Reading and Writing Research Reports in Psychology 3 characteristics of good scientific writing Parts of a psychology research article Steps in the publication process Scientific meetings – talks and posters Sample paper

3 Characteristics of Good Scientific Writing Clarity Brevity Felicity

Parts of a Psychology Research Article Title Authors and their affiliations Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion References Footnotes (including Author Note) Tables Figure captions Figures

Method Section Subsections (headings are optional) Participants Apparatus Materials Design Procedure

Results Section First describe anything you did to the data (data reduction, transformations, eliminating outliers) Refer to any table or figure that displays the data State the results, indicate which were statistically significant, and provide the statistics used to test for significance

Stating the Results Give a verbal description of the results Provide summary statistics to go with the verbal description Provide a test of significance for the summary statistic Provide a measure of variability “Participants recalled more verbs than nouns,” “mean = 8.7 and 5.5 respectively,” “F(1, 20) = 5.9, p <.05,” MSE = 2.3

References In text: –Author(s) and date “Allbritton and Gerrig (1991)” or “(Allbritton & Gerrig, 1991)” In References Section –Authors(s) –Date –Title –Source

A Model for Good Communication Abstract: Tell them what your main point will be and how you will support it. Introduction: Tell them why they should care, why it is important. Method & Results: Tell them why they should believe you Discussion: Summarize your argument and tell them what it means

Steps in the Publication Process Submission Peer review Editor’s decision –Accept for publication as is –Accept pending revisions –Reject but invite resubmission after revision –Reject outright

Steps after a paper is accepted “In Press” – time between acceptance and publication Receive copy-edited version; correct and return Receive page proofs and copyright forms; correct proofs, sign forms, and return Typical time from acceptance to appearing in print: 6 to 12 months

Scientific Meetings Talks Posters

Sample Paper in APA Style Examples of both APA style and violations of APA style can be found in your textbook.