APPENDIX OR APPENDICES

APPENDIX / APPENDICES

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.

Multiple Choice

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.

• Appendices are sections at the end of academic writing with essential information on the topic that still might be helpful for the reader.

so...

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.

Multiple Select

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

• an image of what historians think Genghis Khan actually looked like

• discussion of how and why the Mongol Empire rose to power

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.

What are appendices used for?

Fill in the Blanks

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

​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.

Multiple Select

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.

What content should be included in appendices?

• • tables and charts

  • figures and graphs

  • maps

• • images

  • audio or video clips

  • spreadsheets

• • interview transcripts

  • technical specifications of research equipment

• • surveys

    scanned documents

  • raw statistical data

  • original math and calculations

If you have only one appendix, you can call it simply Appendix and refer to it as such in text, e.g., (see Appendix).

How do you title appendices?

Multiple Choice

IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE YOU CAN CALL IT....

• Appendix A, Appendix B...

• FIRST APPENNDIX , SECOND APPENDIX...

• APPENDIX EXAMPLE 1, APPENDIX EXAMPLE 2...

IF YOU HAVE SEVERAL APPENDICES YOU CAN

• label each appendix and they 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).

• 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.

Multiple Choice

Where do appendices go?

• end

• beginning

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.