Writing in Psychology 115- Test 1

I. Types of Writing II. Conducting a Literature Search III. Assesing Your Sources IV. APA style V. Summarizing A Journal Article

why is writing important in psychology?

Getting a degree, Jobs, Commination (records or orally)

what are the different types of writing done in psychology

Short answers, identification, Essays, Papers, Conferences, Oral Presentation, Papers for Publication, Journal and Textbook Reviews

written v. oral expression

Written: Very Structure, Detailed, More Formal, No Grammatical Errors

Posters/Oral: Organized, Structure (but less than a paper), More Visual and Engaging, Focus on what is important(summary)

how do we come up with original research ideas

Observing- what interests you, what evokes behavior, look at other researchers questions  

Brainstorming- read, take notes, look through journals

what are some of the tests to evaluate the worth of an idea

- the idea consistent

- is it testable(does idea go beyond)

  -are you enthusiastic/ is the idea “pitchable”

how should we distinguish between ideas for different writing assignments

Topic for a Book or Dissertation- these are more broad sources that review entire concepts. We can use books to find a “general topic” and then narrow it down further into specific ideas

Research paper- asks a specific question regarding a topic. In the hypothesis, both independent and dependent variables are presented. How do we narrow down? (by age, gender, groups, judgement and evaluation, and effects and influence

where should one conducting a literature search

broad: textbooks, reference books, encyclopedia, people

in depth: database, website, organizations, conference presentations, reviews

why take notes

to prevent plagiarism

organization

three types of outlines

keyword- one word, less specific

Topic- outlined by sentences- best- more in depth

sentence

what are some other ways to find sources that aren’t typical

reference, author search

list some of the places to find sources

PsycINFO, JSTOR, ERIC, CINAHL, APS PsiChi

popular vs. scholarly sources

popular sources- provide a brief overviews of scientific research(newspapers magazines, websites). They are non professional

scholarly research- report or develop an argument based on original research

primary v. secondary

primary research: reporting personal research

secondary research: reporting about someone else’s research

what are five ways to evaluate internet-based sources

accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, coverage

what information should be gleaned from the introduction of an article

general topic, information from prior research, what other researches have discovered, new information, hypothesis

what information should be gleaned from the method of an article

participants, materials, how study was conducted

what information should be gleaned from the results section

what was found after the research was completed. In words only

what is in the discussion section

what was found, limitations, suggestion for further research, conclusions

what is meant by the funnel approach to writing an introductory paragraph

The funnel approach introduces and justifies the topics, introduces and justifies variables. These all leads the purpose/ thesis

Open ended→specific questions

what goes into the body of the introduction section of an article

it should “forecast” your thesis. Each section is based on your independent and dependent variables. "

ex: IV(Instagram), DV(social and test anxiety)

I. Instagram and Testing Anxiety

II. Instagram and Social Anxiety

III. How these tie into each other

peer reviewed + referred

peer-reviewed/ referred- the process that all scholarly sources go through in order to be published in an academic journal or article.

What should you think about when preplanning your writing?

1. stick with the principle that you came up with

2. organize thematically

3. organize outline- hierarchy

4. organize for your audience

the basic outline includes

I. Introduction(IV and DV)

II. content

III. mode of administration

IV. method of scoring