Effective Writing in Psychology

Bernard C. Beins, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of Psychology at Ithaca College, New York. He recently received the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award from the American Psychological Foundation. He is also the author of Research Methods: A Tool for Life (2009). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Eastern Psychological Association. Agatha M. Beins is Assistant Professor of Women's Studies at Texas Woman's University. She co-edited Women's Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics with Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy (2005), and has published articles in Women: A Cultural Review and Sinister Wisdom. She is also part of the editorial collective for the journal Films for the Feminist Classroom.

• Preface to the Second Edition ixPreface to the First Edition xi1 Writing in Psychology 1Writing in Psychology 2How Does Psychological Writing Differ from Other Kinds of Writing? 3Using APA Style 4Making a Credible Argument 5Different Types of Communication 6Effective Communication 8How to Begin 9Part I Organizing and Developing Your Ideas and Writing 112 Formulating Your Ideas 13Identifying Your Focal Question 13Locating Relevant Sources 16Recognizing Multiple Viewpoints 19Ethical Writing 213 Assessing Your Sources 27The Difference between Primary and Secondary Literature 28The Difference between Popular and Scholarly Sources 28Evaluating Sources 31Evaluating Internet Sources 334 How to Conduct a Literature Search 41Understanding Library Resources 43Using Article Databases 49Using the Internet 51Using Sources to Find Sources 535 How to Read and Summarize a Journal Article 55An Overview of the Research—the Abstract 56Identifying the Issues—the Introduction 57Understanding What Was Done—the Method Section 57What Happened—the Results Section 60What It Means—the Discussion Section 62Where the Ideas Originated—the References Section 65Figuring Out What It Means 656 Organizing a Paper 67Organization 68Using the Work of Others to Support Your Argument 70Editing and Revising 75Mechanics 777 Elements of Style 79Recognizing the Importance of Grammar and Style 80Choosing Effective Wording 81Using Inclusive and Appropriate Language 82Deciding on the Use of Technical Language 85Avoiding Common Problems 85Verb Forms 88Spelling 89Specific Word Use 958 Communicating Statistics 97Why Do We Use Statistics? 98What Point Are You Trying to Make? 99Understanding Your Numbers 101Helping Readers Understand Your Statistics 103Differentiating Results and Interpretations 106Part II Preparing APA Format Papers 1079 Writing a Thesis or a Term Paper 109Developing Your Idea 111Organizing Your Paper Around the Central Questions 114Finding Different Perspectives About Your Idea 116Developing the Logic of Your Argument 11910 The Introduction Section 123Introducing the Topic 124Different Approaches to Starting the Introduction 124How to Begin 127Reviewing the Literature 128Reasons for Reviewing the Literature 128Clarifying Terms in the Research 129Introducing Your Research: Generating a Hypothesis 13011 The Method Section 133Participants and Subjects 134Materials and Apparatus 141Procedure 143Design 14412 The Results Section 147Your Hypotheses 148Deciding What to Present 149Reporting Significant and Nonsignificant Results 150Marginally Significant Effects 151APA Style and Presentation of Your Results 152Creating Tables 155Creating Figures 160The Connection between the Text and the Tables and Figures 164The Difference between Results and Discussion Sections 166Some Final Points About Presenting Results 16913 The Discussion Section 171Summarizing Your Results 172Connecting Different Aspects of Your Results 173Dealing with Nonsignificant Results 174Comparing Your Results with Those of Others 175Stating the Importance and Implications of Your Results 176Acknowledging the Limitations of Your Study 17714 References Citations in the Text and the Reference List 179Citing References in the Text 180Citing Sources with Three to Five Authors 182Citing Sources with Six or More Authors 182Citing Personal Communications 183Citing Multiple Sources within Parentheses 183Order of Citations in the Reference List 184Using Your Word Processing Program to Create the Citation 184Examples of How Different Types of References Should Be Laid Out 18515 Final Touches: The Abstract and Formatting Details 193The Abstract 194Formatting Details 195Part III Communicating Beyond the Research Paper 21516 Creating Poster Presentations 217Differentiating Visual and Written Communication 218Reducing the Amount of Information 218Visual Style 219Your Behavior: The Ethic of a Poster Session 222Creating Your Poster Using PowerPoint® 22417 Giving Oral Presentations 231The Difference between Oral and Written English 231Adapting APA Style to Oral Presentations 236Preparing for Your Talk 236Creating Graphics for Your Presentation 238Giving the Presentation 23918 Presenting Your Work on the Internet 243New Capabilities with Internet Publication 244Using a Word Processor to Create Manuscripts for the Internet 245Advantages of Internet Publishing Software 247Publishing Your Poster on the Web 249Uploading Your Manuscript to the Internet 24919 Submitting Your Plan to an Ethics Committee 251Ethical Standards in Research 251Writing a Proposal for an Institutional Review Board for Research with Human Subjects 253Writing a Proposal for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for Animal Research 258Appendix A Example of APA-Style Manuscript with Common Errors 261Appendix B Corrected APA-Style Manuscript 269References 277Author Index 285Subject Index 288

“This is an excellent book, which will prove valuable to many readers in different settings, not just students or educators.”  (Nursing Times, 4 December 2012)“All first-year students would benefit from this text when writing their first paper, poster and presentation, regardless of their writing background.”  (Times Higher Education Supplement, 8 November 2012) "This is an excellent book, which will prove valuable to many readers in different settings, not just students or educators. The parameters that govern a paper or presentation related to psychology are beautifully outlined here, and the guidelines offered could not be clearer." (Nursing Times.net, December 2012)