1. INTRODUCTION

2. 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

3. Today’s class in context

4. 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

5. How researchers communicate their findings
First: conference presentations

6. How researchers communicate their findings
Then: journal articles

7. 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

8. 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?

9. 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.”

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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?

14. 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)

15. 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

16. 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…”

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

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

26. 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

27. 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
49 possible errors, you will lose 1 point for each (start off with 32 points, minimum 20 points)

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

29. 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 s over the next few days as we go through the IRB process
I will send peer review survey for IRB/materials over