Clear, practical examples of appendix in a research paper

Real-world examples of appendix in a research paper

Let’s start where most students want to start: concrete examples. When instructors ask you to “put it in the appendix,” they usually mean material that supports your research but would distract from the flow of the main text.

Here are some of the best examples of appendix in a research paper that show up again and again across disciplines:

• A full survey or questionnaire you used to collect data
• Sample interview questions and selected interview transcripts
• Large raw data tables that are summarized in the results section
• Detailed descriptions of procedures or instruments
• Copies of consent forms or ethics approval letters
• Code, scripts, or algorithms used in data analysis
• Additional figures or charts that are useful but not central
• Glossaries, scoring rubrics, or classification schemes

These are not hypothetical. If you open published theses from universities like Harvard or formatting manuals from associations like the American Psychological Association, you’ll see these examples of examples of appendix in a research paper over and over.

Examples of appendix content by discipline

Different fields lean on different types of appendices. Seeing real examples of appendix in a research paper by subject area can make it easier to decide what you need.

Social sciences: Surveys, interviews, and coding schemes

In psychology, sociology, education, or public health, some of the most common examples of appendix in a research paper include:

1. Full survey instruments
In the main text, you might write:

Participants completed a 25-item stress and coping questionnaire adapted from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

In the appendix, you then include the entire questionnaire, with items, response scales, and instructions. This lets other researchers replicate your study or evaluate your measures. Many survey-based studies published in journals that follow APA style do exactly this.

2. Interview guides and sample transcripts
If you conducted semi-structured interviews, your appendix might show:

• The full interview guide with all planned questions
• One or two anonymized sample transcripts
• A coding framework or thematic analysis table

For example, a qualitative education study might place its full coding scheme in Appendix A and two sample coded transcripts in Appendix B. These are classic examples of examples of appendix in a research paper in qualitative research.

3. Observation protocols or rubrics
Classroom observation forms, behavioral checklists, or scoring rubrics for essays often live in the appendix. The main paper explains how you scored or observed; the appendix shows the exact tool.

STEM and health sciences: Data, procedures, and code

In STEM, medicine, and public health, examples include more technical material:

4. Detailed methods or protocols
Journals often ask authors to keep the methods section tight. So researchers move step-by-step protocols to the appendix:

• Full lab protocols for experiments
• Equipment calibration procedures
• Extended inclusion/exclusion criteria for participants

For instance, a clinical study might summarize eligibility criteria in the methods section and list the full screening checklist in Appendix C. You can see similar practice in many NIH-funded study reports hosted on NIH.gov.

5. Large data tables and supplementary analyses
If your regression outputs or descriptive statistics would take up half the paper, they belong in an appendix. The main text might show a clean summary table, while the appendix holds:

• Full regression outputs
• Sensitivity analyses
• Subgroup analyses

These are strong examples of appendix in a research paper where transparency matters, but readability in the main text also matters.

6. Code and scripts
In data science, epidemiology, or any computational field, many authors now include:

• R scripts
• Python notebooks
• SPSS or Stata syntax

Sometimes the appendix contains short snippets with a link to a full repository (for example, on GitHub or an institutional server). This has become more common in 2024–2025 as journals push for reproducible research.

Humanities: Texts, documents, and translations

Humanities papers use appendices differently, but there are still clear examples of appendix in a research paper:

7. Primary source excerpts
A history paper might put long excerpts of letters, speeches, or archival documents in the appendix, especially if they’re too long for the body.

8. Full translations
If you analyze a poem in Spanish but quote only short segments in the main text, you might place a full English translation in the appendix. That way, readers who don’t know the language can still follow the argument without cluttering your main pages.

How to decide what belongs in the appendix (with examples)

A practical way to decide: ask yourself two questions.

Does the reader need this to understand my argument?
If the answer is yes, it stays in the main text. If it’s helpful but not strictly needed, it’s a candidate for the appendix.

Would this disrupt the flow if I left it in the body?
If a table or transcript is long enough that it breaks your narrative, it probably belongs in an appendix.

For instance:

• A short table of 5–6 key statistics usually stays in the results section.
• A 12-page interview transcript is a perfect example of something that should go into the appendix.
• One short code snippet that illustrates a method might fit in the body; a full 400-line script is better off in an appendix.

When you look at real theses and dissertations from university repositories, these are exactly the kinds of examples of examples of appendix in a research paper you’ll see.

How to label and organize appendices (with real-style examples)

Most style guides (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) agree on one thing: appendices should be labeled clearly and cited in the text.

Here’s how that looks in practice.

Labeling your appendices

Common conventions:

• Single appendix: Appendix (no letter or number)
• Multiple appendices: Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, and so on

Each appendix gets its own title, such as:

• Appendix A: Survey Instrument
• Appendix B: Interview Guide and Sample Transcript
• Appendix C: Additional Regression Output

These are not just made-up labels; you’ll see similar wording in real graduate theses and journal articles.

Referring to appendices in your text

You never want your appendix to feel disconnected. When you mention something that lives in the appendix, point the reader there.

For example:

• “The full 32-item questionnaire is provided in Appendix A.”
• “A sample of the coded interview transcript is shown in Appendix B.”
• “Additional sensitivity analyses are presented in Appendix C.”

These in-text references turn your appendices from “extra stuff at the back” into best examples of supporting material that readers can actually use.

Formatting tips for strong, readable appendices

You don’t need to overcomplicate the design. But a few small choices can turn your appendix from a messy dumping ground into a polished part of your paper.

Keep the same page layout
Use the same font, spacing, and margins you used in the main paper. This makes the appendix feel like part of the same document, not an afterthought.

Start each appendix on a new page
If you have multiple appendices, each one should begin on its own page with a clear heading:

Appendix A
Survey Instrument

Label tables and figures clearly
You can continue the numbering from the main text or restart within the appendix, depending on your style guide. For instance, APA allows labels like:

• Table A1, Table A2
• Figure B1, Figure B2

These are tidy, real-world examples of appendix in a research paper layout that instructors and reviewers appreciate.

Protect confidentiality and ethics
If you’re including interview transcripts, consent forms, or medical data, strip out any identifying details. This is especially important in health and social research. Organizations like the Office for Human Research Protections provide guidance on privacy and research ethics.

2024–2025 trends: How appendices are changing

If you’re writing now, you’re working in a slightly different world than students did five or ten years ago. Some current trends affect how you use appendices:

More digital supplements
Many journals and universities now allow or encourage “supplementary materials” hosted online. Your paper might have a brief appendix with key items and then link to a larger dataset or full code repository. This hybrid approach is one of the best examples of how appendices are evolving: the paper stays readable, and the technical material stays accessible.

Stronger emphasis on reproducibility
Fields like psychology, economics, and biomedical research have pushed hard for reproducible methods. That means more detailed appendices with:

• Exact survey wording
• Full analytic decisions
• Complete code and model specifications

In 2024–2025, many journals and funders expect this level of transparency. If you’re not sure what to include, check recent articles in your target journal; you’ll see modern examples of appendix in a research paper that match current expectations.

Clearer institutional guidance
Universities are updating their thesis and dissertation manuals with more concrete examples. Many graduate schools now show sample appendices in their formatting guides, including real-style examples of survey instruments, consent forms, and data tables.

Sample appendix structures you can copy

To make this practical, here are two realistic layouts you can adapt.

Example: Undergraduate psychology research paper

A student paper on sleep and academic performance might organize its appendix like this:

• Appendix A: Sleep Habits Questionnaire
  Full 20-item survey with Likert-scale questions, plus instructions to participants.

• Appendix B: Debriefing Form
  The exact wording given to participants after the study.

• Appendix C: Additional Descriptive Statistics
  Full table of means and standard deviations for all variables, beyond the summary presented in the results section.

These are realistic examples of appendix in a research paper at the undergraduate level: not overly technical, but still clear and useful.

Example: Public health graduate thesis

A master’s thesis on vaccination attitudes might use:

• Appendix A: Survey Instrument and Scoring Instructions
  All items, response options, and how composite scores were calculated.

• Appendix B: Institutional Review Board Approval Letter
  The IRB letter (with identifying information removed if required) to show ethical approval.

• Appendix C: Additional Logistic Regression Models
  Full model outputs, including odds ratios and confidence intervals, supplementing the main results.

• Appendix D: Interview Guide and Sample Transcript
  For a mixed-methods study, the qualitative component’s tools.

These are strong examples of examples of appendix in a research paper in a real-world graduate context, blending quantitative and qualitative materials.

FAQ: Short answers about appendices

Q: What are common examples of appendix items in a student research paper?
Common examples of appendix items include full surveys, interview questions, long tables of raw data, consent forms, IRB letters, rubrics, and detailed procedures that would interrupt the flow if kept in the main text.

Q: Do I have to include an appendix in every research paper?
No. Many shorter papers don’t need one. You only add an appendix when you have supporting material that’s too long or too detailed for the body but still valuable for readers or reviewers.

Q: How do I cite something that’s in the appendix?
In the text, you refer to it directly: “see Appendix A for the full questionnaire.” You usually do not create a separate reference entry for your own appendix; it’s part of your paper.

Q: Can I put references or a bibliography in the appendix?
Normally, your reference list appears after the main text and before any appendices, not inside an appendix. An appendix might contain a list of documents you used (for example, a list of interview prompts), but not your main bibliography.

Q: Is there a difference between an appendix and supplementary material online?
Yes. An appendix is part of the document itself. Supplementary material is often hosted separately (for example, as an online file). However, they serve similar purposes, and the types of content they hold—like the best examples listed above—often overlap.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: the appendix is where you put everything that supports your research but doesn’t belong center stage. When you look at real papers from universities and journals, you’ll see the same pattern: surveys, transcripts, data tables, code, and documents that make your work transparent without drowning your reader in detail. Those are the examples of appendix in a research paper you want to follow.