PANPACIFIC
UNIVERSITY
Research and Extension Office
Research Writing
Manual and Guidelines
CAPSTONE PROJECT
August 2018
GENERAL FORMATTING
GUIDELINES
GENERAL FORMATTING GUIDELINES
This guideline is part of the Panpacific
University
Research Writing Manual and
Guidelines institutionalizedand
implemented by the Research and Extension
rme General Formatting Guidelines, Office.
which is based on the Publication
American Psychological Association Manual of the
(APA) 6 thedition (2010), provides
comprehensive a
guide in preparing the
research protocol or manuscript conducted
by faculty members and non-teaching staff,as well as the thesis and
written by students in both graduate dissertation
and undergraduate levels.
This document aims to provide the common core elements of APA styleto be
adopted by allmembers of the Panpacific University community with
regard to
research writing.
Manuscript Font: Rockwell, 12 point. For abstracts and direct quotations from
interviews, 10 point should be used.
Title: Use Rockwell, 12 point, boldface, double-spaced for the titleresearch/article
title,with a capital letter for the first letter of all proper nouns. The title should be
centered and arranged in an inverse pyramidal form. The titleshould not include
abbreviations, except for terms that are popularly known based on itsabbreviations
(e.g.HIV, AIDS, SWOT).
Authors' names: Give the names of allcontributing authors on the titlepage exactly
as you wish them to appear in the published article.With the aim to uphold integrity,
transparency, and recognition of responsibilities,the Research and Extension Office
and the Panpacific University - Research Ethics Committee encourages authors to
identify the primary author/s based on the level and weight of contribution during
the conduct and writing of the research. This shall be based on the assessment and
agreement of all authors. If the authors consider that all team members equally
contributed towards the completion of the research, then an alphabetical order shall
be followed, upon agreement or consensus among the authors.The authors'names
should be centered with the firstname/s to be indicated first,
followed by the middle
initial,surname, and suffix name, if any. Titles (e.g. Dr., Engr., Atty.) are not to be
indicated.
Affiliations: In the Abstract, list the affiliation of each author (department, university,
city,country) ifany, specifically the School where the student/researcher belongs.
The author's affiliation are not, however,
should be centered. Affiliations indicated in
the cover page of the manuscript. The designations of the members (e.g. Project
Leader, Adviser, Staff) are not to be indicated.
Correspondence details: In the abstract, provide an email address for all authors. If
possible, the institutionalemail address is preferred (i.e.,
author@panpacificu.edu.ph); ifnone, a professional email address willsuffice
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(fnsurname@gmail.com). Cellphone numbers are also to be indicated. The author's
correspondence detailsshould be centered.
Center, Side and Paragraph Headings: Please indicate the level of the section
headings in your article:
FIRST-LEVEL HEADINGS (e.g.
INTRODUCTION, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS) should be in boldface and capitallettersfor allwords. This
should be centered to indicate that this is the heading for the main sections of the
research.
Second-Level Headings should be in boldface, with a capital letter for the firstletter
of all proper nouns, except for articles. This should be flushed leftto indicate the
heading for the subsections of each main section of the research (e.g.Statement of
the Problem, Locale and Population).
Third-Level Headings should be italicizedand boldfaced. Use a capitalletterfor the
firstletter of proper nouns. This should be flushed leftand used as a heading for
main findings (e.g. Level of Knowledge in HIV, Leadership Styles of School
Administrators).
The firstletterof the firstword
Fourth-level headings should be italicized. should be
capitalized. The heading is written as part of the paragraph/first line. The text
follows immediately after a full stop (fullpoint) or period. This shall be the sub-
themes or components of the findings, if any.
Page numbers and running heads: Each page of the manuscript shallbear a page
of each chapter. Itis
number and a running head, except for the firstpage
Word
recommended that each chapter shall be written using separate Microsoft
bears the intended specific
document/file in order to ensure that each chapter
running head.
right. The running
The page number and running head shall be in Rockwell, 10 point, flushed
of the chapter, with a capital letter for each word except
head shall bear the name
Results and Discussion, Conclusion and
for articles(Introduction, Methodology,
Recommendation, etc.).The page number shallbe below the running head as seen
in the example below:
Introduction
6
at all sides except left side, which is
Margins: Set the margins at l" (inch) or 2.54cm
to be set at 1.5" or 3.18cm.
headings. First line indentation
Alignment: text to the left, except for main
Align
(except for abstract). The abstract is justified, with no indentation.
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spacing: Double-space all parts of the manuscript, except for headings, abstract,
quotations, and tables. There should be no space before and afterparagraphs. Set
the paragraph spacing at 0 inch for both before and afterparagraph.
Language and Spelling: The manuscript shallbe in Standard American English
unless the Filipino language is required for the course (e.g. Pananaliksik sa Filipino:
Wika at Panitikan).Italicsshould be used for Filipinoand non-English terms, and
they are to be translated or transliterated as needed. All direct quotations from
interviews are to be translated into English. Authors should note the spellings of the
followingcommonly used words:
• center, not centre • specialization, not specialisation
program, not programme • honor, not honour
• color, not colour • organize, not organise
behavior, not behaviour • analyze, not analyse
Quotations and Quotation marks: Shorter quotes are placed in quotations marks in
the text.
' "Display a longer quotation of 40 words or more as a freestanding
block of typewritten lines (block quote), and omit the quotation marks"
(APA, 2001, p. 117). Block quotes are continuously indented from the
'
left margin one-half inch.
If,however, the quotation consists of two or more paragraphs, the
second and any subsequent paragraphs should begin with a paragraph
indentation. Use single space within a block quote, double space
before and after.
Use single inverted commas (quotation marks) [i.e., ' '] for titles of articles,
unpublished works, English translationsof words from another language, and short
quotations. Use double inverted commas [i.e.," to indicate quoted material within
inside inverted commas
a quotation. All punctuation used in connection with phrases
must be placed according to the sense: ifthe punctuation marks are part of the
material quoted, they should be placed inside the quotation marks; otherwise, they
should be placed outside the closing quotation marks.
quotations must fitgrammatically into the text in terms of syntax, verb
Fragmentary
tenses, personal pronouns, etc.
Brackets and Ellipses: Use square brackets [ ] to enclose explanatory matter
inserted into a verbatim quotation, or matter inserted to complete the meaning of a
intended to read as part of the translated text. The translation of the
translation and
or article in a foreign language, ifgiven, should be placed in square
titleof a book
Square brackets are also used to indicate the
brackets after the original title.
codename or pseudonym of a respondent for qualitative researches.
For ellipses within a sentence, use three full stops (periods) ...and for ellipses at the
end of a sentence use four fullstops
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In-text citations generally consist of the surname/ s of the author/s,
In-text Citations:
the year of publication of the work cited, and page number/s ifnecessary, enclosed
for Reference Style.
within parentheses. See full instructions in the Guidelines
every time
When a source that has two authors is cited, both authors are included
the source is cited.
When a source that has three, four, or five authors is cited, all authors are included
the firsttime the source is cited. When that source is cited again, the first author's
surname and "et al."are used. Consider the following example:
Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some
types of religious behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental
health (Payne, Bergin, Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991).
Payne et al. (1991) showed that ...
When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the firstauthor's surname and "et
al." are used every time the source is cited, including the firsttime.
Every effortshould be made to cite only sources that you have actually read. When it
is necessary to cite a source that you have not read ("Grayson" in the following
example) that is cited in a source that you have read ("Murzynski & Degelman" in the
following example), properly cite the materials used, although itis recommended
that this be avoided. In such an inevitable case, use the following format for the text
citation and listonly the source you have read in the References list:
Grayson (as cited in Murzynski & Degelman, 1996) identified four components
of body language thatwere related to judgments of vulnerability.
Appendix/Äppendices: Each appendix should starton a new page; appendices
should be arranged in alphabetical sequence (Appendix A, B, C, ...
) and each should
be given a title.All appendices shall be indicated in the table of contents.
Footnotes and Endnotes: Do not include footnotes and endnotes. Integrate the
content of any footnotes or endnotes into the main text of the manuscript.
Images: Graphs must be saved as .jpeg, .bmp, .tiff,
or .png, with a resolution of at
least 300 DPI at final size.
Tables: Create tables using the Table tool of the Microsoft Word.
Present fulltables
on a single page using single spacing to make the table
easy to read. The table
should be in single space, 12 point. You may adjust the font size to I I point if needed
(i.e.,the text or table will not fitin one page).
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Research
Manuscript Format: The manuscript shallfollow the Panpacific University
main
Writing Manuals and Guidelines for Capstone Project with the following
sectionsand recommended number of pages:
TITLE PAGE (1page)
• APPROVAL SHEET (1page)
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY,CONFLICT OF INTEREST
AND FUNDING (1page)
• ENGLISH EDITORIAL CERTIFICATE (1 page)
ACmOWLEDGMENTS (1page)
• ABSTRACT (1 page)
• TABLE OF CONTENTS (1-3pages)
INTRODUCTION (5-15pages)
METHODOLOGY (3-6pages)
• RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (5-15pages)
• CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS (2-4pages)
REFERENCES (3-10pages)
• APPENDICES (5-10pages)
Declaration of Originality, Conflict of Interest and Funding
An example of the declaration is as follows:
It is important to declare that the work is original and be certified that it is free of
plagiarized content. Originality can be determined based on the result of the
originality-check performed by the student or adviser based on the availabilityof a
tool or program with such capability (e.g.; Turnitin). Conflict of interest must also be
declared ifany or even ifthere is none. This is to avoid the incompatibility between
the personal interest of the author and the benefit to be derived from the result of the
research. Lastly, funding received by the researcher used for assistance in
completing the research or the degree must be declared in order to acknowledge
the grantor. Itis not necessary to mention the amount and name of grantor here.
An example of the declaration is as follows:
'This research is original and has not been submitted for another degree. All sources
used in this research have been properly acknowledged or duly cited. The author
declares that there is no conflict of interest in this research and have not received any
funding from any source in the course of completing this research. '
English Editorial Certificate
Itis necessary that the manuscript must be free of grammatical errors. Hence, the
manuscript must be evaluated by an English language specialistbefore it will be
submitted for finalapproval. The student is responsible for searching an English
editor who will be evaluating, proofreading and editing the manuscript.
Nonetheless, the University, through the Deans and the Research and Extension
Office may recommend individuals who could be able to assist students in the
Proofreading and editing the manuscripts.
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Cover Page: The cover page of the thesis
and dissertationshallbe in hard
bookbinding. Capstone
project that is considered as a final requirement for the
degree equivalentto a thesis shall also be in hard bookbinding. On the other hand,
outputs for project feasibility study,
action research, and thesis/dissertation abstract
will be in soft bookbinding. Proposals for
that are considered as a requirement
courses that are pre-requisites for
thesis/dissertation/capstone project (e.g., Thesis
l, Capstone 1, Methods of Research) shall be in soft bookbinding.
cover page shall contain the following information, in particular order:
Title of the Thesis/Dissertation/Project Feasibility Study/Capstone
Project/Experimental Research/Action Research;
Name of the Faculty, School and the University;
Degree or Academic Program;
Name of the Author/s;
Month and Year of Completion
The color of the cover page will depend on the educational level of the students
submittin the ou ut. This shall be as follows:
Level Bindin Color
Doctorate dissertation; Hardbound Black cover, with gold
letterin
Undergraduate and master's thesis; Hardbound Dark green cover,
(including Experimental research); with gold lettering
Ca stone ro•ect
Project feasibilitystudy; Softbound Green cover, with
Action Research; gold lettering
Thesis/Dissertation Abstract;
Thesis/Dissertation/Capstone Proposals;
Ou ut forMethods of Research
The spine of the thesis and dissertation manuscript (not applicable to outputs in soft
bookbinding) shall contain the following, in particular order:
Surname, FirstName Initialand Middle Name Initial of the Author (in case there are
more than one authors, "et al." shall be used);
Title of the Thesis/Dissertation
Acronym of Degree or Academic Program (e.g.,
BSEd);
Month and Year of Completion or Graduation
A colored sticker will be placed at the lower part of the spine for all manuscript
the School of origin of the outputs. The
types, except dissertation, to distinguish
color distinctions are as follows:
