might include things like a map of the Mongol Empire at its peak, or an image of what historians think Genghis Khan actually looked like. More relevant details, such as a discussion of how and why the Mongol Empire rose to power, would be included in the main text, not the appendices.

A paper can have as many appendices as are useful. These can be different types, so your first appendix could be a spreadsheet, and your second appendix could be a scanned letter.

What are appendices used for?

The purpose of appendices is to provide supplemental information in a way that doesn’t distract the reader or derail the flow of the paper. It would be difficult for readers if, right in the middle of making your main points, you interrupted your paper to show pages of lists or charts that are slightly off topic.

The content in appendices can support your argument or influence the reader’s opinion—in fact, it should be relevant in some way. However, it’s best to put supporting and illustrative material at the end so it doesn’t disrupt the structure of your paper.

The more advanced a paper is, the more likely it is to contain appendices. They’re quite common in thesis papers and research papers , as well as published scientific works. If you’re writing a complex paper for an assignment, it might be a good idea to plan ahead and leave room for appendices in the research paper outline .

What content should be included in appendices?

There are no hard requirements for what can or cannot be an appendix. The deciding factor is whether information is necessary to the paper; if it is not necessary, but still useful, then it can go in the appendices.

That said, some types of content appear in appendices more than others. Here’s a list of what’s commonly included in an appendix:

• tables and charts
• figures and graphs
• audio or video clips
• detailed textual descriptions
• spreadsheets
• lists too long for the main text
• interview transcripts
• interview questions from the interviewer’s notes
• technical specifications of research equipment
• other testing documentation, such as surveys or the job posting for test recipients
• scanned documents (including Institutional Review Board approval letters)
• raw statistical data
• original math and calculations

How should appendices be structured?

MLA , APA , and Chicago formats all can use appendices. While MLA and Chicago are fairly open ended about how appendices should be structured, APA has more precise rules. So below, we explain the appendix format in APA terms, which can be used in MLA or Chicago as well.

How do you title appendices?

If you have only one appendix, you can call it simply Appendix and refer to it as such in text, e.g., (see Appendix) . If you have more than one appendix, label each appendix with a letter, as in Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. The label of each appendix should be mentioned at least once in the main text of the paper.

Each appendix also gets a distinct title that describes its content, which is separate from its label. So, for example, an appendix label might be Appendix C and its title, Interview Transcript .

How do you format an appendix page?

Each new appendix begins on a separate page. Place the label centered and in bold at the top of the page. On a separate line, write the appendix’s title in title/headline case ( Capitalize the First Letter of Each Major Word ), also centered and in bold. If the paper uses a running head, continue to use it in the appendices.

If the appendix contains text, continue using indented paragraphs and follow the same format as in the rest of the paper. Otherwise, present the content in the same order it was mentioned in the body text. For multiple tables, figures, equations, etc., label them by number after the letter of the appendix, e.g., Table B2 .

Where do appendices go?

According to the APA Publication Manual (Seventh Edition), appendices come after the reference list or bibliography. They should be the last sections of a paper. Some people contest this, especially when citations are used in appendices, so ask your teacher or supervisor if you’re uncertain.

Appendices vs. footnotes/endnotes

You may have noticed that appendices sound a lot like footnotes and endnotes . Appendices and notes both contain supplemental information that doesn’t belong in the main text, and both are situated in a place where they don’t distract the reader. Sources usually have to be cited in notes (if they’re not cited in the text itself); beyond that, amplifying information can go in notes or appendices.

The main difference between appendices and footnotes/endnotes is length. Appendices generally discuss complicated or detailed topics, including charts, graphs, and numerical data, whereas footnotes and endnotes are much more succinct, often just a sentence or two. Think of it like this: If there’s too much information to fit comfortably in a footnote or endnote, put it in an appendix.

Appendices FAQs

Appendices are sections at the end of academic writing with nonessential information on the topic that still might be helpful for the reader. They typically contain charts, graphs, maps, images, or raw statistical data.

Appendices are used to present helpful supplemental information in a way that doesn’t distract from the flow of the main text. That’s why they typically come at the end of a paper, set apart but still easy to find.

Appendices can include virtually any content that’s relevant to the paper’s topic without being necessary. Usually, this consists of charts, graphs, maps, images, videos, lists, and documentation on the research testing process (like interview transcripts).

Each appendix should start on a separate page at the end of a paper, after the bibliography. If you have more than one appendix in your paper, label each by letter, as in Appendix A, Appendix B , etc. Appendices should also have a separate title that describes their content, such as “Map of the Mongol Empire,” which is written on a separate line.

Easy Guide on How to Write an Appendix

Understanding What Is an Appendix

Many students ask, 'What is an appendix in writing?'. Essentially, an appendix is a compilation of the references cited in an academic paper, prevalent in academic journals, which can be found in any academic publication, including books. Professors frequently require their students to include an appendix in their work.

Incorporating an appendix in your written piece can aid readers in comprehending the information presented. It is important to note that different professors may have varying guidelines on how to write an appendix. To learn more about how to write an appendix for a research paper according to APA, Chicago, and MLA styles, check out the following paragraphs prepared by our PRO nursing essay writing service !

Meanwhile, note that an appendix comprises all the information utilized in a paper, including references and statistics from several authors and sources (the number varies according to the type of academic paper). The purpose of the appendix is to prevent vague or irrelevant information and improve the reader's understanding of the paper.

The Purpose of an Appendix

To understand what an appendix tries to accomplish and how to write an appendix example, after all, we must first answer the key question, 'What is the purpose of an appendix?'. In short, an appendix is crucial for further explaining complex information that may be difficult to fully convey within the main text of an essay. It is intended to offer readers additional information about the topic addressed in the paper.

The material presented in an appendix has the potential to bolster the argument and sway the reader's opinion. Nonetheless, you should try to incorporate supporting material and examples toward the end of the paper to avoid disrupting the flow of the main text. Furthermore, the likelihood of including an appendix increases as a paper becomes more advanced. The use of an appendix is especially prevalent in the academic writing of a research document and journal-style scientific paper, in which extra information is usually needed to support a main point of view.

How to Structure an Appendix

While there are variations between formats, each one follows a basic structure. Thus, understanding the general structure is an essential first step in learning about this topic. No matter if you're tasked with 'how to write an appendix MLA or APA style?' - remember that both adhere to this structure, despite their differences:

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Every Appendix Should Contain:

• A clear title: The title of the appendix should be concise and descriptive, clearly indicating what information is contained within it. For example, 'Appendix A: Data Tables for Study Results or 'Appendix B: Images of Experimental Setup.'
• A list of contents: Including a table of contents in the appendix can be helpful for readers to navigate the information provided. For example:

Table of Contents:

A. Data Tables for Study Results

B. Images of Experimental Setup

C. Survey Questions and Responses

D. Sample Interview Transcripts

• Page numbers: The appendix should be a separate page, independently numbered from the main body of the paper, and specified uniformly (e.g., 'Appendix A,' 'Appendix B,' etc.). For example:

Page 1 of 5

• Relevant information: The appendix should contain all the relevant information supporting the main arguments of the document, including tables of data, raw statistical data, charts, or other documents. For example:

Figure 1: Experimental Results

[insert graph or chart here]

• Proper formatting: The appendix should be formatted in accordance with the specific requirements of the chosen citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago). For example:

Appendix B: Survey Questions and Responses

[insert survey questions and responses here, formatted following APA style guidelines]

• Clear labeling: Each element should have a clear appendix label so readers can easily understand its relevance to the paper. For example:

Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Survey Respondents

• Concise explanation: It is important to provide short detailed descriptions of each element in the Appendix so that readers can understand its importance. For example:

Appendix C: Sample Interview Transcripts

Transcripts of the three interviews with the study participants shall be included for reference. These interviews provide further insights into the experiences of participants and their views on the subject addressed in this document.

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General Appendix Format

To ensure proper formatting, it is important to understand the basics of how to structure an appendix. Although it may seem overwhelming, the basic format is relatively easy to comprehend and serves as a foundation for understanding the APA and MLA formats. Additionally, mastering the basic format can be helpful when writing an appendix for a book or dissertation.

• Heading “Appendix #” . Contains a number or letter, that could be 1 or A.
• Reference List.
• Index Table followed a list of appendices.
• Page Number.

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How to Write an Appendix in Different Styles

There are two distinct styles for creating an appendix, and it's important to familiarize yourself with both since a professor may request one or the other. Our expert writers have compiled guidelines and rules for both formats - the Appendix APA format and the Appendix MLA format. Although they share some similarities, they also have unique features and regulations that must be strictly followed.

Appendix APA

Many professors require students to write an appendix in a paper of this format. To master how to write an appendix APA format and get the structure correct, it's a good idea to follow these guidelines and rules:

The guidelines for Appendix APA:

• The appendix begins with the heading 'Appendix' followed by ABC.
• It should also be written on top of the appendix title.
• Every appendix follows the order of the stated information in the paper.
• Include the appendix after the reference list.
• Include page numbers for each appendix.
• Appendices are to have their own page, regardless of the size.
• Include Footnotes.

The general rules for Appendix APA are to be followed when writing. This is what professors look for when a paper is required when apprentices are to be written in this format. Learn the general rules to master how to write an appendix APA style and get you onto the right path to success. You may find it useful to memorize this information or keep a note of it.

Rules for APA:

• All appendices should include their own point.
• Include a title for each appendix.
• For multiple appendices, use ABC for tilting them.
• For reference within the body, include (see appendix a) after the text.
• The title should be centered.
• All appendices are to have their own page, regardless of the size.
• Paragraph One should be written without indents.
• The rest of the paragraphs should have the intended formatting.
• Include double spacing.

Whether you're tackling how to write an interview paper in APA appendix or any other type of academic work, the following example can serve as a valuable blueprint to guide you through the process.

Appendix Chicago Style

Writing an appendix Chicago style is rather similar to APA. Though, there are some minor differences. Take a look at these guidelines for this form of an appendix.

Guidelines for an Appendix Chicago Style

• More than one appendix is described as appendices.
• The font required for the appendix Chicago style is Times New Roman.
• The text size should be 12 points.
• The page numbers should be displayed on the top right of each page.
• The page numbers should also be labeled as 'Page 1,2,3'.
• Avoid including a page number on the front cover.
• The bibliography should be the final new page. It should not share a page with any other content.
• It is possible to include footnotes in the bibliography.

To better comprehend how to write an appendix in Chicago style, glance through the example below:

Appendix MLA Format

The guidelines and regulations for creating an appendix in MLA format are largely similar to those in APA format. However, there are some differences between the two, the most notable being that the MLA appendix is placed before the reference list.

The guidelines for MLA Format:

• The appendix is included before the list of references.

It may be useful to follow the example of an appendix to better understand how to write an appendix in MLA style. Doing so can increase the chances of getting a grasp of the MLA rules to fulfill the requirements of your professor on your academic paper.

Rules for MLA

• The title is to be centered.
• The list should be double-spaced.
• The first line should include each reference in the left margin. Every subsequent line is to be formatted so it's invented. This can be referred to as 'hanging indent' to make things easier.
• The reference list must be in alphabetical order. This can be done with the first letter of the title of the reference. Though, this is usually done if the writer is unknown. If the writer is known, you can also use the first letter of the surname.
• If you include the name of the known writer, use this order. SURNAME, FIRST NAME, YEAR.
• Italic fonts are required for the titles of complete writings, internet sites, books, and recordings.
• It is important not to use an italic font on reference titles that only refer to the part of a source. This includes poetry, short papers, tabloids, sections of a PDF, and scholarly entries.

Before we conclude, let's dive deeper into the world of appendix writing by exploring an example of how to write an appendix MLA style.

Let's wrap this up! It's safe to say that following the APA, Chicago, and MLA formats is crucial when crafting an appendix. As we've seen, starting with an APA appendix example can help ease you in mastering how to write an appendix of paper. Once you have a handle on the precise formats and guidelines, creating an appendix becomes a piece of cake. Also, memorizing the format can help you whip up accurate appendices for any type of paper, whether an essay or a dissertation. Trust us, mastering this topic is a must if you want to excel in knowing how to write an appendix in a report or any other academic work.

Moreover, if you ever find yourself in need of additional academic assistance, be sure to check out our resources on how to write an article review . Or, better yet, why not let us handle your most challenging tasks with ease by simply sending us a ' write my paper request? We are here to support you every step of the way.

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What Is An Appendix In Writing?

What is the purpose of an appendix, how to format an appendix.

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An appendix contains supplementary material that is not an essential part of the text itself but which may be helpful in providing a more comprehensive understanding of the research problem. An appendix may also contain information that is too cumbersome to be included in the body of the paper. A separate appendix should be used for each distinct topic or set of data and always have a title descriptive of its contents [e.g., Appendix 1: Interview Protocol].

Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University.

Importance of...

Appendices are always supplementary to the research paper. As such, your study must be able to stand alone without the appendices, and the paper must contain all information including tables, diagrams, and results necessary to understand the research problem. The key point to remember when including an appendix or appendices is that the information is non-essential to understanding the research problem being investigated. In other words, if it were removed, the reader would still be able to  comprehend the significance, validity , and implications of your research even if that additional data was missing.

It is appropriate to include appendices for the following reasons:

• Including this material in the body of the paper that would render it poorly structured or interrupt the narrative flow;
• Information is too lengthy and detailed to be easily summarized in the body of the paper;
• Inclusion of helpful, supporting, or useful material would otherwise distract the reader from the main content of the paper;
• Provides relevant information or data that is more easily understood or analyzed in a self-contained section of the paper;
• Can be used when there are constraints placed on the length of your paper; and,
• Provides a place to further demonstrate your understanding of the research problem by giving additional details about a new or innovative method, technical details, or design protocols.

Appendices. Academic Skills Office, University of New England; Chapter 12, "Use of Appendices." In Guide to Effective Grant Writing: How to Write a Successful NIH Grant . Otto O. Yang. (New York: Kluwer Academic, 2005), pp. 55-57; Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  General Points to Consider

When considering whether to include content in an appendix, keep in mind the following:

• It is usually good practice to include your raw data in an appendix, laying it out in a clear format so the reader can re-check your results. Another option if you have a large amount of raw data is to consider placing it online [e.g., on a Google drive] and note that this is the appendix to your research paper.
• Any tables and figures included in the appendix should be numbered as a separate sequence from the main paper . Remember that appendices contain non-essential information that, if removed, would not diminish a reader's ability to understand the research problem being investigated. This is why non-textual elements should not carry over the sequential numbering of non-textual elements in the body of your paper.
• If you have more than three appendices, consider listing them on a separate page in the table of contents . This will help the reader know what information is included in the appendices. Note that some works list appendices in the table of contents before the first chapter while other styles list the appendices after the conclusion but before your references. Consult with your professor to confirm if there is a preferred approach.
• The appendix can be a good place to put maps, photographs, diagrams, and other images , if you feel that it will help the reader to understand the content of your paper, while keeping in mind the study should be understood without them.
• An appendix should be streamlined and not loaded with a lot information . If you have a very long and complex appendix, it is a good idea to break it down into separate appendices, allowing the reader to find relevant information quickly as the information is covered in the body of the paper.

II.  Content

Never include an appendix that isn’t referred to in the text . All appendices should be summarized in your paper where it is relevant to the content. Appendices should also be arranged sequentially by the order they were first referenced in the text [i.e., Appendix 1 should not refer to text on page eight of your paper and Appendix 2 relate to text on page six].

There are few rules regarding what type of material can be included in an appendix, but here are some common examples:

• Correspondence -- if your research included collaborations with others or outreach to others, then correspondence in the form of letters, memorandums, or copies of emails from those you interacted with could be included.
• Interview Transcripts -- in qualitative research, interviewing respondents is often used to gather information. The full transcript from an interview is important so the reader can read the entire dialog between researcher and respondent. The interview protocol [list of questions] should also be included.
• Non-textual elements -- as noted above, if there are a lot of non-textual items, such as, figures, tables, maps, charts, photographs, drawings, or graphs, think about highlighting examples in the text of the paper but include the remainder in an appendix.
• Questionnaires or surveys -- this is a common form of data gathering. Always include the survey instrument or questionnaires in an appendix so the reader understands not only the questions asked but the sequence in which they were asked. Include all variations of the instruments as well if different items were sent to different groups [e.g., those given to teachers and those given to administrators] .
• Raw statistical data – this can include any numerical data that is too lengthy to include in charts or tables in its entirety within the text. This is important because the entire source of data should be included even if you are referring to only certain parts of a chart or table in the text of your paper.
• Research instruments -- if you used a camera, or a recorder, or some other device to gather information and it is important for the reader to understand how, when, and/or where that device was used.
• Sample calculations – this can include quantitative research formulas or detailed descriptions of how calculations were used to determine relationships and significance.

NOTE:   Appendices should not be a dumping ground for information. Do not include vague or irrelevant information in an appendix; this additional information will not help the reader’s overall understanding and interpretation of your research and may only distract the reader from understanding the significance of your overall study.

ANOTHER NOTE:   Appendices are intended to provide supplementary information that you have gathered or created; it is not intended to replicate or provide a copy of the work of others. For example, if you need to contrast the techniques of analysis used by other authors with your own method of analysis, summarize that information, and cite to the original work. In this case, a citation to the original work is sufficient enough to lead the reader to where you got the information. You do not need to provide a copy of this in an appendix.

III.  Format

Here are some general guideline on how to format appendices . If needed, consult the writing style guide [e.g., APA, MLS, Chicago] your professor wants you to use for more detail or choose the style you are most familiar with:

• Appendices may precede or follow your list of references.
• Each appendix begins on a new page.
• The order they are presented is dictated by the order they are mentioned in the text of your research paper.
• The heading should be "Appendix," followed by a letter or number [e.g., "Appendix A" or "Appendix 1"], centered and written in bold type.
• If there is a table of contents, the appendices must be listed.
• Depending on the type of information, the content can be presented in landscape format rather than regular portrait format.
• The page number(s) of the appendix/appendices will continue on with the numbering from the last page of the text.

Appendices. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College;  Appendices. Academic Skills Office, University of New England; Appendices. Writing Center, Walden University; Chapter 12, "Use of Appendices." In Guide to Effective Grant Writing: How to Write a Successful NIH Grant . Otto O. Yang. (New York: Kluwer Academic, 2005), pp. 55-57 ; Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Lunsford, Andrea A. and Robert Connors. The St. Martin's Handbook . New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989; What To Know About The Purpose And Format Of A Research Paper Appendix. LoyolaCollegeCulion.com.

Writing Tip

Consider Putting Your Appendices Online

Appendices are useful because they provide the reader with information that supports your study without breaking up the narrative or distracting from the main purpose of your paper. If you have a lot of raw data or information that is difficult to present in textual form, consider uploading it to an online site. This prevents your paper from having a large and unwieldy set of appendices and it supports a growing movement within academe to make data more freely available for re-analysis. If you do create an online portal to your data, note it prominently in your paper with the correct URL and access procedures if it is a secured site, or if needed, with clear directions on how to contact the author to obtain access.

Piwowar, Heather A., Roger S. Day, and Douglas B. Fridsma. “Sharing Detailed Research Data Is Associated with Increased Citation Rate.” PloS ONE (March 21, 2007); Wicherts, Jelte M., Marjan Bakker, and Dylan Molenaar. “Willingness to Share Research Data Is Related to the Strength of the Evidence and the Quality of Reporting of Statistical Results.” PLoS ONE (November 2, 2011).

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How to Write an Appendix

Last Updated: October 4, 2023

This article was co-authored by Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA . Stephanie Wong Ken is a writer based in Canada. Stephanie's writing has appeared in Joyland, Catapult, Pithead Chapel, Cosmonaut's Avenue, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Creative Writing from Portland State University. This article has been viewed 1,738,322 times.

Like the appendix in a human body, an appendix contains information that is supplementary and not strictly necessary to the main body of the writing. An appendix may include a reference section for the reader, a summary of the raw data or extra details on the method behind the work. You may be required to write an appendix for school or you may decide to write an appendix for a personal project you are working on. You should start by collecting content for the appendix and by formatting the appendix properly. You should then polish the appendix so it is accessible, useful, and engaging for your reader.

Collecting Content for the Appendix

• Raw data may include sample calculations that you refer to in the body of the paper as well as specialized data that expands on data or information you discuss in the paper. Raw statistical data can also be included in the appendix.
• You may also include contributory facts from other sources that will help to support your findings in the paper. Make sure you properly cite any information you are pulling from other sources.

• You may include graphs or charts you have created yourself or graphs or charts from another source. Make sure you properly cite any visuals that are not your own in the appendix.

• For example, you may note in the appendix: “All interviews and surveys were conducted in person in a private setting and were recorded with a tape recorder.”

• You should also include any correspondences you had with subjects in your research, such as copies of emails, letters, or notes written to or from your research subjects.

Formatting the Appendix

• If you have more than one appendix, order them by letter or number and be consistent about the ordering. For example, if you are using letters, make sure the appendices are titled “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” etc. If you are using numbers, make sure the appendices are titled “Appendix 1,” “Appendix 2,” etc.
• If you have more than one appendix, make sure each appendix begins on a new page. This will ensure the reader is not confused as to where one appendix ends and another begins.

• For example, if raw data is mentioned in the first line of your paper, place that raw data first in your appendix. Or if you mention interview questions at the very end of your paper, make sure the interview questions appear as the last point in your appendix.

• You should also make sure you list the appendix in your table of contents for the paper, if you have one. You can list it based on title, for example, “Appendix”, or “Appendix A” if you have more than one appendix.

• For example, if the text ends on page 17, continue numbering from page 17 when you put in the page numbers for the appendix.

Polishing the Appendix

• You may find it helpful to have someone else read through the appendix, such as a peer or a mentor. Ask them if they feel all the included information is relevant to the paper and remove any information they deem unnecessary.

• Read through the appendix backwards so you can make sure there are no spelling errors. You want the appendix to appear as professional as possible.

• For example, you may note an appendix in the text with: “My research produced the same results in both cases (see Appendix for raw data)” or “I feel my research was conclusive (see Appendix A for interview notes).”

Sample Appendices

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• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/appendices
• ↑ http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/appendices
• ↑ https://askus.library.wwu.edu/faq/116707

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To write an appendix, start by writing “Appendix” at the top of the document, using the same font you used for your chapter headings. Then, order the contents, such as graphs, surveys, or interview transcripts, based on the order in which they appear in your paper. Next, number the pages so they follow sequentially, coming after your paper and your reference list or list of sources. Finally, make sure to check for spelling and grammar errors, so everything will look polished and professional. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to refer to the appendix in your paper, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write an Appendix for your Essay

(Last updated: 13 October 2023)

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An appendix is an essential part of any academic essay, serving as a repository for supplementary material that supports your arguments but may be too detailed or tangential to include in the main body of the text.

Whether you're looking to append data sets, charts, images, or additional information that may not fit neatly within your essay, creating an effective appendix is crucial for presenting a comprehensive and well-rounded argument. In this blog post, we'll guide you through the process of writing an appendix for your essay.

What to Include in an Appendix:

The contents of an appendix can vary, but typically it includes any material that expands on or supports the information presented in your essay. This can include:

- Raw data and statistical analyses - Graphs, charts, and tables - Images, photographs, or diagrams - Transcripts of interviews or surveys - Additional sources or references - Supplementary literature reviews

The key is to ensure that the material included in the appendix is relevant to your essay and serves to enhance your reader's understanding of your arguments.

How to Format an Appendix:

When it comes to formatting an appendix, there are a few key guidelines to follow:

- Appendices should be placed at the end of your essay, after the references or bibliography. - Each appendix should be labelled with a letter (e.g., Appendix A, Appendix B) and have a descriptive title. - If you have more than one appendix, make sure to label each one accordingly and include a table of contents at the beginning of your appendices section. - Each appendix should begin on a new page. - Reference the appendix within the main body of your essay when necessary. For example, you can write "See Appendix A for the full survey results."

Including Citations:

If you include information from other sources in your appendix, you must properly cite these sources. Follow the same citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) that you used in the main body of your essay.

Mastering Your Essay Writing

An appendix can be a valuable addition to your essay, providing supplementary material that enhances your reader's understanding of your arguments. By following the guidelines outlined above, you can ensure that your appendix is formatted correctly and includes relevant and useful information.

Struggling with your essay writing? Our team of experienced academics is here to provide you with the support you need. Get in touch today to learn more about how we can help you achieve academic success.

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• Research Paper Appendix | Example & Templates

Research Paper Appendix | Example & Templates

Published on August 4, 2022 by Tegan George and Kirsten Dingemanse. Revised on July 18, 2023.

An appendix is a supplementary document that facilitates your reader’s understanding of your research but is not essential to your core argument. Appendices are a useful tool for providing additional information or clarification in a research paper , dissertation , or thesis without making your final product too long.

Appendices help you provide more background information and nuance about your thesis or dissertation topic without disrupting your text with too many tables and figures or other distracting elements.

We’ve prepared some examples and templates for you, for inclusions such as research protocols, survey questions, and interview transcripts. All are worthy additions to an appendix. You can download these in the format of your choice below.

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Table of contents

What is an appendix in a research paper, what to include in an appendix, how to format an appendix, how to refer to an appendix, where to put your appendices, other components to consider, appendix checklist, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about appendices.

In the main body of your research paper, it’s important to provide clear and concise information that supports your argument and conclusions . However, after doing all that research, you’ll often find that you have a lot of other interesting information that you want to share with your reader.

While including it all in the body would make your paper too long and unwieldy, this is exactly what an appendix is for.

As a rule of thumb, any detailed information that is not immediately needed to make your point can go in an appendix. This helps to keep your main text focused but still allows you to include the information you want to include somewhere in your paper.

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An appendix can be used for different types of information, such as:

• Supplementary results : Research findings  are often presented in different ways, but they don’t all need to go in your paper. The results most relevant to your research question should always appear in the main text, while less significant results (such as detailed descriptions of your sample or supplemental analyses that do not help answer your main question), can be put in an appendix.
• Statistical analyses : If you conducted statistical tests using software like Stata or R, you may also want to include the outputs of your analysis in an appendix.
• Further information on surveys or interviews : Written materials or transcripts related to things such as surveys and interviews can also be placed in an appendix.

You can opt to have one long appendix, but separating components (like interview transcripts, supplementary results, or surveys ) into different appendices makes the information simpler to navigate.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Always start each appendix on a new page.
• Assign it both a number (or letter) and a clear title, such as “Appendix A. Interview transcripts.” This makes it easier for your reader to find the appendix, as well as for you to refer back to it in your main text.
• Number and title the individual elements within each appendix (e.g., “Transcripts”) to make it clear what you are referring to. Restart the numbering in each appendix at 1.

It is important that you refer to each of your appendices at least once in the main body of your paper. This can be done by mentioning the appendix and its number or letter, either in parentheses or within the main part of a sentence. It’s also possible to refer to a particular component of an appendix.

Appendix B presents the correspondence exchanged with the fitness boutique. Example 2. Referring to an appendix component These results (see Appendix 2, Table 1) show that …

It is common to capitalize “Appendix” when referring to a specific appendix, but it is not mandatory. The key is just to make sure that you are consistent throughout your entire paper, similarly to consistency in  capitalizing headings and titles in academic writing .

However, note that lowercase should always be used if you are referring to appendices in general. For instance, “The appendices to this paper include additional information about both the survey and the interviews .”

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The simplest option is to add your appendices after the main body of your text, after you finish citing your sources in the citation style of your choice. If this is what you choose to do, simply continue with the next page number. Another option is to put the appendices in a separate document that is delivered with your dissertation.

Remember that any appendices should be listed in your paper’s table of contents .

There are a few other supplementary components related to appendices that you may want to consider. These include:

• List of abbreviations : If you use a lot of abbreviations or field-specific symbols in your dissertation, it can be helpful to create a list of abbreviations .
• Glossary : If you utilize many specialized or technical terms, it can also be helpful to create a glossary .
• Tables, figures and other graphics : You may find you have too many tables, figures, and other graphics (such as charts and illustrations) to include in the main body of your dissertation. If this is the case, consider adding a figure and table list .

Checklist: Appendix

All appendices contain information that is relevant, but not essential, to the main text.

Each appendix starts on a new page.

I have given each appendix a number and clear title.

I have assigned any specific sub-components (e.g., tables and figures) their own numbers and titles.

My appendices are easy to follow and clearly formatted.

I have referred to each appendix at least once in the main text.

Your appendices look great! Use the other checklists to further improve your thesis.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Yes, if relevant you can and should include APA in-text citations in your appendices . Use author-date citations as you do in the main text.

Any sources cited in your appendices should appear in your reference list . Do not create a separate reference list for your appendices.

An appendix contains information that supplements the reader’s understanding of your research but is not essential to it. For example:

• Interview transcripts
• Questionnaires
• Detailed descriptions of equipment

Something is only worth including as an appendix if you refer to information from it at some point in the text (e.g. quoting from an interview transcript). If you don’t, it should probably be removed.

When you include more than one appendix in an APA Style paper , they should be labeled “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on.

When you only include a single appendix, it is simply called “Appendix” and referred to as such in the main text.

Appendices in an APA Style paper appear right at the end, after the reference list and after your tables and figures if you’ve also included these at the end.

You may have seen both “appendices” or “appendixes” as pluralizations of “ appendix .” Either spelling can be used, but “appendices” is more common (including in APA Style ). Consistency is key here: make sure you use the same spelling throughout your paper.

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Writing an Essay Appendix

Info: 306 words (1 pages) Study Guide Published: 13th May 2020

Reference this

Definitions

appendix = singular,

appendices = plural

Introduction

Appendices are used when the incorporation of material in the body of the work would make it poorly structured or too long and detailed.

The appendix may be used for helpful, supporting or essential material that would otherwise clutter, break up or be distracting to the text.

Other people’s work will be referred to, not quoted, in the appendix.

Appendices may include some of the following:

• supporting evidence
• contributory facts
• specialised data [ raw data appear in the appendix, summarised data appear in the body of the text .]
• technical figures, tables or descriptions
• detailed description of research instruments
• questionnaires [ questionnaire results appear in the body of the text ]

The body of the text must be complete without the appendices, and it must contain all information including tables, diagrams and results necessary to answer the question or support the thesis.

Appendices are not usually included in the word count.

Appendices must be referred to in the body of the text, for example,. ‘ details of the questionnaire aregiven in Appendix B [on page 23] ’

How to format an appendix

The heading should be APPENDIX or Appendix, followed by a letter or number: e.g. APPENDIX A, Appendix 1, centred, bold

Each appendix must begin on a new page.

Appendices must be listed in the table of contents (if used).

The page number(s) of the appendix / appendices will follow on from the body of the text. Appendices may precede or follow the reference list.

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:

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Other APA Guidelines: Appendices

APA 7 addresses appendices and supplemental materials in Section 2.14 and on page 41:

• The appendices follow the reference list.
• They are lettered "Appendix A," "Appendix B," "Appendix C," and so forth. If you have only one appendix, however, simply label it Appendix.
• Put figures and tables in separate appendices. The appendix title serves as the title for a table if it is the only table in the appendix.
• If you decide that certain figures and tables should appear in the same appendix, number them A1, A2, A3, and so forth, according to the appendix in which they appear.
• The materials in the appendix must not extend beyond the margins of the rest of the paper: Reduce the appendix materials as needed.

As a general guide, appendices are appropriate for any material that, if presented in the main body of the document, would unnecessarily interrupt the flow of the writing. Note that it is unlikely that you will use appendices in Walden course papers. For doctoral capstone studies, you might include some appendices with supplementary information.

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How to Write an Appendix

By: Max Malak

• What is an Appendix?

An appendix is an addendum to a research paper or book that contains supplementary information about the elements within the article or book itself.

What is the Purpose of An Appendix in a Paper?

Does your paper even need an appendix, collect data, title the section, order the data, place the additional sections appropriately, proofread and polish, rules for apa referencing, rules for mla referencing, a bad example to avoid, how do you reference an appendix in the text, what is appendix in report, should you capitalize the word "appendix", should you cite your appendix in the paper, should the appendix come before or after the references section in your paper, what should i put in an appendix, how do you cite an image in an appendix, how do you include an appendix in an essay.

Appendices are a vital part of adding information to a topic. However, many students have difficulty figuring out what to include in an appendix and what shouldn't. But what is an appendix in writing? A research paper ought to stand independently without the added information in the added section. The information presented in this supplement should add to the report and allow for a more in-depth understanding of the work delivered. Elements like the definition of words or other scientific material are found in this addendum of a written paper or book. This is a succinct demonstration of what is an appendix in a research paper. Have you ever seen a sample of an appendix in a research paper? At the bottom of the page, we include a few samples for your perusal.

What is an appendix in an essay? Essays typically have addendums that give insight into how the paper was crafted. The information within a paper’s additional section is aimed at people who want to know more about the research. Usually, the addendum contains links or references to the source material used to write the paper. In some cases, such as in scientific essays, or discussions with data, the additional part of the paper will have the statistics or a link to find them.

The thought that the supplemental section is where an author should put additional information that they can't find anywhere else in their main text to fit is erroneous. This is not a good approach to have for when to define an appendix in a paper. Instead, the addendum should serve as a tool where supplementary information can be housed. The appendix should not contain vital information crucial to the paper or book. That information is better represented within the body of the paper itself.

An addendum in a paper is an essential part of communicating information to the reader that doesn’t have a place within the main body. The paper appendix sample included at the bottom of the page shows what information is typically included in those sections.

The addendum in a book would significantly differ from one in a research paper. The appendix usually lists citations, definitions, or other documents for further reading in a book. The additional section summarizes the supplementary materials used for research in a research paper. Graphical representations of facts and statistics may also find their way into a research paper's supplement.

Another crucial piece of information, mostly for business professionals, is how to write an appendix in a report . To help report writers, an appendix format example is included at the bottom of the page in several styles, depending on what the writer wishes to use. See the paper appendix example included at the bottom of the page to learn more.

What to Put in An Appendix?

Appendices aren't a dumping ground for extraneous information, even though many people (including published authors) tend to treat them that way. Thus, what to write in the appendix tends to be a question many students ask their lecturers. Unfortunately, there are very few real guidelines about what a particular lecturer wants. However, there are many structured formats for producing these addendums, based on the paper’s reference style.

Proper appendix format, therefore, must follow certain key rules. What to include in an appendix is a pertinent question, regardless of if it’s for a book or a research paper. This supplementary section serves a particular purpose, and to this end, it should present supplementary factual data that help round out the edges of the paper’s central premise and argument.

Among the most common items that should be included when creating an appendix are:

• Raw Data: Experimental data is a good candidate for inclusion. If the paper deals with a statistical analysis of a survey, the survey data should be included so that others can check your work.
• Tables and Graphs: Some authors include supporting tables and graphs (not those key to their thesis statement). If doing so, these elements should be labeled independently from those within the text of the paper.
• Maps, Photographs, or Diagrams: If you have supporting information you would like to reference within the text, these would fit well within the appendix. It's vital to remember that these additions are supplementary. If the paper needs them for the reader to understand something, they're better off included within the text itself.
• Letters and Correspondence: Collaborations with other authors or research personnel can also be included, allowing readers to get an idea of the work that went into the book or paper.
• Questionnaires or Survey Forms: If data is collected through these means, including the forms used for this data collection can be useful in helping the reader understand the context of the data.
• Research Instruments: Specialized research instruments may need to be mentioned, and their operating parameters discussed. Offering an insight into how the data was collected along with potential margins of error can help replicate an experiment to get a similar result.
• Sample Calculations: These calculations may include a discussion of methods used, including formulae, or detailed descriptions relating the significance of the measurements to the conclusions drawn.
• Interview Transcripts: If interviews are done, these transcripts should be provided in their original transcripted forms to readers if they would like to go through the interview themselves.

A student should remember that appendices shouldn't be complicated. How to structure an appendix is crucial knowledge to remain within the boundaries of referencing guidelines. They simply present information that will help readers grasp the paper and its focus. If there is too much data to add, consider housing it on google drive and giving a simplified link when making the appendix itself.

A paper or book isn't limited to a single supplementary section either. If there are multiple appendices that you would like to add, you're free to create a supplement within your main document for each one of them. Breaking these appendices into broad categories makes it easier for readers to find the information they're looking for within the paper or book itself. If you have multiple appendices, it's best to arrange them in the order they were mentioned in the text.

A common question many new researchers have is whether their research paper even requires an addendum. To determine whether information should go into the supplementary section or not, an individual should seek to answer the following questions:

• Is the material you intend to include necessary for a reader to understand what's in the paper? If so, you're better off including it within the body of the text.
• Would the information included in the supplement interrupt the flow of the paper? If the answer is yes, then it should make up the appendix and be left out of the body of the article.
• Is the information good background for what's already within your paper? If so, the information is a good candidate.

Appendices complete a paper by offering the reader supplementary information they would not have gotten within the article but allow for the contextualization of the research process. Authors should examine their appendices and see that they meet the minimum requirement for inclusion within the text.

How To Write an Appendix

So, exactly how do you write an appendix? Appendices may be an easier part of a text to complete but writing them does take time. As mentioned above, several different elements may be included in this additional section. Before writing the appendix, the best practice would be to collect and organize all the data to know what you have and what you don't. This helps you figure out how to set up an appendix in a way that makes sense.

Appendices are also referenced throughout the text. If you intend to have more than one supplementary section, you should note when they are mentioned within the text. This gives you an idea of the flow of appendices since they should be created in the order they are referenced within the text.

It’s a good practice to know beforehand how to include an appendix in the text. Ordering the content means making it more approachable and reader-friendly. To this end, an author should try to sectionalize the appendices based on the type of information they have. So, for example, an author should include all collected data in an additional section and save questionnaires and surveys for another one.

Appendices go after the reference list. This arrangement is the accepted standard in a paper or a book. The progression also makes it easier to see where the text for the paper or book ends and the appendices start. The list of references is like a boundary that the reader encounters to break up the main text from the appendices.

Page numbers in the appendix layout should follow the same numbering format as the rest of the manuscript. It's essential to continue the numbering from the text into the extra section so that it feels like part of the book or paper.

Appendices require more than just copying and pasting data or references. An author who wants a polished piece of text needs to spend time on their appendices. Proofreading and fact-checking appendices are time-consuming, but it's necessary to ensure that the paper is complete. You may have to do one or more revisions to clarify the information within the supplementary section. To help with this, one should get someone who is not a researcher to read through the appendices. Having a non-specialist do this gives an author some feedback on what the average individual may see when skimming through the paper’s addendum.

Writing an appendix can be broken down, therefore, into a simple, stepwise checklist:

All the relevant information that the paper or book can use for its supplementary section should be collected and collated. This approach makes it easier to know the order of these addendums and which supplementary information should go where. Content within each additional section may include surveys, questionnaires, interviews, graphs, charts, or raw experimental data, as noted above.

The title of the supplementary section is what you will use to refer to it throughout the text. It's crucial that you use the same title to refer to this section throughout the paper, or else you risk confusing your reader.

The data content should be presented in the order that the reader encounters it within the text. This approach makes for a more readable and approachable supplementary section.

The addendum sections should go after the list of references, allowing the reader a break in the paper.

Rereading the content of the appendix and ensuring that it's formatted properly is a crucial part of preparing it for publication. Depending on the publication guidelines, it may take some time to perfect the location and orientation. Having an independent observer give feedback for this process is ideal.

An appendix is an additional part of a book or scientific paper that should be used to reference the information and data that has no direct bearing on the study but is still helpful to a reader. With this in mind, the supplementary section should be as readable as possible without sacrificing the presentation of the facts.

How To Format an Appendix

How to do an appendix for a research paper? Appendices can be formatted differently depending on the type of reference style you intend to use. However, there are a few standard guidelines for the naming and formatting of an appendix. How to structure an appendix varies depending on the reference format. Each of these additional sections ought to contain:

• A number (1, 2, etc.) or a letter (A, B, etc.)
• Page numbers
• References within the text
• Links that allow for quick access

It pays to know how to write an appendix for a research paper. While there are several constructions and referencing styles for an appendix section of a research paper, the two most common referencing styles used by authors are APA referencing and MLA referencing. These are used in particular situations and have distinct differences in constructing their appendices.

The APA appendix is widely used in academia, and it's common to see them in published papers. Because of the widespread use of the APA referencing format, many students may have encountered these appendices in books or articles they have perused before. The APA has well-defined guidelines for constructing appendices, and publications are encouraged to follow these.

• Appendices should be numbered as "Appendix #," where the X can be either a letter or a number. If there is only one extra section, it is simply labeled as "Appendix."
• References from the text should be of the form "see Appendix #."
• Each item should go into its own extra section.
• If the addendum contains a source, the reference should be inserted according to APA style guidelines.
• Every additional section should begin on its own separate page.
• The first paragraph should be written without intent.
• The section’s label and title should be center-aligned and capitalized.
• The addendum should follow similar style guidelines to the rest of the paper (double spaced, Times New Roman Size 12 font, etc.)

MLA’s appendices are similar to the APA. The 9th edition is currently used for the MLA style guidelines, but some organizations and institutions still use the 8th edition for their referencing (Modern Language Association of America, 2021). A few differences stand out between the MLA and the APA version of constructing the addendum.

• Appendices should go in order of appearance within the text.
• Referencing the appendices can be done using the same format as the APA ("see Appendix #"), but one can just as easily use "refer to Appendix #" as well.
• The labels and titles of each addendum should be clearly defined and readable.
• In-text citations can be included but should follow the MLA guidelines for citations.
• Each added section should deal with its own issue. Try not to overlap appendices. If necessary, construct more than one added section to house the supplemental information.
• The MLA appendix typically goes before the works cited, not after it, as in most appendices.

Appendix Examples

An appendix report format should conform to one or the other major referencing systems currently used in academia. The best way to understand appendix formatting is to see what appendices are supposed to look like.

Added sections can show up in a variety of places, as already mentioned. These examples are a small cross-section of the types of elements that may show up in reports or papers. In general, these additions can span a wide range of supplements. The text mentioned in these examples is one of those supplementary additions. However, there are also other additions such as tables, raw data, and instrumentation details that aren’t covered in these examples.

Here, we have an MLA style example and an APA style sample to examine how they are created and what a student should do to maintain what is expected from these guidelines.

The title is centered and clearly labeled, separating it from the rest of the text within the body. The page numbering continues from the rest of the paper, ensuring that the example appendix doesn't feel like an add-on or extra. The information contained within this added section (a collection of terms that the reader might find helpful to know) is supplementary. The paper or book itself doesn't require the reader to understand these terms, but the reader may be encouraged to learn more by reading the definitions mentioned. This is an excellent example of how to structure an appendix and the information it should contain. It's also a good representation of how to make an appendix for a paper in APA style.

Above is an example of an appendix in a research paper. The appendix page example title is clearly visible and stylistically unique compared to the rest of the text on the page, in keeping with MLA standards. The appendix example collates all the information that pertains to the title into a single reference, making it easy for a reader to flip through the references as they like.

The appendix writing example also does not contain any core information that the paper requires, but these supplementary data sources can help the reader contextualize the data presented. The additional section is appropriately numbered, showing that it's part of the paper, adding to the sense of the paper's completeness. This is a great example of how to write an appendix for a paper in MLA format.

The above is a sample of the appendix in the research paper. While having the distinctive labeling for the title, this APA appendix page format shows a glaring error. Whether through notable inclusion or automatic numbering, there are two sets of numbers, making the referencing questionable. Additionally, the appendix page sample tries to incorporate several different and distinct types of information within a single addendum, leading to possible confusion from the reader. The literature review forms a core part of the research in many engineering papers and is included as part of the manuscript, not as a supplement. Ideally, students should avoid including appendices that look like this in their research papers or publications. This picture is not a good appendix writing example.

These examples only cover text addendums. A student may want to know how to make an appendix for pictures, for example. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to source an appendix picture example. These addendums typically follow a similar methodology to text appendices. However, the appendix essay example we present would fall into a different format to one with pictures and maps.

An example of an appendix in a report would follow much of these same guidelines. An appendix sample in a project report typically houses tables and statistics that are pertinent to the report but isn’t directly referenced. Typically, the appendix meaning in a report relies on the data provided within the main document.

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The article is very explanatory and includes professional advice. I only read this as a guide on how to format an appendix. I learned so much about making a list and being careful with the length of each sentence. I'll just bookmark this just in case I forget anything😊.

This blog post exudes clarity! Especially in the area of having to number the appendix pages, I have been struggling with it for a while, but with the info this post has provided, I can be bold about coming up with one now. I can even make notes about how to write one myself!

This article was shared on our group chat by a classmate. I'm really glad they did. An important criterion for an assignment was to ensure we point out every resource used and at least make mention of the author of each book. Well, after reading this, my footnotes will never stay the same.

In summary, this blog post has all the relevant info regarding how to write a good appendix. All the paragraphs have an idea passed across to the reader; they paint perfect images of what appendix pages should look like.

Well, this was really helpful. I'm presently sorting out my project work for a science course, and my teacher kept talking about appendix matching the page number and something related to extra information. I was honestly confused. Now, I know how to make the appendix pages properly. Guess who has appendix b and appendix c? Yup! Me 😅.

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Assignments vary in their requirements for formatting and layout. Check for formatting requirements in your course materials or with your course coordinator. Aim for consistency in your formatting. Most assignments are now submitted electronically and formatted as follows:

• Use a clearly legible font and font size (Times New Roman is the most common font and 12 point is the most common size).
• Set page margins to around 1 inch/2.5cm.
• Use 1.5 or double line spacing.
• Keep the space between paragraphs consistent. Two styles are:
• Do not indent paragraphs and leave a blank line between paragraphs. (This is the most common style.)
• Indent the first line of each paragraph, but leave no spaces between paragraphs.
• Ensure text alignment is consistent throughout the document. Assignment guidelines and style guides vary when it comes to text alignment . If you are following APA style , then align text left (also see the annotated sample APA student assignment ).
• For help with formatting in Microsoft Word see Basic formatting .

Always double-check for the formatting requirements of your individual course.

Cover sheet

Assignments that are submitted electronically via Stream will not usually require a cover sheet. If you have been asked to include a cover sheet, then refer to your assignment guidelines, which should detail what is to be included. If in doubt, contact your lecturer or course coordinator directly for clarification.

Most assignments do not require a title page. Usually, it is sufficient to include the assignment title or question at the top of the first page and to place other details (name, student ID number, and course number) in a header . If a cover sheet is included, all the necessary information is already included on the cover sheet. However, title pages are sometimes needed for longer assignments, postgraduate assignments, or certain types of report.

The format of these title pages varies according to the specific requirements of the assignment, but typically contain:

• The title, centred, in the upper half of the page (e.g., about 3 or 4 lines down from the top margin of the page). Your title should be concise and, ideally, no more than a single line. If you have a subtitle, it can be separated from the main title with a blank, double-spaced line. The title should be in bold font and in title case (i.e., the first word of major words over three letters is capitalised). The title font is the same style and size and the rest of the cover page details (e.g., Times New Roman or Calibri, 12pt). Note: According to the 7th edition of the APA style guide, the title (in bold, centred, and title case) should appear on the first line of the first page of text. This may not be necessary, however, and you should ask your lecturer or course coordinator for clarification.
• The author's name and ID number. Use one blank double-spaced line between the assignment title and your centred name and ID. Write your name in full rather than using initials. Your name should be non-bold and the same size and font as the rest of the cover page. Omit all titles, degrees or licenses (e.g., Dr, Ms, Mr, PhD, RN). Multiple authors should be given alphabetically. The lecturer’s name and title (e.g., Dr.). The lecturer’s name should follow a blank, double-spaced line after the class code and name, and be non-bold and the same size and font as the rest of the cover page.
• The due date of the assignment. The due date should follow a blank, double-spaced line after the lecturer’s name, and be non-bold and the same size and font as the rest of the cover page.

If you've been asked to format your title page using APA style, see here for formatting guidelines. See here for an example of a title page formatted according to APA 7th edition guidelines.

Some assignment types require headings and sub-headings, whereas others do not use any.

Essays , for example, do not usually use sub-headings unless you have specific instructions that they can be included. The only sub-heading common in essays is References, for the reference list. Instead of headings, the first sentence of each paragraph should signal the topic to the reader (see essay body paragraphs for more on this).

Reports , on the other hand, often require specific headings, such as Introduction, Discussion, and so forth.

If you are unsure whether to use headings or not, ask your course coordinator for clarification. If you do use headings and sub-headings, keep the style consistent throughout the assignment. If you are using APA style , see here for advice about formatting headings.

Tables and figures

Most assignments do not use appendices, but sometimes you need to include additional information, transcripts, questionnaire details, or raw data. These should go in an appendix.

If there is only one appendix, it is given the title “Appendix”. If there are several appendices, each is given a letter (follow the same order that they are mentioned in the body of the assignment): “Appendix A”, “Appendix B”, “Appendix C”, etc.

The title is used to refer to the appendix in the body of the assignment:

The analysis shows that the mean was well above expected (see Appendix B for details).

Style guides differ on whether the appendices should come before or after the reference list / bibliography.

APA style (the style most commonly used at Massey University) and Massey University's Thesis Presentation Guide put the appendices after the reference list / bibliography.

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success Last updated on 28 April, 2021

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• Writing Tips

Dissertation Advice: How to Use the Appendix

• 3-minute read
• 5th June 2017

Unlike the human appendix, the appendices at the end of your dissertation are very valuable… OK, we know that research has shown that the human appendix is useful. But we needed a snappy opening line and we’ll be damned if we let scientific evidence get in our way!

Anyway, our point is that you can often get extra marks on an academic paper by using the appendices effectively. In this blog post, we explain how.

What to Put in the Appendix

An appendix is where extra information goes. What you include, and how many appendices you need, will depend on what you’re writing about. Common examples include:

• Raw test data
• Technical figures, graphs and tables
• Maps, charts and illustrations
• Letters and emails
• Sample questionnaires and surveys
• Interview transcripts

These are all things you might want to reference in your main essay without including them in full. For example, even if you quote an interview in the results and discussion section of an essay, you would not usually include the full transcript. Instead, you would write:

Participant 4 claimed to experience ‘dizziness and nausea’ (see Appendix B).

This points the reader to the appendix if they want to see where the quote came from.

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How to Format Appendices

The correct way to format appendices will depend on your university, so make sure to check your style guide . But in general, the following rules should be followed:

• Place appendices at the end of your document after the reference list
• Divide appendices by topic (e.g. separate sections for test results, illustrations and transcripts)
• Start each appendix on a new page and label it with a letter or number, along with a title clarifying content (Appendix A: Instrument Diagrams, Appendix B: Test Results, etc.)
• List appendices in the table of contents at the beginning of your document

Doing these things will make it easier for your reader to find information in the appendices.

Appendices and the Word Count

Appendices are not usually included in the word count for your paper. This means you can cut non-essential information from the main chapters and add it to an appendix without worrying about exceeding the word limit.

But be warned! This is not an excuse to cut vital information from your work. You must included all important data in your main essay. If you put essential information in the appendices, it could count against you when your work is marked.

Some universities include appendices in the word count, though, so there are better ways to ensure that your work doesn’t end up too wordy!

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Writing an Essay Appendix

Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written . Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UKEssays.ae.

Definitions

Introduction.

• supporting evidence
• contributory facts
• specialised data [ raw data appear in the appendix, summarised data appear in the body of the text .]
• technical figures, tables or descriptions
• detailed description of research instruments
• questionnaires [ questionnaire results appear in the body of the text ]

How to format an appendix

Cite this work.

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

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• Referencing

How to create appendices for essays

Many primary sources are not in written form and trying to describe them in an essay is difficult.

This can often occur when you are referring to a particular building or artefact. In these cases, providing an image of the source is helpful for the reader.

Any images to which you refer in your writing need to appear in appendices. Appendices are put after the pages of your written essay but before your bibliography.

Appendices are a useful way of presenting:

historical buildings

direct quotes that were too long for the essay (typically multiple paragraphs in length)

translations of ancient texts, accompanied by the ancient language version of the text

an extended academic discussion about a side point that your essay touched upon

  There are rules for how to set out appendices:

Use a separate appendix for each source

Each appendix appears on a new page

Provide a clear image of the source

Write a brief description of a visual source

Provide a complete bibliographical reference for the source

Make sure the same bibliographical reference appears in your bibliography

  An example appendix:

A Roman lamp made of orange clay, displaying a figure of Cybele. Date unknown.

Source: University of Queensland R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum. Item No. 83.041

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Copyright © History Skills 2014-2024.

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An appendix** comes at the end (after the reference list) of a report, research project, or dissertation and contains any additional information such as raw data or interview transcripts. The information in the appendices is relevant but is too long or too detailed to include in the main body of your work. 

**Note: Appendix is singular and appendices is plural. When you want to refer to one of your appendices, use appendix - for example, ‘See Appendix 1’.

Scroll down for our recommended strategies and resources. 

Ensure everything in your appendices has a purpose. This guide gives a useful overview of the structure, format, and effective use of appendices:

Appendices (University of Southern California)

Your appendices should have a clear labelling system (Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Appendix 3) and each item in an appendix should have a descriptive title saying what it is (‘Appendix 1: Flowchart of purchasing decision-making process).

You need to refer to your appendices in the body of your assignment or the reader will not know they are there. Use a short phrase such as ‘See Appendix 1’. 

If you have taken data, diagrams, or information from other sources to put in your appendices, you need to reference them as normal; include an in-text citation next to the item in your appendices and a full reference in your reference list. If you have created your own graphs or tables using data from another source you can explain this in your in-text citation: (Table author’s own, data from Jones, 2017).

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Harvard Referencing Guide

Appendix guidelines.

• An appendix (plural appendices) contain material that belongs with your paper, rather than in it. They go at the very end of your paper, after your reference list.
• The appendix can include text, tables, figures, or a combination of these.
• Each appendix starts on a separate page.
• If you have one appendix in your assessment, label the section, Appendix. If there are two or more, label each appendix with a capital letter (e.g. Appendix A, Appendix B etc).
• … showed higher participation rates (see Appendix A).
• As shown in Appendix B, the results …
• If you have written the appendix and used outside materials, just insert the citations in the text of your appendix as normal, and include the full reference in the main reference list for your paper.
• << Previous: Reference list
• Next: Books >>
• Last Updated: May 28, 2024 1:25 PM
• URL: https://libguides.scu.edu.au/harvard

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MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Formatting Appendices and Works Cited List

• Understanding Core Elements
• Formatting Appendices and Works Cited List
• Writing an Annotated Bibliography
• Academic Honesty and Citation
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There are a few rules to follow that comply with MLA guidelines if you are adding an appendix to your paper :

• The appendix appears before the works-cited list.
• If you have more than one appendix, name the first appendix Appendix A, the second Appendix B, etc.
• Each appendix begins on a new page.
• The appendices should appear in the order that the information is mentioned in your essay.

Guidelines for Works Cited List

Every source cited in the text of your paper should be listed at the end of your paper. Title this list Works Cited. Here are eight rules for your work-cited list:

• Start a new page for the list (e.g., if your paper is 4 pages long, start your works-cited list on page 5).
• Center the title, Works Cited, at the top of the page. Do not bold or underline the title.
• Double-space the list.
• Start the first line of each citation at the left margin; indent each subsequent line five spaces (also known as a "hanging indent").
• Alphabetize the list by the first word in the citation. In most cases, the first word will be the author’s last name. Where the author is unknown, alphabetize by the first word in the title, ignoring the words a, an, the.
• For each author, give the last name followed by a comma and the first name followed by a period.
• Italicize the titles of full works: books, audiovisual material, websites.
• Do not italicize titles of parts of works, such as: articles from newspapers, magazines, or journals / essays, poems, short stories or chapter titles from a book / chapters or sections of an Internet document. Instead, use quotation marks.

Sample Works Cited List

This sample paper includes an assignment with a works-cited list in MLA format.

• MLA Sample Paper (Purdue OWL example)
• << Previous: Understanding Core Elements
• Next: Writing an Annotated Bibliography >>

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Check your assignment task sheet to see the writing format required. View the various formats typically required at university.

Essays are an assessment item that can indicate your understanding of a topic. They can demonstrate how well you search for information, put ideas together in a logical sequence and write academically.

An essay can be analytical, argumentative or persuasive. You may be asked to discuss, analyse, explain, investigate, explore or review a topic. Your essay must show evidence of research, using a wide range of quality, peer reviewed academic sources.

Steps for writing an essay

Essays require a specific structure . The introduction, body and conclusion have a specific function within the writing. Check with your lecturer or tutor if you are unsure how to approach your essay.

Use the assessment task question to work out what you are required to do, and guide you with the essay format.

Do you have to compare and contrast, evaluate or discuss? These directive verbs indicate the type of essay you need to write and how to structure it.

Identify the keywords and phrases to use when searching for information around your topic.

Use the marking criteria sheet to help you decide the most important elements of the essay.

A thesis is the central argument or position around which your essay flows.

The thesis statement is placed in your essay's introduction. Each paragraph is used as evidence to support or refute the claim, and it is reiterated in the conclusion.

Edit your essay, ask yourself:

• Have I clearly introduced my thesis in the introduction?
• Have I used the body of the essay to support my thesis statement?
• Does the conclusion show how I have proven my thesis?

Use the essay paragraphs to develop your argument.

The paragraphs should:

• have a logical flow of ideas to sequentially build on the points you are making
• use evidence and examples to support your argument.

Academic arguments require balance and counterarguments. The relationships between your reasons are important to consider. A good essay should be easy to follow as it presents your thoughts in a logical manner.

Make sure that the essay answers the question, and your writing supports your thesis. Demonstrate how each piece of information included in the paragraphs is relevant. This should be easy for the reader to figure out.

Keep the question and marking criteria open while writing your essay so that you remain focused on the task. The conclusion should include a summarised answer to the question, reiterating your thesis.

Report writing is an essential skill in many disciplines. You should develop effective report writing skills because it’s highly likely you’ll be writing reports in the workplace.

A report is a formal written document used to provide concise information on a specific subject. It can be used to communicate the results of an experiment, inform on the progress of a project or to make recommendations.

An effective report is an accurate presentation of information. It should be objective, concise and structured to guide the reader through the main points.

The task instructions usually specify what sections need to be included in your report. However, a report often has the following sections:

• Title page and acknowledgements—include the title of the report, who commissioned it (or for assessment include your lecturer, course code, and student number) and the date.
• Executive summary or abstract—provide a summary of the report's main points. It briefly covers the aims, objectives, research methods and the findings. It identifies what action is required. Although the abstract is located at the beginning of the report, it is usually written last as it is a summary of the whole report.
• Table of contents—outline the structure of the report.
• Introduction—state the aims and objectives of the report, the problem or situation that prompted the report and identify what the report intends to achieve. Include definitions, research methods and background history (if relevant).
• Methodology—explain what you did and how you did it. For instance, the materials used in an experiment, the subjects involved in a survey or the steps you took in a project.
• Results or findings—detail the findings from the experiment, survey or research project.
• Discussion—present and discuss the facts or evidence.
• Conclusions—provide implications from the content of the report.
• Recommendations—describe a clear course of action. Demonstrate your professional competence in a specific situation that clearly aligns with the conclusions.
• References—acknowledge all the sources used in the report. Learn more about referencing .
• Appendices—contains additional graphical, statistical or other supplementary material. Each item should be clearly labelled (for example, Appendix 1) and referred to in the report.

A case study gives you the opportunity to apply what you are learning to a real life or fictitious case. It requires you to do further research to show how the theory applies to the practical situation.

Steps for responding to a case study

• Get a clear understanding of the case study by reading it several times.
• Make notes and consider how it relates to what you have learnt.
• Reflect on how to show your learning through your understanding of the case study.
• Identify the questions that need to be answered to address the case.
• Determine if the answers will come from the case, the literature or a combination of both.
• Research to find the answers to the questions.
• Take notes to show evidence (such as theory) to support your thinking.
• Compare your notes—from the research and case—against the marking criteria, have you addressed the required content?
• Use evidence and examples from the literature and case to support your argument in the body of the assignment.
• Avoid summarising the whole case as you will use too much of the word count.
• See how to structure your assignment to help guide you in organising your work.

Reflective writing

You may be asked to think about, or reflect upon, a situation or event that has occurred and document your feelings and reactions. For example, you may be asked to write a reflective essay on a work placement experience.

Reflective writing requires you to make a link between your experience and the course content. It’s a way of clarifying the relationship between theory and practice.

Taking time to reflect allows you to become more aware of your own values and belief system and any assumptions you may hold to support those.

Steps for reflective writing

Document the facts, what happened, when did it happen and how did it happen?

For example if writing a reflective essay on a work placement experience, include:

• tasks you completed and when
• processes or steps involved to complete the task
• why the task needed to be done
• how long it took to complete
• the challenges involved.

Record all the relevant details.

Describe what you think about the event or experience, dig deep and get in touch with your feelings.

• What emotions did you experience?
• Do you have any new insights?
• Can you make a connection with other things you know or concepts in the course?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the concept, process, event or procedure?

Identify what you have learnt from the experience.

• Did it change your thinking or shift your values, assumptions or opinions about the event?
• What else could you have done in the situation or event?
• Are there any actions that could have helped
• What hindered the situation?
• How will you use this information in the future?

Literature review

You may be required to write a literature review as part of your university studies.

Literature reviews can be used alone or in research projects, reports, articles and theses.

They are a way of bringing together, analysing and evaluating a range of sources in relation to a particular topic or research question.

Steps for writing a literature review

If you have a research topic, problem or question to analyse, it is important to take time to clarify what is expected before you start researching and writing.

When developing your own research topic and question, try to:

• define the general topic area
• identify the particular problem or issue you are interested in investigating
• turn the problem into questions. For example, why does this happen? How can we solve this problem? What are the main features of this issue?
• brainstorm ideas and key points.

As you get started, it is important to formulate key questions to focus your research.

To find relevant research you will need a search strategy. A search strategy is a structured organisation of terms used to search an online research tool, such as the library catalogue or databases. The search strategy shows how these terms combine in order to retrieve the best results.

Online research tools work in different ways so you need to adapt your search strategy for each one.

To develop a search strategy:

• Identify the keywords in your assessment topic.
• Identify any related words (use a dictionary, encyclopaedia or provided readings).
• Combine your keywords and related words into a search strategy using the terms AND, OR and NOT.

Enter your search strategy in the Library catalogue to find relevant literature. Identify other research tools such as library databases to find highly specialised information.

In a literature review, you are not simply recounting what each author says about a topic. You need to critically evaluate and discuss the literature to convince the reader of its relevance to your work.

Critically evaluate by questioning each item you read to assess its:

• reliability—are the facts accurate?
• credibility—is the author an authority?
• perspective—is there bias or opinion?
• purpose—does the information inform, explain or persuade?
• evidence—does the author use facts, examples, statistics, expert testimony?

There are many ways to sort and classify the literature that you are reading, including:

• thesis chapters (if applicable)
• your own categories
• theoretical perspective (for example, ‘Marxist’, ‘behaviourist’ or ‘post-modernist’)
• discipline categories
• whether it supports, or conflicts with, your thesis or central argument
• reliability.

How your review is organised depends on what information is gathered and how your discipline structures them. This is one way to organise it:

• Introduction—include your topic, aim, main ideas, overall plan, limits and scope.
• Body—include your research (where applicable), discussion of evidence, theories, concepts and relationships between different literature.
• Conclusion—bring together the key issues, trends, common threads, major gaps and agreements/disagreements in the literature.

Annotated bibliography

Writing an annotated bibliography is the first step in collecting information about a topic of interest, or to find the scope of an issue. It helps establish what current research exists, and the value or quality of that research. It allows you to gain a clearer perspective and develop critical appraisal skills.

Structure your annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography looks like an extended reference list, it has three parts—a reference, main summary and critique.

Provide the full bibliographic details of the text—including, title, author and year—in the required referencing style.

Learn more about referencing

Each annotation is one paragraph. It retells the main points, identifying the theoretical perspectives, research findings, methods and conclusions.

Critique the text by considering the research's findings, relevancy and limitations. Give an evaluative comment about the usefulness of the research for your own work. For example:

• Is there any bias?
• Are the findings relevant to certain populations or groups?
• Does it look at an issue from a broad or narrow perspective?
• What ideas does it support or oppose?
• Is it useful in practical situations?
• How does it inform your understanding of the topic?

It is important to be concise. Limit to about 100-300 words per annotation—consult your task sheet for guidance on word length.

Eakin, E., Reeves M., Winkler E., Lawler S., & Owen, N. (2010). Maintenance of physical activity and dietary change following a telephone-delivered intervention.  Health Psychology , 29 , 566-573. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021359

A randomised controlled trial was conducted and 434 patients with Type 2 diabetes or hypertension were recruited from ten primary care practices in a disadvantaged community. Five practices were randomised to a telephone-counselling intervention (n = 228) and five practices to usual care (n= 206). The aim was to examine the maintenance of behavioural changes six months after a telephone-delivered physical activity and diet intervention. Participants received 18 phone calls, a workbook with information on physical activity and healthy eating that followed the 5 A’s approach, and a pedometer. The usual care group received brief feedback on their assessment and health related brochures. The main outcome measures included the use of validated, self-report measures of physical activity and diet. Data was collected at baseline, twelve months, and 18 months (months post intervention). The findings showed both interventions were found to show significantly improved behaviour changes particularly in those who adhered to the study. The research is relevant for managing people with type 2 diabetes and hypertension living in disadvantaged communities. The researchers concluded that telephone-delivered interventions promoted maintenance of health behaviour change but studies with longer term follow-up are needed to determine how intervention duration and intensity might enhance maintenance .

Presentations—video, in-person, online

You may be asked to deliver a presentation individually, in partnership or as part of a group.

Consider the following to help inform your style, language and delivery.

• Who is the presentation targeted at or intended for?
• What do they already know on the subject?
• Why are they there?
• What would they like to know?

For example, a Business course presentation may be targeted at stakeholders, or be a pitch for potential investors.

The intention of the presentation influences the type of language, rhetorical features and tone used.

Are you pitching:

• a new service
• an idea or product
• to enlighten and inform your audience?

For example, a persuasive presentation may use more emotive language, rhetorical questions and repetition. Whereas, this approach may not be suitable for a formal report.

When, where and how will your presentation be delivered? Will it be delivered live, online or pre-recorded?

This will influence your preparations for organising the visual, environmental and technical elements, to ensure a successful presentation.

Do you need to record and edit video for your presentation?

Create an effective and engaging presentation

Regardless of the type of presentation and how it is delivered a successful presentation should take into account the following:

• Matter—does the subject and content address the task and marking criteria?
• Manner—practise the verbal (volume, pace, pause) and non-verbal (eye contact, gestures) delivery elements.
• Method—have it structured in a logical way (introduction, body, conclusion) with support of visual aids.

Visual elements

You may be asked to support your presentation with visual aids, such as PowerPoint or an infographic. Visual aids, used appropriately, can enhance your presentation and engage your audience.

Ensure your visual aids support your presentation in purpose and style and reinforce your message.

Communicate your message effectively using a simple and strategic design.

• Limit the text quantity, use three to five bullet points per slide.
• Use high resolution images and pictures.
• Limit animation and flashy transitions.
• Use contrasting colours for readability.
• Maintain continuity in text font, images and colour.

Finally, your choices should reflect the audience, purpose and context.

Practice makes perfect

Practise frequently to ensure a smooth, successful and confident presentation delivery.

• aloud—consider recording yourself to identify areas for improvement
• in front of peers and/or family
• with the technology and visuals that will be used on the day
• with your partner or group members, if relevant, to ensure smooth transition between presenters.

Academic integrity

Understand your academic integrity obligations and responsibilities to act in an honest and ethical manner.

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Want to write a college essay that sets you apart? Three tips to give you a head start

1. Keep it real. It’s normal to want to make a good impression on the school of your choice, but it’s also important to show who you really are. So just be yourself! Compelling stories might not be perfectly linear or have a happy ending, and that’s OK. It’s best to be authentic instead of telling schools what you think they want to hear.

2. Be reflective . Think about how you’ve changed during high school. How have you grown and improved? What makes you feel ready for college, and how do you hope to contribute to the campus community and society at large?

3. Look to the future. Consider your reasons for attending college. What do you hope to gain from your education? What about college excites you the most, and what would you like to do after you graduate? Answering these questions will not only give colleges insight into the kind of student you’ll be, but it will also give you the personal insight you’ll need to choose the school that’s right for you.

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Appendix 5: A practical guide to writing essays

Writing an essay is a big task that will be easier to manage if you break it down into five main tasks as shown below:

An essay-writing Model in 5 steps

• Analyse the question

What is the topic?

What are the key verbs?

Question the question—brainstorm and probe

What information do you need?

How are you going to find information?

Find the information

Make notes and/or mind maps.

• Plan and sort

Arrange information in a logical structure

Plan sections and paragraphs

Introduction and conclusion

• Edit (and proofread)

For sense and logical flow

For grammar and spelling.

For length.

My Learning Essentials offers a number of online resources and workshops that will help you to understand the importance of referencing your sources, use appropriate language and style in your writing, write and proofread your essays. For more information visit the writing skills My Learning Essentials pages: http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/services-and-support/students/support-for-your-studies/my-learning-essentials/

Many students write great essays — but not on the topic they were asked about. First, look at the main idea or topic in the question. What are you going to be writing about? Next, look at the verb in the question — the action word. This verb, or action word, is asking you to do something with the topic.

Here are some common verbs or action words and explanations:

Once you have analysed the question, start thinking about what you need to find out. It’s better and more efficient to have a clear focus for your research than to go straight to the library and look through lots of books that may not be relevant.

Start by asking yourself, ‘What do I need to find out?’ Put your ideas down on paper. A mind map is a good way to do this. Useful questions to start focusing your research are: What? Why? When? How? Where? Who?

• Refer to the advice given in Writing and Referencing Skills for methods to search for information.

First, scan through your source . Find out if there’s any relevant information in what you are reading. If you’re reading a book, look at the contents page, any headings, and the index. Stick a Post-It note on useful pages.

Next, read for detail . Read the text to get the information you want. Start by skimming your eyes over the page to pick our relevant headings, summaries, words. If it’s useful, make notes.

  Making notes

There are two rules when you are making notes:

• Note your source so that you can find it again and write your references at the end of the essay if you use that information. Use Endnote (see the section on Referencing), or note down the following:
• page reference
• date of publication
• publisher’s name (book)
• place where it was published (book or journal)
• the journal number, volume and date (journal)
• Make brief notes rather than copy text , but if you feel an extract is very valuable put it in quotation marks so that when you write your essay, you’ll know that you have to put it in your own words. Failing to rewrite the text in your own words would be plagiarism.
• For more information on plagiarism, refer to the Second Level Handbook and the My Learning Essentials Plagiarism Resource http://libassets.manchester.ac.uk/mle/avoiding-plagiarism/.

Everyone will make notes differently as it suits them. However, the aim of making notes when you are researching an essay is to use them when you write the essay. It is therefore important that you can:

• Read your notes
• Find their source
• Determine what the topics and main points are on each note (highlight the main ideas, key points or headings).
• Compose your notes so you can move bits of information around later when you have to sort your notes into an essay.

For example:

• Write/type in chunks (one topic for one chunk) with a space between them so you can cut your notes up later, or
• write the main topics or questions you want to answer on separate pieces of paper before you start making notes. As you find relevant information, write it on the appropriate page. (This takes longer as you have to write the source down a number of times, but it does mean you have ordered your notes into headings.)

Sort information into essay plans

You’ve got lots of information now: how do you put it all together to make an essay that makes sense? As there are many ways to sort out a huge heap of clothes (type of clothes, colour, size, fabric…), there are many ways of sorting information. Whichever method you use, you are looking for ways to arrange the information into groups and to order the groups into a logical sequence . You need to play around with your notes until you find a pattern that seems right and will answer the question.

• Find the main points in your notes, put them on a separate page – a mind map is a good way to do this – and see if your main points form any patterns or groups.
• Is there a logical order? Does one thing have to come after another? Do points relate to one another somehow? Think about how you could link the points.
• Using the information above, draw your essay plan. You could draw a picture, a mind map, a flow chart or whatever you want. Or you could build a structure by using bits of card that you can move around.
• Select and put the relevant notes into the appropriate group so you are ready to start writing your first draft.

The essay has four main parts:

• introduction
• references.

People usually write the introduction and conclusion after they have written the main body of the essay, so we have put them in that order.

For more information on essay writing visit the My Learning Essentials web pages:

https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/learning-objects/mle/packages/writing/

  Main Body

Structure . The main body should have a clear structure. Depending on the length of the essay, you may have just a series of paragraphs, or sections with headings, or possibly even subsections. In the latter case, make sure that the hierarchy of headings is obvious so that the reader doesn’t get lost.

Flow . The main body of the essay answers the question and flows logically from one key point to another (each point needs to be backed up by evidence [experiments, research, texts, interviews, etc …] that must be referenced). You should normally write one main idea per paragraph and the main ideas in your essay should be linked or ‘signposted’. Signposts show readers where they are going, so they don’t get lost. This lets the reader know how you are going to tackle the idea, or how one idea is linked with the one before it or after it.

Some signpost words and phrases are:

• ‘These changes . . . “
• ‘Such developments
• ‘This
• ‘In the first few paragraphs . . . “
• ‘I will look in turn at. . . ‘
• ‘However, . . . “
• ‘Similarly’
• ‘But’.

Figures: purpose . You should try to include tables, diagrams, and perhaps photographs in your essay. Tables are valuable for summarising information, and are most likely to impress if they show the results of relevant experimental data. Diagrams enable the reader to visualise things, replacing the need for lengthy descriptions. Photographs must be selected with care, to show something meaningful. Nobody will be impressed by a picture of a giraffe – we all know what one looks like, so the picture would be mere decoration. But a detailed picture of a giraffe’s markings might be useful if it illustrates a key point.

Figures: labelling, legends and acknowledgment . Whenever you use a table, diagram or image in your essay you must:

• cite the source
• make sure that the legend and explanation are adapted to your purpose.

Checklist for the main body of text

• Does your text have a clear structure?
• Does the text follow a logical sequence so that the argument flows?
• Does your text have both breadth and depth – i.e. general coverage of the major issues with in-depth treatment of particularly important points?
• Does your text include some illustrative experimental results?
• Have you chosen the diagrams or photographs carefully to provide information and understanding, or are the illustrations merely decorative?
• Are your figures acknowledged properly? Did you label them and include legend and explanation?

    Introduction

The introduction comes at the start of the essay and sets the scene for the reader. It usually defines clearly the subject you will address (e.g. the adaptations of organisms to cold environments), how you will address this subject (e.g. by using examples drawn principally from the Arctic zone) and what you will show or argue (e.g. that all types of organism, from microbes through to mammals, have specific adaptations that fit them for life in cold environments). The length of an introduction depends on the length of your essay, but is usually between 50 to 200 words

Remember that reading the introduction constitutes the first impression on your reader (i.e. your assessor!). Therefore, it should be the last section that you revise at the editing stage, making sure that it leads the reader clearly into the details of the subject you have covered and that it is completely free of typos and spelling mistakes.

  Check-list for the Introduction

• Does your introduction start logically by telling the reader what the essay is about – for example, the various adaptations to habitat in the bear family?
• Does your introduction outline how you will address this topic – for example, by an overview of the habitats of bears, followed by in-depth treatment of some specific adaptations?
• Is it free of typos and spelling mistakes?

Conclusion  

An essay needs a conclusion. Like the introduction, this need not be long: 50 to 200 words long, depending on the length of the essay. It should draw the information together and, ideally, place it in a broader context by personalising the findings, stating an opinion or supporting a further direction which may follow on from the topic. The conclusion should not introduce facts in addition to those in the main body.

Check-list for the Conclusion

• Does your conclusion sum up what was said in the main body?
• If the title of the essay was a question, did you give a clear answer in the conclusion?
• Does your conclusion state your personal opinion on the topic or its future development or further work that needs to be done? Does it show that you are thinking further?

  References

In all scientific writing you are expected to cite your main sources of information. Scientific journals have their own preferred (usually obligatory) method of doing this. The piece of text below shows how you can cite work in an essay, dissertation or thesis. Then you supply an alphabetical list of references at the end of the essay. The Harvard style of referencing adopted at the University of Manchester will be covered in the Writing and Referencing Skills unit in Semester 3. For more information refer to the Referencing Guide from the University Library ( http://subjects.library.manchester.ac.uk/referencing/referencing-harvard ).

Citations in the text

Jones and Smith (1999) showed that the ribosomal RNA of fungi differs from that of slime moulds. This challenged the previous assumption that slime moulds are part of the fungal kingdom (Toby and Dean, 1987). However, according to Bloggs et al . (1999) the slime moulds can still be accommodated in the fungal kingdom for convenience. Slime moulds are considered part of the Eucarya domain by Todar (2012).

Reference list at the end of the essay:

List the references in alphabetical order and if you have several publications written by the same author(s) in the same year, add a letter (a,b,c…) after the year to distinguish between them. Bloggs, A.E., Biggles, N.H. and Bow, R.T. (1999). The Slime Moulds . 2 nd edn. London and New York: Academic Press.

Todar K. (2012) Overview Of Bacteriology. Available at: http://textbookofbacteriology.net, [Accessed 15 November 2013].

Jones, B.B. and Smith, J.O.E. (1999). Ribosomal RNA of slime moulds, Journal of Ribosomal RNA 12, 33-38.

Toby F.S. and Dean P.L. (1987). Slime moulds are part of the fungal kingdom, in Edwards A.E. and Kane Y. (eds.) The Fungal Kingdom. Luton: Osbert Publishing Co., pp. 154-180 .

Endnote : This is an electronic system for storing and retrieving references that you will learn about in the Writing and Referencing Skills (WRS) unit. It is very powerful and simple to use, but you must always check that the output is consistent with the instructions given in this section.

Visit the My Learning Essentials online resource for a guide to using EndNote: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/learning-objects/mle/endnote-guide/

(we recommend EndNote online if you wish to use your own computer).

Note that journals have their own house style so there will be minor differences between them, particularly in their use of punctuation, but all reference lists for the same journal will be in the same format.

First Draft

When you write your first draft, keep two things in mind:

• Length: you may lose marks if your essay is too long. Ensure therefore that your essay is within the page limit that has been set.
• Expression: don’t worry about such matters as punctuation, spelling or grammar at this stage. You can get this right at the editing stage. If you put too much time into getting these things right at the drafting stage, you will have less time to spend on thinking about the content, and you will be less willing to change it when you edit for sense and flow at the editing stage.

  Writing style

The style of your essay should fit the task or the questions asked and be targeted to your reader. Just as you are careful to use the correct tone of voice and language in different situations so you must take care with your writing. Generally writing should be:

• Make sure that you write exactly what you mean in a simple way.
• Write briefly and keep to the point. Use short sentences. Make sure that the meaning of your sentences is obvious.
• Check that you would feel comfortable reading your essay if you were actually the reader.
• Make sure that you have included everything of importance. Take care to explain or define any abbreviations or specialised jargon in full before using a shortened version later. Do not use slang, colloquialisms or cliches in formal written work.

When you are editing your essay, you will need to bear in mind a number of things. The best way to do this, without forgetting something, is to edit in ‘layers’, using a check-list to make sure you have not forgotten anything.

Check-list for Style  

• Tone – is it right for the purpose and the receiver?
• Clarity – is it simple, clear and easy to understand?
• Complete – have you included everything of importance?

  Check-list for Sense

• Does your essay make sense?
• Does it flow logically?
• Have you got all the main points in?
• Are there bits of information that aren’t useful and need to be chopped out?
• Are your main ideas in paragraphs?
• Are the paragraphs linked to one another so that the essay flows rather than jumps from one thing to another?
• Is it about the right length?

  Check-list for Proofreading

• Are the punctuation, grammar, spelling and format correct?
• If you have written your essay on a word-processor, run the spell check over it.
• Have you referenced all quotes and names correctly?
• Is the essay written in the correct format? (one and a half line spacing, margins at least 2.5cm all around the text, minimum font size 10 point).

School Writer in Residence

The School of Biological Sciences has three ‘Writers in Residence’ who are funded by The Royal Literary Fund. They are:

Susan Barker ( [email protected] )– Thursday and Friday   

Amanda Dalton ( [email protected] )– Monday and Tuesday

Tania Hershman ( [email protected] ) – Wednesday

The writers in residence can help you with any aspect of your writing including things such as ‘‘how do I start?’ ‘how do I structure a complex essay’ ‘ why am I getting poor marks for my essay writing?’

All you need to do is to bring along a piece of your writing and they will discuss with you on a one to one basis how to resolve the problems that you are having with your piece of writing.

The Writers in Residence are based in the Simon Building. Please see the BIOL20000 Blackboard site for further information about the writers’ expertise and instructions for appointment booking.

Appendix A: Sample Essay

Sample Essay by Rebekah Fortier (2017)

The sample essay included in this guide as Appendix A was written by Rebekah Fortier in her fourth year as an undergraduate student at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. The essay was turned in as part of the course requirements for Sociology 463: Advanced Topics in Canadian Society, taught by Dr. Fiona Angus in the Fall of 2017. The essay was nominated by her instructor as an example of high-quality undergraduate writing for inclusion in this manual to assist other students in writing scholarly papers (see Chapter 3 ).

Navigating an Undergraduate Degree in the Social Sciences Copyright © 2019 by Diane Symbaluk, Robyn Hall, and Geneve Champoux is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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America Has Too Many Laws

An excess of restrictions has taken a very real toll on the lives of everyday Americans. Their stories must be told.

Our country has always been a nation of laws, but something has changed dramatically in recent decades. Contrary to the narrative that Congress is racked by an inability to pass bills, the number of laws in our country has simply exploded. Less than 100 years ago, all of the federal government’s statutes fit into a single volume. By 2018, the U.S. Code encompassed 54 volumes and approximately 60,000 pages. Over the past decade, Congress has adopted an average of 344 new pieces of legislation each session. That amounts to 2 million to 3 million words of new federal law each year. Even the length of bills has grown—from an average of about two pages in the 1950s to 18 today.

And that’s just the average. Nowadays, it’s not unusual for new laws to span hundreds of pages. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 ran more than 600 pages, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 almost 1,000 pages, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021—which included a COVID-19 relief package—more than 5,000 pages. About the last one, the chair of the House Rules Committee quipped that “if we provide[d] everyone a paper copy we would have to destroy an entire forest.” Buried in the bill were provisions for horse racing, approvals for two new Smithsonian museums, and a section on foreign policy regarding Tibet. By comparison, the landmark protections afforded by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 took just 28 pages to describe.

These figures from Congress only begin to tell the story. Federal agencies have been busy too. They write new rules and regulations implementing or interpreting Congress’s laws. Many bear the force of law. Thanks in part to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, agencies now publish their proposals and final rules in the Federal Register; their final regulations can also be found in the Code of Federal Regulations. When the Federal Register started in 1936, it was 16 pages long. In recent years, that publication has grown by an average of more than 70,000 pages annually.

From the July 1979 issue: Too much law, too little justice

Meanwhile, by 2021 the Code of Federal Regulations spanned about 200 volumes and more than 188,000 pages. How long would it take a person to read all those federal regulations? According to researchers at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, “over three years … And that is just the reading component. Not comprehension … not analysis.”

Even these numbers do not come close to capturing all of the federal government’s activity. Today, agencies don’t just promulgate rules and regulations. They also issue informal “guidance documents” that ostensibly clarify existing regulations but in practice often “carry the implicit threat of enforcement action if the regulated public does not comply.” In a recent 10-year span, federal agencies issued about 13,000 guidance documents. Some of these documents appear in the Federal Register; some don’t. Some are hard to find anywhere. Echoing Justice Brandeis’s efforts, a few years ago the Office of Management and Budget asked agencies to make their guidance available in searchable online databases. But some agencies resisted. Why? By some accounts, they simply had no idea where to find all of their own guidance. Ultimately, officials abandoned the idea.

Judicial decisions contain vital information about how our laws and rules operate. Today, most of these decisions can be found in searchable electronic databases, but some come with high subscription fees. If you can’t afford those, you may have to consult a library. Good luck finding what you need there: Reported federal decisions now fill more than 5,000 volumes. Each volume clocks in at about 1,000 pages, for a total of more than 5 million pages. Back in 1997, Thomas Baker, a law professor, found that “the cumulative output of all the lower federal courts … amounts to a small, but respectable library that, when stacked end-to-end, runs for one-and-one-half football fields.” One can only wonder how many football fields we’re up to now.

As you might imagine, much in this growing mountain of law isn’t exactly intuitive. Did you know that it’s a federal crime to enter a post office while intoxicated? Or to sell a mattress without a warning label? And if you’re a budding pasta entrepreneur, take note: By federal decree, macaroni must have a diameter between 0.11 and 0.27 inches, while vermicelli must not be more than 0.06 inches in diameter. Both may contain egg whites—but those egg whites cannot constitute more than 2 percent of the weight of the finished product.

If officials in the federal government have been busy, it’s not as if their counterparts at the state and local levels have been idle. Virginia prohibits hunting a bear with the assistance of dogs on Sundays. In Massachusetts, be careful not to sing or render “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “a part of a medley of any kind”—that can invite a fine. The New York City Administrative Code spans more than 30 titles and the Rules of the City of New York more than 50. In 2010, The New York Times reported on the regulatory hurdles associated with opening a new restaurant in the city. It found that an individual “may have to contend with as many as 11 city agencies, often with conflicting requirements; secure 30 permits, registrations, licenses and certificates; and pass 23 inspections.” And that’s not even counting what it takes to secure a liquor license.

To appreciate the growth of our law at all levels, count the lawyers. In recent years, the legal profession has proved a booming business. From 1900 to 2021, the number of lawyers in the United States grew by 1,060 percent, while the population grew by about a third that rate. Since 1950, the number of law schools approved by the American Bar Association has nearly doubled.

Our legal institutions have become so complicated and so numerous that even federal agencies cannot agree on how many federal agencies exist. A few years ago, an opinion writer in Forbes pointed out that the Administrative Conference of the United States lists 115 agencies in the appendix of its Sourcebook of United States Executive Agencies . But the Sourcebook also cautions that there is “no authoritative list of government agencies.” Moreover, the United States Government Manual and USA.gov maintain different and competing lists. And both of these lists differ in turn from the list kept by the Federal Register. That last publication appears to peg the number of federal agencies at 436.

Reflecting on these developments sometimes reminds us of Parkinson’s Law. In 1955, a noted historian, C. Northcote Parkinson, posited that the number of employees in a bureaucracy rises by about 5 percent a year “irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.” He based his amusing theory on the example of the British Royal Navy, where the number of administrative officers on land grew by 78 percent from 1914 to 1928, during which time the number of navy ships fell by 67 percent and the number of navy officers and seamen dropped by 31 percent. It seemed to Parkinson that in the decades after World War I, Britain had created a “magnificent Navy on land.” (He also quipped that the number of officials would have “multiplied at the same rate had there been no actual seamen at all.”)

Does Parkinson’s Law reflect our own nation’s experience? In the 1930s, the Empire State Building—the tallest in the world at the time—took a little more than 13 months to build. A decade later, the Pentagon took 16 months. In the span of eight years during the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration built some 4,000 schools, 130 hospitals, 29,000 bridges, and 150 airfields; laid 9,000 miles of storm drains and sewer lines; paved or repaired 280,000 miles of roads; and planted 24 million trees.

Compare those feats to more recent ones. In 2022, an op-ed in The Washington Post observed that it had taken Georgia almost $1 billion and 21 years—14 of which were spent overcoming “regulatory hurdles”—to deepen a channel in the Savannah River for container ships. No great engineering challenge was involved; the five-foot deepening project “essentially … required moving muck.” Raising the roadway on a New Jersey bridge took five years, 20,000 pages of paperwork, and 47 permits from 19 agencies—even though the project used existing foundations. The Post reported that in recent years, Congress has required more than 4,000 annual reports from 466 federal agencies and nonprofits. According to the lawyer and author Philip K. Howard, one report on the printing operations of the Social Security Administration took 95 employees more than four months to complete. Among other things, it dutifully informed Congress of the age and serial number of a forklift.

Read: How to fix America’s infrastructure

Not only have our laws grown rapidly in recent years; so have the punishments they carry. You might think that federal criminal laws are reserved for the worst of the worst—individuals who have committed acts so egregious that they merit the attention not just of state authorities but of federal authorities, and not just civil fines but potential prison time. But if that’s your intuition, ask yourself this question: How many federal crimes do you think we have these days?

It turns out no one knows. Yes, every few years some enterprising academic or government official sets out to count them. They devote considerable resources and time (often years) to the task. But in the end, they come up short.

In 1982, the Department of Justice undertook what stands as maybe the most comprehensive count to date. A lawyer spent more than two years reading the U.S. Code—at that time, some 23,000 pages. The best the lawyer could say was that there were about 3,000 federal crimes.

Today, the U.S. Code is roughly twice the length it was in 1982, and contemporary guesses put the number of federal crimes north of 5,000. As the American Bar Association has said, “Whatever the exact number of crimes that comprise today’s ‘federal criminal law,’ it is clear that the amount of individual citizen behavior now potentially subject to federal criminal control has increased in astonishing proportions in the last few decades.”

Part of the reason no one can easily count the number of federal crimes is that our federal criminal code was “not planned; it just grew,” as Ronald Gainer, a retired Justice Department official, puts it. We do not have any single place to which people can turn to discern what our criminal laws prohibit. Sure, there’s Title 18 of the U.S. Code, “Crimes and Criminal Procedure.” But in truth, criminal laws are scattered here and there throughout various federal statutory titles and sections, the product of different pieces of legislation and different Congresses. Really, our federal criminal law is, Gainer writes, “a loose assemblage of … components that were built hastily to respond to perceptions of need and to perceptions of the popular will.”

That’s not the only confounding factor, though. Many federal criminal statutes overlap entirely, are duplicative in part, or, when juxtaposed, raise perplexing questions about what they mean. Take fraud. We have a federal mail-fraud law. We have a federal wire-fraud law. We have federal bribery and illegal-gratuities laws. We also have a federal law forbidding the deprivation of “honest services,” though no one is exactly sure what it does (or does not) add to all those other laws about fraud. On top of all this, more new laws criminalizing fraud are proposed during just about every session of Congress.

Once more, Congress’s output represents just the tip of the iceberg. Our administrative agencies don’t just turn out rules with civil penalties attached to them; every year, they generate more and more rules carrying criminal sanctions as well. How many? Here again, no one seems sure. But estimates suggest that at least 300,000 federal-agency regulations carry criminal sanctions today.

If you were to sit down and read through all of our criminal laws and regulations—or at least flip through them—you would find plenty of surprises. You would learn, for example, that it’s a federal crime to damage a government-owned lamp in Washington, D.C.; consult with a known pirate; or advertise wine by suggesting its intoxicating qualities.

The truth is, we now have so many federal criminal laws covering so many things that the legal scholar John Baker suggests that “there is no one in the United States over the age of 18 who cannot be indicted for some federal crime.”

Numbers tell part of the story, but only a part. Today, the law touches our lives in very different ways than it once did.

In the past, the rules that governed what happened in our homes, families, houses of worship, and schools were found less in law than in custom or were left to private agreement and individual judgment. Even in the areas of life where law has long played a larger role, its character has changed. Once, most of our law came from local and state authorities; now federal law often dominates.

Consider just a few examples here. In the past, a seventh grader who traded burps for laughs in class might have been sent to the principal’s office; these days, law-enforcement officers may make an arrest . A 24-year-old who downloads academic articles that don’t belong to him isn’t just reprimanded; now we threaten him with decades in federal prison . On a more systemic scale, consider that for most of our history, responsibility for educating the young and setting public-school policy rested almost completely in the hands of parents and local and state officials. Until 1979, the federal government didn’t even have a Cabinet-level Department of Education. Now that federal agency employs more than 4,000 people and has an annual budget of almost $70 billion. Although it shares much of that money with states and local schools, often it does so on the condition that they comply with an ever-growing list of federal mandates.

What’s responsible for the changing character of our law? No doubt it’s a complicated story, and we live in a complex world. But just consider what America looked like when Alexis de Tocqueville traveled the country in the 1830s. As the historian Niall Ferguson has observed, Tocqueville “marveled” at the way early Americans “preferred voluntary association to government regulation.” As Tocqueville himself recorded, “not only do they have commercial and industrial associations … they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books … [and] create hospitals, prisons, schools.” In short, Tocqueville concluded, “everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.”

These days, many of those old civic bonds are fraying. In his book Bowling Alone , Robert Putnam reports that “both civic engagement and organizational involvement experienced marked declines during the second half of the twentieth century.” In recent years, those declines have “continued uninterrupted.” A few decades ago, more than 70 percent of Americans were members of a church, synagogue, or mosque; today fewer than half are. According to the Elks, a fraternal order that includes six presidents among its past members, the organization has “struggled” in recent years “with [a] massive decline in membership.” The Freemasons have shed 3 million from their ranks since the 1950s—a 75 percent drop.

Accompanying this decline in civic association, we have experienced a profound decline in trust in one another. We are less inclined to respect or even tolerate different ideas about how to live, raise children, and pray. Studies show that we consider those who disagree with our own political views to be “immoral” or “unintelligent.” In one recent survey by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, roughly half of voters expressed the view that individuals who support “the other party” pose “threats to the American way of life”; about 40 percent said the use of violence may be warranted to “prevent” those who hold competing views “from achieving their goals.” Rather than trust individuals to judge what is best for our own happiness, health, and safety, we have become comfortable doing what the “experts” tell us—and comfortable with forcing others to do the same.

It’s hard not to wonder whether the explosion in our laws owes at least something to these developments. After all, when trust in individual judgment, civic institutions, and social norms fades, where else is there to look for answers but the law? Perhaps, too, the law does more, and does more at the national level, because it can. Communication across the continent has become a simple thing; so has the capacity to store and search large amounts of information and monitor the movement of individuals—all of which allows authorities to direct and track compliance with their rules in ways that were unthinkable even a generation ago.

Whatever the combination of causes, one thing seems clear: If in this country law has always been king, its empire has never been so expansive. More than ever, we turn to the law to address any problem we perceive. More than ever, we are inclined to use national authorities to dictate a single answer for the whole country. More than ever, we are willing to criminalize conduct with which we disagree. And more than ever, if elected officials seem slow to act, we look to other sources of authority to fill the void.

The explosion of law has taken a very real toll on the lives of everyday Americans. Their stories must be told.

Early one morning in 2010, Sandra Yates was doing laundry when she noticed something alarming: Seven agents in bulletproof vests, hands primed on holstered guns, were approaching her bungalow on Anna Maria Island, Florida.

It turned out they were looking for her husband.

“He’s out crabbing,” she told them, mystified by what they could want with John, a 58-year-old commercial fisherman who had worked his way up from deckhand to captain of his own small crew. Sandra and John had met as teenagers 36 years earlier in Ohio. John’s father owned a bait shop, and together father and son spent many weekends fishing on Lake Erie. As Sandra put it, John “more or less grew up on the water.” The couple married, had a child, and moved to Florida to follow family and stake out a new life. John got a job doing what he loved most—fishing—while Sandra worked as a paralegal. By the time the agents showed up, the couple had lived in Florida for more than 28 years.

When Sandra called John to let him know that officers were looking for him, he was just as confused as she was. After all, he had a nearly blemish-free record as a fisherman, and he couldn’t remember having done anything that might interest the authorities. John remained just as confused when he returned to shore and agents handcuffed and transported him two hours away to Fort Myers for booking.

There, John finally learned the charges against him. Among other things, he stood accused of violating the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act and faced a potential term of 20 years in prison.

Now, you might be wondering: Sarbanes-Oxley? Isn’t that some sort of law about financial crimes? If you poke around the internet (as Sandra did late into the night after her husband’s arrest), you will find the law described as being designed “to help protect investors from fraudulent financial reporting by corporations.” You will also learn that Congress adopted the law after a financial scandal brought down the accounting firm Arthur Andersen. Some say the firm engaged in a document-shredding frenzy after being tipped off about an impending federal investigation into work it had performed for its client Enron.

All of that might lead you to ask: What does any of this have to do with a small-time fisherman?

The story starts back in 2007. One day, while John was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico on his boat, The Miss Katie, a state wildlife agent (cross-deputized by federal authorities) came alongside. As John tells it, the agent boarded the boat for a “safety inspection” and then asked John to open up the fish hold. The agent said he wanted to measure the fish—all 2,000 pounds of them.

Read: Why there are too many patents in America

After spending hours rummaging through the pile, the agent declared his verdict. According to his measurements (which John disputed), 72 red grouper were under the 20-inch harvesting minimum set by then-current federal regulations. True, even by the agent’s count only three fish were under 19 inches, and each was at least 18.75 inches. But all the same, 72 undersize fish it was. The agent ordered John to store the undersize fish in separate crates, issued a citation, and left.

After John returned to dock a few days later, the agent measured the fish again. This time, though, the agent found 69 undersize fish, not 72. What’s more, the agent’s individual measurements didn’t quite match those he had taken days earlier while on board. From that and other evidence, the agent grew suspicious that the fish at the dock were not the same fish he had measured at sea. Still, nothing seemed to come of it. John didn’t hear anything more from authorities for almost three years—that is, until the day armed agents showed up at his front door.

At this point, you still might be wondering what any of this has to do with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As John learned after his arrest, that law was written in broad terms. The act doesn’t just make it unlawful to destroy financial records or documents “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence” a federal investigation. It also prohibits the destruction of any other “tangible object” for the same purpose.

And, according to the government, John had done just that. The government’s theory ran this way: John or a member of his crew must have thrown overboard the undersize fish the agent had identified while out on the water. Before returning to port, the crew must have then replaced those fish with new (and still undersize?) substitutes from the remaining catch. On the basis of this theory, the government argued, John had destroyed “tangible objects”—fish—with the intent of impeding a federal investigation.

John saw things differently. By his account, it was hardly surprising that the agent’s two sets of measurements didn’t quite align. Fish expand and contract when they are moved into and out of cool storage and onto hot decks or docks. According to John, the agent wasn’t exactly a fish-measuring expert, either; among other things, he didn’t properly account for the lengthy lower jaws of red grouper. To this day, John considers the government’s theory that he threw undersize fish overboard only to replace them with new, still undersize substitutes “about the … stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Stupid or not, it turned John and Sandra’s life upside down. In addition to facing prison time, John lost his job—no one would hire a potential felon. He was “contaminated,” as Sandra put it. The couple lost their principal source of income and, soon, their house. They stopped taking family vacations with the grandchildren they were raising and tried to make ends meet by opening a used-furniture store. John refurbished furniture and Sandra painted it. To prepare for trial, Sandra stayed up late into the night researching the law and corresponding with attorneys and agency officials.

It was tough going. The family’s ordeal was not made any easier by the knowledge that federal officials had recently revised their regulations. When the agent boarded John’s boat in 2007, the minimum harvesting size for red grouper was 20 inches. But by the time John was arrested three years later, that had changed. The new rule? Eighteen inches. According to the agent’s measurements, not a single one of John’s fish was that small.

Still, the government pressed ahead with its case. In time, prosecutors offered a plea deal that would allow John to plead guilty to an offense involving the forcible opposition of a federal officer. But John saw no basis for that charge. He wanted to clear his name and insisted on standing trial.

It did not go well. More than a year after his arrest and four years after the agent boarded his boat, a jury found John guilty of the Sarbanes-Oxley offense. At sentencing, the court imposed a term of 30 days behind bars (prosecutors had asked for closer to two years). The court also sentenced John to three years of supervised release, ordered him to submit a DNA sample, and subjected him to other restrictions. The prosecution team issued a press release touting its victory.

By now, it was nearing Christmas 2011. John sought permission to report to prison after the holiday so he could spend time with his grandchildren, 8 and 12 years old at the time. The request was denied. So John sat in prison over Christmas. What’s more, at age 59 he was required to wear an ankle bracelet marking him as an escape risk.

After serving his sentence, John was ready to move on. The case had consumed his family for too long. But Sandra was determined to appeal. She didn’t want government officials to “do to someone else what they did to us.” Even when their appeal failed, Sandra wouldn’t give up. She persuaded John and his attorney (today, a federal judge) to petition the Supreme Court to review John’s Sarbanes-Oxley conviction. It was the longest of long shots—the Supreme Court agrees to hear only about 1 percent of the thousands of petitions it receives every year.

But seven years after that agent boarded The Miss Katie, John and Sandra finally felt a sliver of hope: In 2014, the Court announced that it would hear the case.

Nearly a year later, John was working in the couple’s furniture shop when he learned of the Supreme Court’s decision. By the margin of just a single vote, the Court had ruled in his favor. As the majority saw it, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may prohibit the destruction of logbooks, spreadsheets, financial records, and other objects designed “to record or preserve information.” But for all its expansiveness, the law does not reach red grouper thrown overboard.

In a sense, it was a huge victory for the Yates family. The highest court in the land had overturned John’s Sarbanes-Oxley conviction. He and Sandra had won all the vindication our legal system can afford.

Still, you might forgive them for seeing things differently. The family’s ordeal had lasted eight years. They had endured proceedings before three courts and 13 different judges. “I feel good,” John said after the Court’s decision. “But you’ve got to look at it from my situation. I’ve already done the time. I’ve already paid the price. I lost a lot of wages because of this”—at least $600,000, he estimates. Really, as Sandra said, “we lost everything we had.” John hasn’t been back on a commercial fishing boat since his conviction. The couple now lives in a triple-wide trailer and depends on Social Security income and the extra jobs Sandra manages to get. Sandra estimates that taxpayers spent as much as $11 million on the prosecution of the case.

What happened to the federal officials who pursued John for all those years? After complaints emerged of “heavy-handed and unfair enforcement” against other fishermen like John, the inspector general of the Department of Commerce launched an internal investigation. His final report dryly concluded that the agency’s enforcement officials had created a “highly-charged regulatory climate and dysfunctional relationship between [the agency] and the fishing industry.” But, he added, the investigation hadn’t been easy. It seems that a key enforcement official had destroyed many of his files during it. (An anonymous whistleblower described a “shredding party.”) We can find no public record of criminal charges being brought against anyone for the destruction of those tangible objects. But when announcing the department’s findings to Congress, the inspector general said the quiet part out loud: How do you think enforcement officials would have reacted “if a fishing company they were investigating had done the same thing”?

In 2012, while John was appealing his case, Sandra pleaded her family’s cause to the government this way:

We are raising two grandchildren. We are simple people. The actions of these agents were damaging. These children have been affected also. Monies that would have been for them are gone. They have not even been afforded even family vacations any more … Our lives are forever changed by this, and I don’t believe these officers give a hoot who they hurt or why. [John] is a sixty-year-old man that has been beat up by these rogue agents. Jobs are tough enough to get when you are in your prime. He has been reduced to odd jobs. I am the primary provider for the family and I am old and tired, but I will not lie down or give up. We are meager people and don’t want much, but fair and professional treatment should be mandatory for all.

Sandra’s words are powerful, maybe even more so when you consider the fact that there was nothing particularly unusual about John’s case, at least from one point of view. Federal-agency officials had adopted a regulation setting the minimum harvesting size at 20 inches, only later changing it to 18 inches. Another agency official concluded that John had 72 undersize fish on board and 69 at the dock. Meanwhile, Congress had adopted a broad law forbidding the intentional destruction of any “tangible object” in the face of a federal investigation. Without a doubt, a good argument could be made that John’s alleged conduct violated this mix of statutory and regulatory rules.

From another perspective, though, Sandra and John’s experience invites us to consider how well we are doing as a nation in our aspiration to live under the rule of law where ordinary people have room to grow, plan, and make their own way. Yes, our Founders desperately wanted a nation of written laws. But from their study of history, they also appreciated the dangers that follow when lawmaking becomes too easy, when it is a task too far removed from the people, and when laws become too hard to find and too difficult to understand. The Roman emperor Caligula used to post his new laws on columns so tall and in a hand so small that the people could not read them. The whole point was to ensure that people lived in fear—the most powerful of a tyrant’s weapons. Our Founders wanted no part of that for us. As much as they revered written laws, they also knew that when we turn to law to solve every problem and answer humanity’s age-old debates about how we should live, raise our children, and pray, we invite a Leviathan into our lives.

This essay was adapted from Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law .

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