Various writing things How to read a psych article Remember that the authors are selling something Be critical but not overly so Solutions, not just problems What to get from each section of an article Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion References

Assignment notes What I’m teaching is not my style but APA style, based also on advice from editors and successful grant getters and writing experts. Early feedback on writing Articles that you would read anyway Summaries APA style reference Summary of the entire, empirical article

Broad Considerations Make sure you understand what you’ve read and Convey that clearly to the reader Be concise and precise

Tell why the researchers are doing the study and why it matters Theory How it builds on previous research Hypotheses (don’t quote) Tell us the most relevant method details Who did what Description of participants (keep it relevant) Descriptions of scales (if you call it by name, cite)

Tell us the most important results In general, not statistical terms Address all the hypotheses at least, but don’t refer to them by “name” Tell us what it means and why it matters Can add evaluation if you want but not required You do need to address what this means for theory/research/practice

Specifics Be concise “that” phrases “the researchers showed that” “were told to” Cut passive voice Cut unnecessary details

Be precise Each participant, they Researchers were interested, believed Study hypothesized Hypotheses argued Felt Put a noun after “this” or “these” “Filled out”, “take” questionnaire, “divide” people Male and female as adjectives Emotion vs. affect vs. mood (as an example)

Wording choices Survey vs. questionnaire That vs. which Affect vs. effect Since vs. because While vs. whereas

Plagiarism exercise What is plagiarism? Why is it bad? How many words can you use? What if you put them in a different order or replace them with synonyms? What about taking people’s ideas instead of words? Primary vs. secondary sources

What are the consequences? http://www.uni.edu/policies/301

How to avoid plagiarism Strategies to avoid plagiarism Rewrite your notes Use “ in notes for quotes Always put page # for quotes Don’t use many quotes Read, then pause before writing Make notes on the article More important, more extreme Outline your paper and then fill in More important attitudes are more extreme. College students and elementary school children on school proposals (Harton & Latane, 1998) When judging others (Justin, 2000) Believe others will do too (McConahay & Costa, 2004)

You don’t have to do it at the end of every sentence But You don’t have to quote technical terms, scale names, etc. (but cite them) You don’t have to do it at the end of every sentence You don’t have to have citations for “common knowledge”