Factors that affect online consumer behavior
APA Assignment 2: The Outline
Assignment instructions in Blackboard:
The body of the Sample APA Paper is not organized topically. Instead, it contains a series of article summaries chained together. Reorganize the information into a logical topical outline. Do not rewrite the whole paper. Instead, re-conceptualize the content in outline format with detailed bullets of the articles that are cited.
There is no APA guideline for outlines but you should adhere to APA guidelines when citing articles in your outline. Every heading must have at least two entries (e.g., A, B; 1, 2). Supply missing information, using the sources that you obtained from the Library research portal for the reference list. You may include other resources if you like but it is not required. Also, include the title and reference page with your submission. If you received any feedback from the instructor for your previous reference page, be sure that you have made the necessary corrections.
Additional assignment information:
In this assignment, you will be writing an outline that reorganizes an already existing (and really BAD!!) paper. It can be awkward trying to rewrite a paper that isn’t your own. As the directions state, the Sample Paper is currently organized as a string or series of individual article reviews.
***One thing students find confusing is the use of the word “introduction”. In APA format the Introduction is the entire first section of the paper, introducing the topic of study to the reader. (See APA manual, pp27-28). However, as in all papers, there is also an introductory paragraph. For this assignment, you need to do an outline of the whole Introduction (essentially the entire paper since it only contains the Introduction and has no Method/Results/Discussion) ***
If I were to begin to outline the Sample Paper as it currently exists, it might look a bit like this (an example of what NOT to do):
I. Introduction (BAD EXAMPLE)
A. Internet consumerism
1. Online shopping is increasing
2. Individual behaviors may affect online consumerism
B. Vazquez and Xu (2009) study
1. Factors that affect online consumer behavior
a. Attitudes
b. Motivations
c. Information search
2. Lots of unnecessary details of study that don’t add to the main point of the paper and can be dropped
a. Unnecessary detailed breakdown of age groups (readers who want detail can read the original article)
b. Unnecessary details about data analysis (again, a reader can find the original article if they want this level of detail)
C. Koyuncu and Lien (2003) study
1. Factors that affect online consumer behavior
a. Online experience
b. Sexual preference
c. Primary place of access
2. Lots of unnecessary details of study that don’t add to the main point of the paper (drop)
a. Unnecessary detailed participant demographics
b. MORE unnecessary detailed participant demographics
.
.
A paper arranged in the above fashion does little to synthesize the material and support the research proposal being put forth in the Methods section.
· The purpose of an introduction to a research paper is to “introduce” the topic you are studying and why it is important, to summarize past research and discuss how your research will be similar or different, and to propose your hypotheses.
The APA manual (pp. 27-28) and the textbook (pp. 430-431) give great descriptions of the objectives for an introduction. I recommend you read both of them. Understanding the purpose of an introduction will help you avoid some of the mistakes made in the bad example above. There are several places I highlighted to emphasize the “unnecessary detail” included in the sample paper. It is true that the demographic and statistical information is unnecessary, but it is also true that this kind of information does not really belong in an introduction at all! What is important in an introduction is to summarize findings of past research. If a reader wants more specific information on the methodology or results of a particular study, they can go to your reference page, find the reference information, and retrieve the article (one reason it is so very important to have an accurate reference page!). When summarizing past research there may be some instances where including demographic information is useful, especially if it is to highlight methodological weaknesses in previous studies. For example, you might write “In a study of 45 women, Johnson and Smith (1998) found….” This information might be useful to the readers if your study will include both men and women – it demonstrates your research is expanding what has already been done. However, generally speaking, that type of information should be left out. I am emphasizing this because including this superfluous information from the Sample Paper is one of the biggest mistakes students make in this assignment and it tends to ruin the flow of the outline.
· The proper way to write an introduction is to arrange a paper topically ; that is, dividing the main thesis into subtopics and supporting details. This will lead to a much more convincing paper. In an outline that is arranged topically, the articles will not appear as main subdivisions of the outline (as they do above). In a topically arranged paper, you may use your references multiple times as you discuss each subtopic. They will appear in support of your subtopics and details. If you read through the published articles that you are using as source material in this course, you can see how the authors build arguments in support of their new research by examining topics one at a time, not articles one at a time. The goal of this assignment is to help students understand how to accomplish this preferred structure for a psychology research paper.
Here is a BETTER example of an outline of the Introduction:
Start with a brief introductory paragraph that includes a thesis statement. A thesis statement includes the research question of the paper. The outline should follow the introductory paragraph.
I. Body of Introduction
A. Topic Number One (let’s choose “Consumer Motivation” for the sake of example)
1. Security of web site (Subtopic Number One)
a. Supporting detail about web site security #1 (CITE SUPPORTING REFERENCES HERE). It is fine to use full sentences. In fact, it is better to write longer sentence than to be too brief and leave out important information.
b. Supporting detail about web site security #2 (CITE SUPPORTING REFERENCES HERE)
2. Subtopic Number Two
a.
b.
B. Topic Number Two
1.
2.
C. Topic Number Three
1.
2.
III. Conclusion of Introduction
*** Remember to include your corrected Reference page as per the instructions. You should only include the references that are actually cited in the outline. And every source you cite in text should be on the reference page.***
· What is the best way to fill out this type of outline? I recommend reading through the existing paper and making a general list of main topics that you see repeatedly in the paper (i.e. consumer motivation, web site design, etc.). Then go back through and add details beneath each of these main topics to fill out your list. If you need ideas, look ahead to the third APA assignment that includes some possible topics in the instructions as a starting point. Include any and all references that support these points in parentheses after each entry, and you’re halfway to a finished outline!
· When you support a subtopic or detail with references, there may be one or more articles that deal with that particular area. Include them all. Also, one article may lend support to many different topics in your outline, and so might appear more than once. Remember that you may have to fill in your own details, using the sources that you have gotten from the LU Online library, to fill out the outline. If you use any new sources, be sure to reference them. One of the best places to get new references is from the reference page of articles you already have! The articles assigned for the class all discuss and cite previous research and those references may be useful to you. However, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you retrieve and read the article for yourself (it only takes a few moments). It is better to read the full article yourself rather than citing the summary from another reference. There are multiple reasons for this, but from a practical point, if you don’t read the article yourself you must cite it as a secondary source (APA p. 178, 6.17) and the APA really discourages this practice.
Finally, I want to briefly mention in-text citation. Whenever you use an idea or thought from someone else you must give them credit for it, otherwise it is considered plagiarism. If you are using exact words from another author, you must give them credit and include a page number for the direct quote. The APA manual discusses this in more detail. Table 6.1 on p. 177 in the APA manual will be a great help to you in properly formatting your in-text citations.
I hope this guide is a help to you as you begin your outline assignment!
Below I am including a brief checklist to help ensure you have everything together before you submit your assignment:
· Properly formatted title page (running head/numbered page 1)
· Outline (running head/numbered page 2 – you do not need to write “outline” at the top of the page. You can write the title across the top if you like, or just start in on the introductory paragraph)
· Introductory paragraph including a thesis statement/research question
· Outline of the body of the introduction with properly formatted in-text citations.
· Properly formatted reference page (running head/page number). This should include only the references that were cited in the outline.
The body of the Sample APA Paper is not organized topically. Instead, it contains a series of article summaries chained together. Reorganize the information into a logical topical outline. Do not rewrite the whole paper. Instead, reconceptualize the content in outline format with detailed bullets of the articles that are cited. There is no APA guideline for outlines but you should adhere to APA guides lines when citing articles in your outline. Every heading must have at least two entries (e.g., A, B; 1, 2).
Found below is the correctly formatted reference list
References
Janda, S. (2008). Does gender moderate the effect of online concerns on purchase likelihood? Journal of Internet Commerce, 7(3), 339-358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332860802250401
Jeon, S., Crutsinger, C., & Kim, H. (2008). Exploring online auction behaviors and motivations. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 100(2), 31-40. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/218160218
Koyuncu, C., & Lien, D. (2003). E-commerce and consumer’s purchasing behaviour. Applied Economics, 35(6), 721. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0003684022000020850
Kukar-Kinney, M.,Monroe, K.B., Ridgway, N.M. (2008). The relationship between consumers’ tendencies to buy compulsively and their motivations to shop and buy on the internet. Journal of Retailing, 85(3), 298-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2009.05.002
Stibel, J.M. (2005). Mental models and online consumer behaviour. Behaviour & Information Technology, 24(2), 147-150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01449290512331321901
Vazquez, D., & Xu, X. (2009). Investigation linkages between online purchase behavior variables. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 37(5), 408-419. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09590550954900