Short Guide to Writing About Psychology 3e

Featuring the latest APA-style guidelines, this concise guide helps students master the skills and conventions they need to write well in psychology. This brief guide takes students step-by-step through the writing process-from choosing a topic, to outlining, drafting, and revising their papers, to seeking feedback from peers. In addition, it presents thorough discussions of researching psychological literature, focusing on online and database research, and presenting those findings in written and oral formats. Special attention is given to interpreting and reporting the results of statistical tests, as well as preparing data displays in tables and figures. Introducing students to all elements of professional writing in APA style, this book is a perfect supplement for courses in the social science disciplines. Chapter discussions and exercises cover those assignments most often encountered in psychology, including writing lab reports, selecting appropriate statistics, creating tables and figures, and preparing talks, symposia, and poster presentations. An overview of the writing process including a timeline (Ch. 1), helps students identify activities and allocate time for writing an effective research paper. "Writer's Guidepost" boxes in each chapter offer practical advice based on the habits of professional writers in and outside of psychology. An extensive section on Recognizing and Preventing Plagiarism (Ch. 3) helps students understand and avoid this critical problem through a focus on quotation and paraphrase. Thorough instruction teaches students to correctly cite sources from the psychological literature (including those drawn from the Internet) in APA style. A complete APA-style sample student paper shows an example of successful citation. An entire chapter focuses on helping students explain statistical results. A comprehensive list of psychology journals categorized by research area (e.g., developmental, social, neuroscience) directs students to authoritative sources.