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 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(R) 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

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)