Writing Guide for Psychology

Types of Writing in Psychology

I. The Literature Review

II. The Research Paper

III. The Laboratory Report

The Literature Review

The literature review is a concise summary and evaluation of research, organized by a topic, that is related to your objective, thesis, or experiment.

Purpose

Usually, a literature review is contained within the introduction of an experimental laboratory report. However, some professors may require you to write a literature review as a separate assignment.

Components

1. A description of information with citations, related to your topic or research question
2. Identification of theoretical conflicts or controversies related to your research question
3. Any needs or questions for further research to address

Suggestions

· Do not just summarize the research chronologically; instead, organize the research by topic.

· Make sure to narrow down your topic.

· Pick a current topic or area of research.

· Choose a topic that you are actually interested in.

For a detailed PDF handout on writing a literature review in psychology from the University of Washington’s Department of Psychology Writing Center, click onto the following link: http://depts.washington.edu/psywc/handouts/pdf/litrev.pdf

The Research Paper

A research paper describes and summarizes a specific topic, usually a theory or an area of research, by providing a summary, evaluating the findings and providing suggestions for further research.

Structure

In their book Writing For Psychology, Thaiss and Sanford suggest breaking down the research paper into three sections:

1. First section: Overview of topic and identification of goals of paper
2. Middle section: Summary of specific topics and issues
3. Concluding paragraphs: Critical evaluation of research you have reported

Steps

1. Pick a topic.
2. Perform research on area through literature searches.
3. Organize ideas and develop an outline.
4. Write a draft of the paper.
5. Proofread and make changes.
6. Write final draft.

Suggestions

• Pick a topic that you are interested in.
• Be sure the breadth of the topic is appropriate for the assignment.
• Support all of your assertions with actual evidence such as empirical citations or with logical arguments.

The Laboratory Report

A laboratory report is a write-up of an experiment or other research project and has the same components as a published research study. The purpose of a lab report is to describe how and why you performed your experiment, what you discovered, and your interpretation of the final results. For a detailed PDF handout on writing a lab report in psychology from the University of Washington’s Department of Psychology Writing Center, click onto the following link:

http://depts.washington.edu/psywc/handouts/pdf/APApaper.pdf

For a lab report template available in PDF form:

http://depts.washington.edu/psywc/handouts/pdf/apatemplate.pdf

Purpose

When writing your lab report, your professors will expect you to follow the guidelines described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). These standard guidelines are commonly known as APA format. For more on APA, see the following link:

http://depts.washington.edu/psywc/handouts/pdf/citations.pdf

Components

Title Page

Abstract

Introduction

Method

Participants

Apparatus and Materials

Design

Procedure

Results

Tables

Figures

Discussion

References

Appendices

Title Page

The title page should be the first page of your document and introduces the reader to the title and author of the lab report.

Components

Title

Author's Name(s)

Institutional Affiliation

Manuscript Page Header

Running Head

Page Number

Title

The title of your laboratory report is a concise description of the purpose and main focus of the experiment.

Tips

• Make the title specific (identify the topic of investigation).
• Make a statement or ask a question.
• Include the independent variable and dependent variable.
• Keep the length to about 10 to 12 words (never more than 20 words).

Author's Name(s)

Include, in order, the author's first name, middle initial, and last name.

Institutional Affiliation

Identify where the study was actually performed (e.g., George Mason University)

Manuscript Page Header

The manuscript page header is a very short abbreviation of the title. It should appear at the top of every page in the upper right-hand corner with the page number.

Running Head

The running head is a short descriptive form of the title. It is typed flush left in all uppercase letters and is limited to a maximum of 50 characters. The running head should only appear on the title page.

Page Number

Every page of your manuscript, including the title page should have the page number in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Abstract

Sample Abstract

The abstract is a brief summary that highlights the main points of your lab report. It is a one paragraph, self-contained, concise description of the problem under investigation, the participants, the observational method, findings, and conclusions.

Tips

• Should be approximately 100 words long (A quick and easy way is to summarize each section with one sentence.)
• Write the abstract after you have written all of the other sections of your lab report.
• Arrange the information in the same order as the lab report: Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion.
• Should be one paragraph with no indentions
• Use abstracts from articles in APA journals as models.
• Do not use redundant information.

Tips from the book Writing For Psychology by Thaiss and Sanford:

• Try to use few function words (do not use any more articles, conjunctions, or prepositions than needed) e.g., omit "the"
• Use active voice ("Results showed"…not "It was found that")
• Use clauses and prepositional phrases to limit abstract's length.

Introduction

Sample Introduction

The purpose of the introduction is to describe your research question, summarize previous research, explain why your research was necessary, and state your hypotheses.

In their book, Writing For Psychology, Thaiss and Sanford recommend including these components in the introduction in the following order:

1. Introduction to the topic
2. Concise discussion of previous literature that has addressed the problem being studied. (See Literature Review)
3. Statement of the hypotheses and how they were derived from previous research
4. Broad overview of the method used in the study

Tips

• Begin by first making an outline of the progression of research related to your study.
• Support your argument with actual research examples.
• Do not use vague references and subjective phrases like "I feel" or "I think".
• Do not arrange the research you summarize chronologically; instead arrange by topic.

Method

Sample Method

The method section is a detailed description of all the operations performed in the research you are reporting. This section should provide enough information so that someone else could later replicate the experiment. The method section is divided into the sub-sections listed below.

Participants

Apparatus and Materials

Design

Procedure

Participants

This section includes the number of participants used in the study and where they come from, the selection criteria, and any other important characteristics like age, sex, education level, or occupation. The term "subject" is no longer used when referring to human participants. Only animals are referred to as subjects.

Apparatus and Materials

Apparatus includes any equipment that you use during the actual data collection. Materials are the supplies that were prepared for the experiment such as word lists, puzzles or questionnaires.

Tips

• Don't just list the apparatus and materials, you should also describe the function.
• Only include apparatus and materials that were used in data collection.

Design

In this section describe the experimental design, including; the type of design (between, within, mixed, etc.), the independent variable(s), and the experimental hypotheses.

Procedure

This section describes sequentially the procedures employed in the experiment.

What to include in your Procedure from the book Writing For Psychology by Thaiss and Sanford:

1. Important instructions given to participants
2. How participants were assigned to different conditions
3. What the participants did, step-by-step

Tips

• Describe procedures chronologically.
• Only include procedures for gathering data, not those for analyzing data.

Results

Sample Results

This section concisely summarizes the data collected and the results of the statistical analysis.

Components

1. Results of the descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.
2. Rejection or retention of the null hypothesis
3. If an effect is found, the direction of the effect
4. If necessary, include a summary table or tables of the results
5. If necessary, include a figure or figures to display the data

Tips

• Be sure to include the descriptive statistics (e.g., mean) that your inferential statistics (e.g., t test) are based on.
• Do not include large amounts of raw data (Place in Appendix.)
• Make sure you include any data in this section that you are going to comment on in the Discussion Section.
• Do not interpret your findings; save your interpretations for the Discussion.
• Do not report the same information twice (e.g., in both a figure and in the text)

Tables

Tables provide a clear way of presenting exact values such as means, standard deviations, correlations and probabilities. Use tables to summarize data when there is too much information to include in the text.

Figures

Figures are a way to present trends or interactions between variables graphically. Examples of figures commonly used are bar graphs, histograms, and frequency polygons.

Discussion

Sample Discussion