Effective Writing in Psychology

Preface to the Second Edition ix

Preface to the First Edition xi

1 Writing in Psychology 1

Writing in Psychology 2

How Does Psychological Writing Differ from Other Kinds of Writing? 3

Using APA Style 4

Making a Credible Argument 5

Different Types of Communication 6

Effective Communication 8

How to Begin 9

Part I Organizing and Developing Your Ideas and Writing 11

2 Formulating Your Ideas 13

Identifying Your Focal Question 13

Locating Relevant Sources 16

Recognizing Multiple Viewpoints 19

Ethical Writing 21

3 Assessing Your Sources 27

The Difference between Primary and Secondary Literature 28

The Difference between Popular and Scholarly Sources 28

Evaluating Sources 31

Evaluating Internet Sources 33

4 How to Conduct a Literature Search 41

Understanding Library Resources 43

Using Article Databases 49

Using the Internet 51

Using Sources to Find Sources 53

5 How to Read and Summarize a Journal Article 55

An Overview of the Research-the Abstract 56

Identifying the Issues-the Introduction 57

Understanding What Was Done-the Method Section 57

What Happened-the Results Section 60

What It Means-the Discussion Section 62

Where the Ideas Originated-the References Section 65

Figuring Out What It Means 65

6 Organizing a Paper 67

Organization 68

Using the Work of Others to Support Your Argument 70

Editing and Revising 75

Mechanics 77

7 Elements of Style 79

Recognizing the Importance of Grammar and Style 80

Choosing Effective Wording 81

Using Inclusive and Appropriate Language 82

Deciding on the Use of Technical Language 85

Avoiding Common Problems 85

Verb Forms 88

Spelling 89

Specific Word Use 95

8 Communicating Statistics 97

Why Do We Use Statistics? 98

What Point Are You Trying to Make? 99

Understanding Your Numbers 101

Helping Readers Understand Your Statistics 103

Differentiating Results and Interpretations 106

Part II Preparing APA Format Papers 107

9 Writing a Thesis or a Term Paper 109

Developing Your Idea 111

Organizing Your Paper Around the Central Questions 114

Finding Different Perspectives About Your Idea 116

Developing the Logic of Your Argument 119

10 The Introduction Section 123

Introducing the Topic 124

Different Approaches to Starting the Introduction 124

How to Begin 127

Reviewing the Literature 128

Reasons for Reviewing the Literature 128

Clarifying Terms in the Research 129

Introducing Your Research: Generating a Hypothesis 130

11 The Method Section 133

Participants and Subjects 134

Materials and Apparatus 141

Procedure 143

Design 144

12 The Results Section 147

Your Hypotheses 148

Deciding What to Present 149

Reporting Significant and Nonsignificant Results 150

Marginally Significant Effects 151

APA Style and Presentation of Your Results 152

Creating Tables 155

Creating Figures 160

The Connection between the Text and the Tables and Figures 164

The Difference between Results and Discussion Sections 166

Some Final Points About Presenting Results 169

13 The Discussion Section 171

Summarizing Your Results 172

Connecting Different Aspects of Your Results 173

Dealing with Nonsignificant Results 174

Comparing Your Results with Those of Others 175

Stating the Importance and Implications of Your Results 176

Acknowledging the Limitations of Your Study 177

14 References Citations in the Text and the Reference List 179

Citing References in the Text 180

Citing Sources with Three to Five Authors 182

Citing Sources with Six or More Authors 182

Citing Personal Communications 183

Citing Multiple Sources within Parentheses 183

Order of Citations in the Reference List 184

Using Your Word Processing Program to Create the Citation 184

Examples of How Different Types of References Should Be Laid Out 185

15 Final Touches: The Abstract and Formatting Details 193

The Abstract 194

Formatting Details 195

Part III Communicating Beyond the Research Paper 215

16 Creating Poster Presentations 217

Differentiating Visual and Written Communication 218

Reducing the Amount of Information 218

Visual Style 219

Your Behavior: The Ethic of a Poster Session 222

Creating Your Poster Using PowerPoint^® 224

17 Giving Oral Presentations 231

The Difference between Oral and Written English 231

Adapting APA Style to Oral Presentations 236

Preparing for Your Talk 236

Creating Graphics for Your Presentation 238

Giving the Presentation 239

18 Presenting Your Work on the Internet 243

New Capabilities with Internet Publication 244

Using a Word Processor to Create Manuscripts for the Internet 245

Advantages of Internet Publishing Software 247

Publishing Your Poster on the Web 249

Uploading Your Manuscript to the Internet 249

19 Submitting Your Plan to an Ethics Committee 251

Ethical Standards in Research 251

Writing a Proposal for an Institutional Review Board for Research with Human Subjects 253

Writing a Proposal for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for Animal Research 258

Appendix A Example of APA-Style Manuscript with Common Errors 261

Appendix B Corrected APA-Style Manuscript 269

References 277

Author Index 285

Subject Index 288