The APA Manuscript Rubric

How the hundred points break down

Nothing here is a surprise on purpose. Your grade is not a verdict on your ideas — it is a tally of whether the manuscript does the concrete, checkable things a scientific paper is supposed to do. Read the rubric before you draft, keep it open while you revise, and run it as a checklist before you submit. Every item below is a point you can bank.

Completion of Assignment 25 points

The Introduction is a funnel: it opens on the wide world, narrows to the gap in the literature, and lands on your hypotheses. Build it in this order, and give the reader each move in turn.

1. Introduce the issue in the first paragraph. Convince the reader that this is an important issue — perhaps it affects a large number of people, or it is an essential component of daily life. Impress its importance upon the reader, using some general statistics (with citations) here.
2. Review the available literature. If studies relate specifically to your topic, review them; if none do, broaden your review to related areas. Show that you have done your scholarly homework and are providing a context for your study. Multiple studies should be cited in this section. Start broad and end narrow.
3. Identify the gap and state your purpose. Within that context, identify a problem or area where the knowledge is incomplete — the unresolved issue your research addresses. The goal of your study is to fill that gap. Conclude this subsection with a sentence that begins “The purpose of my study is to….”
4. Preview the methodology. Give a brief overview of the method used to address the gap — just a snapshot of the participants, materials, and basic procedure. This is a preview: “coming attractions.”
5. Close on specific hypotheses. End the Introduction with the specific hypotheses to be tested or outcomes expected. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to write survey questions and to select the appropriate analyses later. Start each hypothesis sentence with “I hypothesize that….”

Clarity of Presentation, Mechanics & Grammar 40 points

The largest single block of points, and the most winnable. None of these requires a new idea — only a careful pass with the rule in hand.

• Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and noun–verb agreement are all correct; obvious mistakes are avoided (the paper was proofread).
• Avoid direct quotations; if used, a maximum of three. A scholarly paper is not a string of direct quotations.
• Verb tense and noun and pronoun number are correct and consistent.
• Use of personal pronouns is non-sexist.
• When discussing individuals with disabilities, put the person first (“a student with anorexia,” not “an anorexic student”).
• Transitions between sections are smooth, and awkward sentence constructions are avoided.
• Write in complete sentences. Each paragraph focuses on a single topic.
• Avoid being colloquial or informal. Be formal — do not write as though you are having a conversation.
• No contractions (e.g., didn’t, can’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t).
• No abbreviations unless APA-approved.
• Avoid the passive voice.
• Do not use “we” or “us” — this is a single-author paper from the first-person perspective.
• Avoid overzealous claims, such as interpreting correlational data as causal, or using the word “prove.”
• No anthropomorphizing; avoid the pathetic fallacy — data do not “indicate” and research does not “find” anything on its own.
• Be specific and precise — avoid the word “thing.”

Proper Use of APA Style & Formatting 35 points

Two kinds of rules live here: how you handle sources in the prose, and how the manuscript sits on the page. Both are checkable line by line.