Description

For psychology courses that include a writing component.

Featuring the latest APA-style guidelines, this concise guide helps students master the skills and conventions they need to write well in psychology.

This brief guide takes students step-by-step through the writing process—from choosing a topic, to outlining, drafting, and revising their papers, to seeking feedback from peers. In addition, it presents thorough discussions of researching psychological literature, focusing on online and database research, and presenting those findings in written and oral formats. Special attention is given to interpreting and reporting the results of statistical tests, as well as preparing data displays in tables and figures. Introducing students to all elements of professional writing in APA style, this book is a perfect supplement for courses in the social science disciplines.

Features

• Chapter discussions and exercises cover those assignments most often encountered in psychology, including writing lab reports, selecting appropriate statistics, creating tables and figures, and preparing talks, symposia, and poster presentations.
• An overview of the writing process including a timeline (Ch. 1), helps students identify activities and allocate time for writing an effective research paper.
• “Writer's Guidepost” boxes in each chapter offer practical advice based on the habits of professional writers in and outside of psychology.
• An extensive section on Recognizing and Preventing Plagiarism (Ch. 3) helps students understand and avoid this critical problem through a focus on quotation and paraphrase.
• Thorough instruction teaches students to correctly cite sources from the psychological literature (including those drawn from the Internet) in APA style.
• A complete APA-style sample student paper shows an example of successful citation.
• An entire chapter focuses on helping students explain statistical results.
• A comprehensive list of psychology journals categorized by research area (e.g., developmental, social, neuroscience) directs students to authoritative sources.

New to this Edition

• The 2010 APA style guidelines are incorporated throughout, providing the most current and accurate citation models for student writing.
• Steps to... and Questions To Ask... features throughout the book highlight specific processes and strategies to help students understand a wide variety of tasks in the writing process.
• New and updated references throughout the book lead you to the most current sources–including Web site information–for research in psychology, and an expanded Appendix lists additional resources.
• A discussion of online dictionaries introduces a valuable research resource.
• A new Checklist of common writing “don’ts” offers straightforward guidance about frequently committed errors, to ensure that student writing avoids these.
• A new section on appropriate language follows the most current APA guidelines on writing about sexual orientation.
• The sample student paper has been revised and updated to reflect the new APA formatting and citation style, so students have an appropriate model.
• Every chapter includes additional exercises, offering more practice on every topic.

Table of Contents

PREFACE

1—WRITING ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY

Writing as a Process

Forms of Writing in Psychology

Student Papers

Introducing APA Style

Planning Your Writing: Timing Is Everything

Writing Habits

Exercises

2—SEARCHING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE

Selecting a Research Topic

Process Overview: Searching the Psychological Literature

Doing Library Research: Online Catalogs and Databases

Keeping Track of References

Exercises

3—READING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE

The Scientific Pecking Order: Why Journals Are First

How to Read and Evaluate the Literature

Taking Notes on What You Read

Recognizing and Preventing Plagiarism

Exercises

4—GETTING STARTED WRITING

Getting Started: Prewriting Activities

Writing a First Draft

Writing Subsequent Drafts

Revising: Top to Bottom Every Time

Exercises

5—WRITING APA-STYLE PAPERS: CONTENT AND GUIDANCE

Benefits of APA Style

Writing the Empirical, or Research, Paper in APA Style

A Sample Research Paper

Writing an Article Critique

Writing a Research Proposal

Writing a Literature Review Paper

Exercises

6—WRITING UP RESULTS

Conveying Statistical Results in Words

Reflecting Further on Your Results

Exercises

7—CITING REFERENCES IN APA STYLE

Citations and References

Basic Citation Mechanics

Formats for APA-Style References

Exercises

8—DISPLAYING DATA IN TABLES AND FIGURES

Tables

Figures

Exercises

9—FORMATTING AND PROOFREADING YOUR PAPER

Grammar Guidelines

Punctuation Basics

Some Common Usage Errors in Student Writing

Checking Your Spelling

Checking Your Writing Voice: Be Active, Not Passive

Using Inclusive Language

Guidelines for Formatting in APA Style

Proofreading the Penultimate Draft: Once More with Feeling

Exercises

10—BEYOND WRITING: PRESENTING PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The Call for Papers

The Talk

Symposia: Talks in Common

Poster Presentations

Return to Writing: Submitting Your Research to a Journal

Exercises