INTRODUCTION

Today’s class in context Last class: 2 of 4 groups did trial runs I am hoping to submit all IRB documents by this weekend! Today: Writing the Introduction (draft due 3/24) Next class: remaining 2 of 4 groups do trial runs

Today’s class in context

Today you will learn about: How researchers communicate their findings What goes in an Introduction How to avoid common mistakes How I’ll be grading your papers At the end of class: please review team contracts

How researchers communicate their findings First: conference presentations

How researchers communicate their findings Then: journal articles http://www.iosrphr.org/pages/publication-process.html

What goes in an Introduction? OVERVIEW (7 paragraphs) Paragraph 1: General Topic Paragraphs 2-4: Summary of relevant literature Paragraph 5: In-depth description of the most relevant study Paragraph 6: How your study goes beyond previous research Paragraph 7: Preview of design, and hypotheses

What goes in an Introduction? 1. GENERAL TOPIC Start by describing a real-life problem and/or research topic Why is this issue interesting and important to research? What specific issue within that bigger problem are you trying to address? What is your research question?

What goes in an Introduction? 1. GENERAL TOPIC: EXAMPLE Start by describing a real-life problem and/or research topic “Educators are invested in trying to advise students about the best study strategies.” Why is this issue interesting and important to research? “Every year, X students drop out of college (REFERENCE), and Y% of this drop-out may be attributed to lack of knowledge about study strategies. (REFERENCE)” What specific issue within that bigger problem are you trying to address? “In this study, we compare two specific commonly used study strategies: staying up all night worrying about the test, and hoping it will be easy.” What is your research question? “Specifically, we are interested in whether worrying or hoping leads to better test performance on the next day.”

What goes in an Introduction? 2-4. SUMMARY OF RELEVANT LITERATURE Identify the core themes from your general introduction Base these around your two independent variables (the things you are manipulating), and your dependent variable Mention the most relevant studies you can find, but hold off on describing them in detail until the next section In this section you should aim to cite about 10 studies

What goes in an Introduction? 2-4. SUMMARY OF RELEVANT LITERATURE: EXAMPLE Theme 1: worrying about tests Theme 2: hoping for an easy test Theme 3: test performance

What goes in an Introduction? 5. IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST RELEVANT STUDY Find the paper you read that inspired your study Describe the methods and results Focus on the general design and findings Note how your study is similar and different to the one you describe

What goes in an Introduction? 6. HOW YOUR STUDY GOES BEYOND PREVIOUS RESEARCH What is your study about? Why is it necessary, given what we already know from previous research? How is your study different to the research you described?

What goes in an Introduction? 7. PREVIEW OF DESIGN, AND HYPOTHESES What did you manipulate and measure? What do you predict will happen? (Look back at your data predictions worksheet)

COMMON MISTAKES Making claims without backing them up with references Don’t assume something is a “fact” because of common sense Find a source to back up your statements, OR Clearly present them as your opinion

COMMON MISTAKES Using the prompts word-for-word E.g. “Why is this issue interesting and important to research?” Don’t write “This issue is interesting and important to research because…”

COMMON MISTAKES Not mentioning your research question for a long time The reader should not need to read half your intro to find out what you are doing

COMMON MISTAKES Choosing a study that is not so relevant to describe in detail Make sure the methods, design, and/or results are similar to your study

COMMON MISTAKES Focusing on irrelevant details when describing the study Exact numbers (sample size, mean test performance etc.) don’t matter unless you are trying to make a point about them Specific details about materials don’t matter Manipulation does matter What the participants did that was measured does matter General pattern of results does matter

BAD STUDY DESCRIPTION 34 participants Read passages about London and New York Used different study strategies to prepare for a test 24% test performance in one condition and 38% in the other

GOOD STUDY DESCRIPTION Participants studied factual passages Either with highlighting or with summarizing Performed a multiple-choice test 2 days later Summarizing produced significantly better performance than highlighting

COMMON MISTAKES Not linking your study to previous research/real-life problem Choosing the right research to describe will help with this Make sure to connect your study to the context and specific previous research

COMMON MISTAKES Writing a paper that is not scientific Make sure claims are backed up with references References should be academic journal articles that make use of psychological science Use scholarly databases, not Google

COMMON MISTAKES Trying to use long, complicated words and sentences If you can say something more simply, do it Scientific writing means being precise about your concepts and using published work to back up your claims Scientific writing does not need to be dense and overly formal

GRADING Paper is 40% of course grade (400 points) Intro draft = 8% (80 points) Discussion draft = 8% (80 points) Final Paper = 24% (240 points)

INTRO GRADING RUBRIC (100) High Quality Adequate Needs Improvement Inadequate 1. General Topic 8 7 6 5 2-4. Relevant Literature 5. In-Depth Description 16 14 12 10 6. Impact of your Study 7. Study Overview 8. Language and Style 32 28 24 20

LANGUAGE AND STYLE Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B., (2000). The Elements of Style (Fourth Edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allen & Bacon. Reference guide on the website – use as a checklist when proofreading your drafts If in doubt, utilize the Writing Center http://www.uml.edu/Writing-Center/ 49 possible errors, you will lose 1 point for each (start off with 32 points, minimum 20 points)

FORMAT Double spaced In-text citations (author(s), year) APA style preferred and highly recommended, but not graded at this stage

REMINDERS Introduction drafts are due on 3/24 (Tuesday after Spring Break) Submit through Turnitin AND a printed copy in class on the day Groups who haven’t run trials yet must send materials for photocopying by Friday 3/20 Please carefully read your e-mails over the next few days as we go through the IRB process I will send peer review survey for IRB/materials over e-mail