CAES9923 (2023-24) Course Booklet - Student Version

2023- CAES9923
Writing
2024 Psychology:
Text and Context
CAES Centre for Applied English Studies
CAES9923 Writing Psychology:
Text and Context
(2023-2024)
© Centre for Applied English Studies

6/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam
Hong Kong
Tel: 3917 2004
http://caes.hku.hk
The copyright for these materials is owned by the Centre for Applied English Studies at the
University of Hong Kong. These materials may not be reproduced without permission.
Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 2

Table of Contents
1 Letter from the Director of CAES 5
2 CAES Rules 6
3 Learning Resources 11
4 Communication-intensive Course Syllabus Statement 13
5 Course Overview 15
6 Assessment Tasks 17
7 Feedback Policy of Assessment Tasks 20
8 Course Schedule 21
9 Session One: Course Introduction and Introduction to 23

Disciplinary Writing
10 Session Two: Referencing and Citation Style 31
11 Session Three: Writing a Literature Review Paper 44
12 Session Four: The Introduction Section 60
13 Session Five: Literature Review Paper Tutorial 79
14 Session Six: The Method Section (I) 80
15 Session Seven: The Method Section (II) and Abstracts 96

16 Session Eight: Results and Discussion 106
17 Session Nine: Writing Qualitative Research and for the General 117
Public
18 Session Ten: Proposal Presentation Rehearsal 136
19 Session Eleven: Presentation Assessment and Course Evaluation 138
20 Session Twelve: Research Proposal Tutorial 139

Letter from the Director
Dear Student,
Welcome to your Academic English course!
You are probably wondering what this programme will offer you and what you will
find in this booklet. You are among the 7,500 undergraduate and postgraduate
students who will take one of our courses this year – so you are in very experienced
hands.
Our goal is to assist you to develop the English skills you need for your professional
and academic development so that you can approach your university studies with
more confidence and a greater chance of success.
To achieve this goal you will find yourself in a small group of around twenty students
where we encourage English to be spoken at all times. Your teacher will do his or
her best to provide an active and supportive learning environment for you by
providing tasks to help you engage with your learning, and by giving you valuable
feedback on your work.
Your CAES teacher will also explain the course assignments and assessment criteria
to you clearly in advance and answer any questions you may have about the course
and about English language learning in general.
To get the most from your course you should participate actively in the class by
speaking in English as much as possible and by taking a full and active part in your
classes, for example by working with others in group work.
I hope you enjoy your English course and wish you every success in your studies!
Dr. Clive Martyn Lee

Executive Director of the Centre for Applied English Studies

CAES Rules
1. Attendance and Participation
CAES expects students to attend 100% of scheduled classes (including the add/drop
period) and complete all assigned out-of-class tasks (if applicable). 20% absence is allowed
for emergencies or sick leave. Students who are not able to meet the 80% attendance
requirement due to various reasons should contact their teacher immediately. Students
may risk failing the course if they miss a substantial proportion of the course without
providing any medical certificate or legitimate reason for their absence.
Students have the responsibility to contact their teacher before the commencement of
the course if they know in advance they have problems meeting the 80% attendance
requirement. Examples of such cases include students who are pending faculty’s approval
for their application for leave of absence.
If students know in advance that they have problems with attending the scheduled classes
then they should also contact their teacher immediately and provide an explanation. It is
very important for the teacher concerned to be informed about this ahead of time so that
they can make appropriate arrangements for these students.
CAES classes are highly interactive. We would like our students to get the most out of our
courses by actively participating in lessons via responding to their teacher and classmates. If
for any reason participation in interactive activities is not possible in some of our courses
with a virtual learning element (e.g. due to internet connection problem), students should
let their teacher know in advance.
If students have any special needs or circumstances that may affect their attendance or
ability to complete course assignments on time, they are strongly encouraged to seek
professional advice from HKU-CEDARS (https://www.cedars.hku.hk/).

2. Punctuality
We expect students to be punctual for all the scheduled classes and tutorials of CAES.
Students may be marked as partially absent if they are late for 10 minutes or more for a
class without a valid reason. Lateness for two times may count as one absence.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The rules stated above apply to both face-to-face and online classes.
3. Academic Honesty
HKU expects all students to display a high level of integrity when completing course
assignments. Any form of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated, and failure to observe
the rules and conduct of academic integrity will result in negative consequences. As such,
you should complete your course assessments honestly at all times. Examples of basic
principles of academic honesty include: (i) completing the entire assessments yourself; (ii)
NOT submitting the same assessment more than once unless specified otherwise by the
course teachers concerned, and (iii) not colluding (i.e. cooperating with others secretly with
an intention to deceive) with anyone when producing your work.
We would like to draw your attention to sections 3.1 and 3.2 for details of two common
forms of academic misconduct which result in severe consequences.
3.1 Plagiarism and self-plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as “the use of another person’s work (including but not limited to any
materials, creations, ideas and data) as if one’s own without due acknowledgement,
whether or not such work has been published and regardless of the intent to deceive” in the
Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Curricular
(116/1080). Some common types of plagiarism include:
• paraphrasing and/or quoting without acknowledgement;

• inappropriate paraphrasing and/or quotation of sourced content

This is not an exhaustive list but it gives you an idea of some common types of plagiarism
cases in students’ work.
Self-plagiarism is defined as “the reuse of one’s own work without acknowledging that such
work has been submitted elsewhere” in the Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate
and Taught Postgraduate Curricula (116/1080). Students should not submit the same piece
of work for different courses (except for adjunct English-in-the-Discipline courses and with
teachers’ permission). They should always check with the teacher if they are unsure.
Examples of plagiarism:
You are strongly advised to visit the following links about the University’s Policy on
Plagiarism:
https://tl.hku.hk/plagiarism/how-to-avoid-plagiarism/
Learning resources to help you avoid plagiarism:
https://tl.hku.hk/plagiarism/learning-resources/
Consequences of Plagiarism
In the University of Hong Kong, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. If a submission contains

plagiarism, only the unplagiarised parts will be marked. This may result in the work being
considered as incomplete, unstructured, lacking content and organization.
The link below contains information about consequences and disciplinary procedures
concerning students who have committed plagiarism:
https://tl.hku.hk/plagiarism/consequences-of-plagiarism/
3.2 Ghostwriting and its consequences

Ghostwriting, also known as ‘contract cheating’, is when a student gets someone (paid or
unpaid) to complete part of OR all of an assignment. It is serious academic misconduct.
CAES takes ghostwriting very seriously and when such cases are confirmed, severe penalty
will apply. The assignment concerned will be treated as a non-submission (i.e. 0 mark). Such

cases will also be reported to students’ Home Faculty for disciplinary action. If such cases
are further reported to the University Disciplinary Committee, the student who is found
guilty is subject to various forms of punishment, details of which can be found in section 4
of Statute XXXI of the University’s Statutes and the Disciplinary Committee Regulation:
https://calendar.hku.hk/disciplinary-committee-regulations/
4. Submission of Assignments
If students are sick and unable to hand in an assignment, they must contact their teacher to
let them know immediately. The following are general guidelines on penalties/policies for
late submission of assignments for all CAES courses.
• Assignments which are handed in up to four days late without any

medical/legitimate reason will have one full letter grade deducted each day (e.g. a
B- becomes a C- after one day late).
• If the assignment is submitted four days after the deadline without a medical
certificate/a legitimate reason, it will be treated as non-submission (N – 0 mark). It
is up to the programme coordinator to decide whether such students should be
given feedback on this assignment.
• Students who do not submit an assignment at all or miss an assessment without a
medical certificate should be given an N (0 mark).
Bad Weather
In the case of bad weather such as Black / Red Rain or Typhoon Signal 8, please follow the
university guidelines (updated 2021 by The Registry):
(a) Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 (or above) is hoisted; or (b) Tropical Cyclone
Warning Signal No. 8 will be issued within two hours as announced by the Hong Kong
Observatory; or (c) “Extreme conditions” after super typhoons are in force (announced by
the Government before the Hong Kong Observatory replaces Tropical Cyclone Warning

Signal No. 8 with Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3); or (d) Black Rainstorm Signal is in
force, the following arrangements will apply:
For classes and examinations not yet started:
If any of the warnings or announcements is All classes and examinations commencing before
hoisted or in force at or after 6:00 am 2:00 pm will be cancelled automatically.
If any of the warnings or announcements is All classes and examinations commencing at any
hoisted or in force at or after 11:00 am time from 2:00 pm and before 6:00 pm will be
cancelled automatically.
If any of the warnings or announcements is All classes and examinations commencing from
hoisted or in force at or after 3:00 pm 6:00 pm onward will be cancelled automatically
For classes and examinations already started:
When Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal - All classes and outdoor examinations will be
No. 8 or above is hoisted or the No. 8 suspended immediately. - All examinations, except
Signal will be issued within two hours as those held outdoors, will continue until the end of
announced by the Hong Kong that examination session.
Observatory, or “extreme conditions” are
- All examinations, except those held outdoors,
in force
will continue until the end of that examination
session.
When Black Rainstorm Signal is hoisted All classes and examinations, except those held
outdoors, will continue. For outdoor classes and
examinations, the responsible staff members on
the spot should suspend the activities
immediately, ensure that all students are taken to
a safe place, and remain there until it is safe for
them to return home.
When Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3 or below or Red or Amber Rainstorm Signal is
in force, it should be assumed that all classes and examinations will be held as scheduled
unless an announcement to the contrary has been made by the University.

GET HELP ON LANGUAGE
LEARNING & ANY
COMMUNICATION-
INTENSIVE PROJECT!
CSS comprises the CAES Writing Centre and CAES Speaking Studio. These CSS units provide
academic, professional, and social English-development opportunities for students of all
ability levels through one-to-one consultations, workshops, and discussion groups.
We offer:
- 1:1 consultations with trained peer consultants from a wide range of disciplines on
written and spoken assessments.
- Support at any stage of the assessment process.
- Workshops and discussion groups on writing and speaking skills and international
language tests
Students are welcome to upload assignment instructions, notes, outlines and drafts before
consultation.
For more information, and to book go to: https://caescss.hku.hk
Support services provided by HKU-CEDARS
It is important to CAES that every student has a successful learning experience in our courses.
If students feel that they have any special needs which might impair their ability to participate in
activities or complete course assignments, they are encouraged to contact CEDARS and/or their
course teacher and the course coordinator as soon as possible.
Teachers will make an effort to accommodate special needs students when arranging or conducting
learning activities.

If students have any special needs that might impact their ability to complete any assessed task they
should present documentation to CEDARS and ask that the course coordinator is informed so that
special arrangements can be made if deemed appropriate.
The CEDARS webpage on accessibility support for students with disabilities is linked below:
https://www.cedars.hku.hk/
Additional information can be found at the HKU Equal Opportunities web-site:

http://www.eounit.hku.hk/eng/index.htm
CEDARS –Main Building/Meng Wah Complex
CEDARS-Counselling and Person Enrichment Section (CEDARS-CoPE) promotes attitudes and skills
that are necessary for their success in the university environment and in their pursuit of productive,
satisfying and psychologically healthy lives.
Please visit this link for contact information of CEDARS: https://www.cedars.hku.hk/contact-us
Counselling and Psychological Services
• https://www.cedars.hku.hk/cope/cps
Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support
• https://wp2.cedars.hku.hk/cope1920a/learn-more-about-special-educational-needs-sen-
support/
Careers and Placement advice
• https://www.cedars.hku.hk/careers/home

Communication-intensive Course Syllabus Statement
This is a certified Communication-intensive (CI) Course which meets all of

the requirements endorsed by HKU’s Senate, including
• the teaching and assessment of written, oral, visual and digital

communication ‘literacies’; and
• at least 40% of the course grade assigned to communication-rich
assessment tasks.
What communication knowledge and skills will students learn in this course?
In this course, students will learn how to write a literature review and a research proposal
for empirical studies in psychology. They will learn the rhetorical components of different
sections of a research paper, express their stance in academic writing, and explain and
justify their research designs for empirical research studies. Beyond academic literacy, they
also have a chance to explore workplace literacy through undertaking an interview of a
professional in the field of psychology. Specific communication knowledge and skills learnt
will include: ability to synthesise and present ideas concisely, clearly and coherently; using
evaluative language to express one’s stance; employing appropriate rhetorical and linguistic
devices in texts for academic purposes, active listening and interviewing skills.
How will students learn these?
Students will learn and practice these through examining and discussing authentic academic
texts (e.g. literature review papers, research proposals) and non-academic texts (i.e.
psychology magazines) in the discipline of psychology, analysing and discussing variations
displayed in texts of the same genre as well as peer and teacher feedback on a number of
written and spoken tasks (e.g. partial draft of the research proposal and rehearsal of the
oral presentation). Students will also engage in a range of in-class activities discussing oral
and written workplace literacies and interviewing skills.

What does a good communicator look like in this course?
At the end of the course, students will have developed the following qualities of an effective
communicator: articulating a coherent and logical argument, expressing their stance in an
academic text, giving and receiving constructive feedback, and sensitivity to the needs of
the readers or audience.

Course Overview
Course Aims
This course aims to enhance the skills of Psychology majors in writing disciplinary-specific
texts including literature review papers and research proposals. Students will also explore
professional communication strategies by doing an oral presentation about their research
proposal.
In particular, the objectives of the course are:
• to familiarise students with the stylistic and language forms of various texts specific
to the discipline of Psychology; and
• to enhance students’ understanding of the features of professional communication
strategies.
Course Learning Outcomes
The following outlines what you should be able to do by the end of this course.
SKILL / LANGAUGE FOCUS COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Features of disciplinary • Evaluate the linguistic and stylistic features of text

writing for Psychology types common in the discipline of Psychology
Writing for a specific • Identify and apply language forms and rhetorical
audience devices appropriate to the purpose and intended
readership of a specific writing task
Critical reading • Synthesise and incorporate sources appropriately to

justify views in a written proposal and literature
review paper within the discipline of Psychology

Course Learning Activities
The course will integrate many different skills and will require a high level of participation
from you in and out of class. It includes the following types of activities.
• Group activities (e.g. peer review)
• Moodle tasks (e.g. discussion forum)
Course Assessment
The following outlines the assessments that you will be required to complete for this course.
ASSESSMENT TASK WEIGHTING DATE OF ASSESSMENT
Literature Review (Individual) 35% 5 March 2024 (Tue)
Oral Presentation on Research Proposal 30% Session 11

(Individual)
Research Proposal (Individual) 35% 30 April 2024 (Tue)

Assessment Tasks: Designing a Research Study Project
The core part of this project is to design a research study based on a psychology related
topic of your interest. This requires you to identify a research gap based on existing
literature, and to learn about methods used by psychologists to conduct research. This
project consists of three assignments: the literature review paper, the research proposal,
and an oral presentation on the research proposal. The assignments are closely related
because you will design a research study, which will be presented in the research proposal,
based on the topic you choose for your literature review paper. In these assignments, you
will draw on the structural and linguistic conventions we analyse in the course.
Although the major products of this project are two written texts and one oral presentation,
critical reading skills are important. You need to read in order to discover a research niche
that is worth exploring. You also need to read to find out the different research designs
researchers have used in their investigation of your chosen topic.
Format:
• The literature review paper, the research proposal, and the proposal presentation,
are all individual assignments, meaning that each student will submit his or her own
paper and presentation.
• Students are advised to develop a common research interest for both the literature
review and the research proposal.
Topic: Each student will choose a psychology related topic of his or her own interest.
Products: Two written texts and one oral presentation.

Based on this project, two written texts will be produced:
o Assignment 1 Literature Review (800-1000 words) due Reading Week
o Assignment 3 Research Proposal (1100-1300 words, not including the abstract
which should be less than 200 words) due Revision Week
Also, you will be asked to give an oral presentation of your research proposal in Session 11.
Details are as follows:

o Assignment 2 Oral Presentation on the Research Proposal
Scenario: After writing your literature review, you have designed a research proposal to
address a research gap, attempting to fill in some pieces of information missing in the
literature. Before submitting the written research proposal, however, your supervisor asks
you to give an individual oral presentation of the proposal to fellow social sciences students,
who may not have the knowledge about your topic.
Scope of the presentation: The presentation should include two equally important
components: (1) theoretical and practical significance of the proposal (e.g., contribution to
the field of psychology and/or potential applications), and (2) a research design including
the hypothesis, proposed participants, research instruments, procedure, and intended
approach of data analysis. A brief conclusion at the end is recommended in order to give a
sense of completion to the presentation.
To benefit from this learning opportunity, you will need to give a clear and concise
presentation of your proposed research study using audience-friendly language such as
explaining terminology and concepts in a less technical manner. In your presentation, you
have to engage your audience for effective communication. Furthermore, you have to use
PowerPoint slides in your presentation. While there is not a minimum number of
sources required for the proposal presentation assignment, you have to cite and reference
appropriately on the PowerPoint slides.
The assessment will be based only on the quality of the presentation, but there will be a
Question and Answer (Q&A) Session after the presentation. During it, you will answer
questions and receive feedback from your classmates, which will help you improve the final
draft of your Assignment 3 Research Proposal. In previous years, feedback from students
indicated that they would like to have the Q&A Session to receive ideas from others to
improve their proposed research study before submitting Assignment 3 Research Proposal.
This also promotes knowledge sharing among students.
Length of the presentation: 5-6 minutes per student

Use of Sources for the Two Written Assessment Tasks: Literature Review and
Research Proposal
Since you need to demonstrate your knowledge of the literature of your chosen topic, the
minimum number of references for the literature review paper is 6 and that for the
research proposal is 10. The same sources can be used in both the literature review and the
proposal when appropriate. The use of dissertations and theses is not allowed in this
course.
While there is not a minimum number of sources required for the proposal presentation
(Assignment 2), you have to cite and reference appropriately on the PowerPoint slides.
use of sources for wriiten assignment not the presentation

Feedback Policy of Assessment Tasks
This feedback policy of assessment tasks is designed to ensure fairness of grading across all
classes. The details of the marking of drafts are listed below:
1. Literature Review: You are expected to submit your literature review outline of not more
than 500 words to the Turnitin submission box by Session 4 (Please check with your teacher
about the due date). Or if you would like to receive feedback on your writing, you can
submit a partial draft of not more than 500 words from any section of the assignment.
During the writing consultation in Session 5, your teacher will give you feedback on your
outline/draft. No further outlines/drafts will be marked.
2. Oral Presentation: You are expected to present live for three minutes using your
PowerPoint draft as your presentation rehearsal in Session 10, a week before the actual
presentation assessment to be done live in Session 11.
During the presentation rehearsal consultation in Session 10, your teacher will give you
verbal feedback on your rehearsal and PowerPoint draft. No further rehearsals will be
arranged.
3. Research Proposal: You are expected to submit a proposal outline/partial draft of not
more than 600 words from any section of the assignment to the Turnitin submission box by
Session 10 (Please check with your teacher about the due date).
During the writing consultation in Session 12, your teacher will give you feedback on your
outline/draft. No further outlines/drafts will be marked.
All submitted assignments will be graded with feedback by your course teacher. Please note
that the length of feedback will vary according to the need for clarity and elaboration.

Course Schedule
SESSION ACTIVITIES
1 Course Introduction, and Introduction to Disciplinary Writing

• Identifying differences between academic essays and empirical research
articles
• Identifying basic components of a research article
• Reading critically: Text comparison
2 Referencing and Citation Style

• Revisiting referencing, citations and reporting verbs
• Paraphrasing and summarising sources
3 Writing a Literature Review Paper

• Synthesising and organising ideas in a literature review paper
• Structuring a literature review paper
• Analysing writing samples
4 The Introduction Section

• Structuring an introduction
• Achieving coherence in an introduction
• Using verb tenses and non-discriminatory language
5 Literature Review Paper Tutorial
6 The Method Section (I)

• Designing a hypothesis
• Organising the method section & Describing participants and procedure

READING WEEK
7 The Method Section (I) and Abstracts

• Drafting an abstract
• Analysing a research proposal
• Presentation Skills
8 Results and Discussion

• Reporting statistics and creating tables
• Writing discussion effectively
9 Writing Qualitative Research and for the General Public

• Analysing a research article that uses grounded theory & a case study
• Comparing texts for different intended readers
• Writing psychology for non-professional
• Analysing data & preparing for oral presentation
10 Proposal Presentation Rehearsal
11 Presentation Assessment and Course Evaluation
12 Research Proposal Tutorial

Session One
Course Introduction and Introduction to Disciplinary Writing
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
• Understand the aims and outcomes, activities, assessment and nature of teaching
and learning of this course
• Identify the differences between empirical studies reports/ research articles and
general academic essays
• Develop some basic understandings of the structure of a research article
Pre-Session Activity
Discuss in groups of 4-5 students. Teachers will show the discussion topic on the slide.
Pre-Session Activity: Designing a Course Curriculum for a Writing Class for Psychology
Majors
Work in groups of 4-5. There are two parts to the activity.
Part One: Discuss in groups the major components of a course curriculum. (What major
items do you often find in a course curriculum?)
Part Two: Discuss in groups what you will include in your writing course for psychology
majors.
Your Notes:

Empirical Studies Reports/Research Articles in Psychology
Task 1 Discuss the following questions in groups
1. What are the similarities and differences between an academic essay and a
psychological empirical studies report/research article?
Academic essay Empirical studies report/research article
2. Can you name some common written genres in the discipline of Psychology? You may
also want to discuss the purpose(s) of each genre.
Common written genres Purposes

Task 2 Basic Components of a Research Article
As your studies progress, you are expected to be able to read research articles in which
researchers report the findings of their latest investigations. Research articles often follow a
certain structure and this exercise helps you develop a basic understanding of the different
elements of a research article.
The title of the article you will read to complete this exercise is “Hedonic Consequences of
Social Comparison: A Contrast of Happy and Unhappy People”.1 Read the article and answer
the following questions in groups.
1. What is the usual structure of a research article? (Hint: take a look at the headings of the
abstract
article). intro
methods
results
discussiion
reference
appendics
2. What purpose does an Introduction serve in a research article in general?
3. What is a hypothesis in an empirical study? Why do researchers make a hypothesis

when undertaking an empirical study?
an assumption of the research result

it makes the prediction
give direction
4. What is the hypothesis in this research? In which section can you find it?
self-rated unhappy individuals would be more sensitive to social comparison information than would happy ones
1
Lyubomirsky, S., & L., Ross. (1997). Hedonic consequences of social comparison: A contrast of
happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6), 1141-1157.

5. Are the results in the two experimental studies support the working hypothesis?
6. Where can you find the discussion about the potential limitations of the studies? Why is
it important to list the limitations of the research?
In this course we will look into two major disciplinary-specific written genres: the literature
review paper and the research proposal. Towards the end of the course we will shift our
focus from writing solely for academic purposes to writing for the general public, and
features of writing for popular psychology magazines will be examined.
Task 3 Text Comparison: Changes in psychology texts through time
One of the key messages of this course is that writing seldom takes place in a vacuum.
Instead a piece of writing is often shaped by different contextual factors, because writers
often need to respond to different stakeholders’ interests and concerns through their
writing.
In this activity, we would like to consider another aspect of writing – changes across time.
Even though it is argued that the linguistic features of academic writing are relatively stable
compared to language we use daily life, changes are sometimes observed within the same
discipline across time.
You will be given two extracts by psychologists active in a century apart. One extract is
about human emotions and one about the feeling of pride.

Discuss in groups the two questions below:
• Identify similarities and differences between the two extracts (e.g. identification of
the research focus, citation style, personal pronouns).
• Decide on the order of publication (i.e. which article was published first?) and
explain your answer. Can you try to explain how these differences respond to
changes in the field of psychology?
Extract A
The physiologists who, during the past few years, have been so industriously exploring the
functions of the brain, have limited their attempts at explanation to its cognitive and
volitional performances. Dividing the brain into sensorial and motor centres, they have
found their division to be exactly paralleled by the analysis made by empirical psychology, of
the perceptive and volitional parts of the mind into their simplest elements. But the
aesthetic sphere of the mind, its longings, its pleasures and pains, and its emotions, have
been so ignored in all these researches that one is tempted to suppose that if either Dr.
Ferrier or Dr. Munk were asked for a theory in brain-terms of the latter mental facts, they
might both reply, either that they had as yet bestowed no thought upon the subject, or that
they had found it so difficult to make distinct hypotheses, that the matter lay for them
among the problems of the future, only to be taken up after the simpler ones of the present
should have been definitively solved.
[Paragraph 2 is removed due to space constraint.]
I should say first of all that the only emotions I propose expressly to consider here are those
that have a distinct bodily expression. That there are feelings of pleasure and displeasure, of
interest and excitement, bound up with mental operations, but having no obvious bodily
expression for their consequence, would, I suppose, be held true by most readers. Certain
arrangements of sounds, of lines, of colours, are agreeable, and others the reverse, without
the degree of the feeling being sufficient to quicken the pulse or breathing, or to prompt to
movements of either the body or the face. Certain sequences of ideas charm us as much as
others tire us. It is a real intellectual delight to get a problem solved, and a real intellectual
torment to have to leave it unfinished. The first set of examples, the sounds, lines, and
colours, are either bodily sensations, or the images of such. The second set seem to depend
on processes in the ideational centres exclusively. Taken together, they appear to prove that
there are pleasures and pains inherent in certain forms of nerve-action as such, wherever
that action occur. The case of these feelings we will at present leave entirely aside, and

confine our attention to the more complicated cases in which a wave of bodily disturbance
of some kind accompanies the perception of the interesting sights or sounds, or the passage
of the exciting train of ideas. Surprise, curiosity, rapture, fear, anger, lust, greed, and the
like, become then the names of the mental states with which the person is possessed. The
bodily disturbances are said to be the “manifestation” of these several emotions, their
“expression” or “natural language”; and these emotions themselves, being so strongly
characterized both from within and without, may be called the standard emotions.
Our natural way of thinking about these standard emotions is that the mental perception of
some fact excites the mental affection called the emotion, and that this latter state of mind
gives rise to the bodily expression. My thesis on the contrary is that the bodily changes
follow directly the PERCEPTION of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes
as they occur IS the emotion. Common sense says, we lose our fortune, are sorry and weep;
we meet a bear, are frightened and run; we are insulted by a rival, are angry and strike. The
hypothesis here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect, that the one
mental state is not immediately induced by the other, that the bodily manifestations must
first be interposed between, and that the more rational statement is that we feel sorry
because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and not that we cry,
strike, or tremble, because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be. Without the
bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form, pale,
colourless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to
run, receive the insult and deem it right to strike, but we could not actually feel afraid or
angry.
Extract B [Years of publication are replaced by “XXXX” in the citations]
A wealth of folk wisdom tells us to use our emotions when appraising life circumstances;
when faced with a conundrum, the first question we often ask ourselves is, “How do I feel
about it?” (Schwarz, XXXX). Psychological scientists have also recognized the informational
value of affective cues in guiding individuals’ appraisals in a variety of domains, such as
determining whether our memories are accurate (Hart, XXXX), whether we are living up to
personal goals (Higgins, XXXX), our current level of social status (Leary, Tambor, Terdal, &
Downs, XXXX), and our quality of life (Schwarz & Clore, XXXX). More recently, researchers
have begun to document the informational value of several distinct emotions (e.g., sadness,
disgust, anger) in guiding spending decisions (e.g., Cryder, Lerner, Gross, & Dahl, XXXX;
Lerner, Li, & Weber, XXXX), evaluations of social groups (e.g., Eskine, Kacinik, & Prinz, XXXX;

Inbar, Pizarro, & Bloom, XXXX), and political attitudes (e.g., Small & Lerner, XXXX; Small,
Lerner, & Fischhoff, XXXX). [The rest of the paragraph is deleted due to space constraint.]
The present research aimed to extend this functionalist account of emotions to the distinct
emotion of authentic pride, a form of pride associated with feelings of confidence,
accomplishment, and self-worth (in contrast to hubristic pride, the form of pride associated
with arrogance and egotism; Tracy & Robins, XXXX). Authentic pride results largely from
successes that are attributed to one’s own effort (Tracy & Prehn, XXXX; Tracy & Robins,
XXXX; Weiner, XXXX; but see Holbrook, Piazza, & Fessler, XXXX; Tracy & Robins, XXXX), and
may function to promote future achievements and, ultimately, the attainment and
maintenance of social status (Cheng, Tracy, & Henrich, XXXX; Tracy, Shariff, & Cheng, XXXX).
Despite theoretical accounts suggesting that authentic pride promotes status attainment by
motivating socially valued achievements, it remains unclear how this works; that is, what is
the process through which authentic pride promotes achievement-related outcomes? We
are also aware of no studies that have tested whether authentic pride in fact has functional
downstream effects on such outcomes.
In the present research, we tested whether feelings of authentic pride promote

achievement outcomes in two distinct contexts: academic and athletic. Consistent with
control-process accounts, we predicted that low authentic pride would function to help
individuals gauge their current level of success and would subsequently promote adaptive
changes in achievement-oriented behaviors. We further predicted that these behavioral
changes would result in improved achievement outcomes for those who previously
performed poorly; specifically, we expected that low authentic pride would predict
improved future performance for poor performers, and that this effect would be mediated
by changes in achievement-oriented behaviors.
Your Notes:

References
Bazerman, C. (1988). Codifying the social scientific style. In J. S. Nelson, A. MeGill, & D. N.
McCloskey (Eds.), The rhetoric of the human sciences: Language and argument in
scholarship and public affairs (pp. 125-144). University of Wisconsin Press.
Kwan, E. K. P. (2013). Writing, into, at and beyond the university: Constructing learning
spaces through writing by business undergraduates in an English medium university
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
James, W. (1880). What is an emotion? Mind, 9, 188-205.
Weidman, A. C., Tracy, J. L., & Elliot, A. J. (2016). The benefits of following your pride:
Authentic pride promotes achievement. Journal of Personality, 84(5), 607-622.
Homework
Before class, you need to:
• Choose a topic for the Designing a Research Study Project.

Session Two
Referencing and Citation Style
• Apply principles and rules of referencing and citation in the APA style
• Write appropriate, legitimate summaries and paraphrases based on sources
Pre-Session Activity: Differences among academic texts in social sciences and

humanities
Madigan, Johnson and Linton (1995) examined 25 articles published in 1992 in four journals
from different disciplines: history, literary criticism, and two areas of psychology
(Experimental Psychology and Counseling Psychology).
They found the following differences:
1. Subheadings are used more frequently in psychology than in other two disciplines.
2. Psychologists use paraphrasing more often than direct quotations, which are more
common in history and literary criticism.
3. It is more common in history and literary criticism articles to find discursive
footnotes (referring to footnotes with a long explanation of a concept or a term)
than in psychology.
4. In some literary criticism text, very pointed disagreements, e.g. disagreement with “a
sharply personal focus” (p.413), can be found but they are rarely observed in
psychology and history texts.
Discuss in groups the two questions below:
(A) Based on your own experiences, do you agree with these observations about the
differences in academic texts between the psychology texts and the other two
disciplines (history and literary criticism)?

(B) Can you think of any reasons to account for such textual differences? (e.g. Why is it
less important to use subheadings in literary criticisms? What are the functions of
direct quotations that make them more important in literary criticisms and history?)
Your Notes:
Revisiting APA Referencing and Citation Style
In your first year of university studies, you learned the basic rules of referencing and
citation. This week, we will have a review of referencing style, focusing not only on the use
of appropriate format but also on related topics such as paraphrasing and choice of
reporting verbs.
Discuss the following questions in groups.
What is a citation?
Why does a researcher need to cite sources?

In this course, the American Psychological Association referencing style (“APA style”
hereafter) will be used. This is because although different journals in the discipline of
Psychology use different referencing styles, the APA style is considered to be the most
frequently used in the discipline. The APA style was developed by the American
Psychological Association, and the first edition of the APA Publication Manual was published
in 1926. The latest 7th edition was released in 2019. You can borrow a copy of the manual
from the University Library.
There are also a number of online sources that can help you with the APA style (e.g. Purdue
Online Writing Lab).
Task 1 Error Identification
Identify the citation errors in the following sentences. Some may have more than one error.
1. Deborah Cameron (2008) defines identity as “a local, even parochial concern: it is often
the smallest differences that carry the most symbolic weight”.
2. In 1991, a group of researchers wrote that the physical text arising out of e-disc or CMC is
written language (Ferrara et al.).
3. Current studies on e-chat (Condon and Claude, 1996; Kershaw, 1997; Werry, 1996) have
compared it in terms of the relationship between spoken and written language.
4. In her book ‘The Myth of Mars and Venus’, Cameron (2008) pointed out the problem with
research studies that just count the number of times men and women interrupted in a
conversation and argued that linguistic behaviour should not be taken out of its context.

Task 2 Composing a Reference List in APA Style
A student has used some information from books, journals and online resources during
his/her research. He/she has recorded the details of the books, periodicals and online
resources in a table form. Your task here is to:
• read the information given and identify the types of the following sources (e.g. Are
they book chapters, journal articles or newspaper articles?)
• discuss, in pairs, how the information details may be sorted in a reference list
• word process the reference list individually as it is to be presented in a research
report
You can find information about APA referencing style from the course Moodle.
Source 1
Author Committee on Promoting Holistic

Development of Preschool children
Year of publication 2005
Title of piece of writing A needs assessment report of children 0-5

years
City of publisher’s address Hong Kong
Name of Publisher Health and Food Bureau
Source 2
Author Cecilia Cheng
Title of piece of writing Psychological androgyny and coping flexibility:

do androgynous individuals cope with life
changes more flexibly?
Book Focus on Gender Identity
Editor Janice W. Lee
City of publisher’s address New York
Name of Publisher Nova Science Publisher
Page No: 143-182

Source 3
Author James W. Pennebaker, Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser,

and Ronald Glaser
Title of piece of writing Disclosure of traumas and immune function:

health implications for psychotherapy
Journal Journal of counseling and clinical psychology
Volume No: 56
Issue No: 2
Page No: 239-245
Source 4
Author Jennifer Crocker and Lora E. Park
Title of piece of writing The Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem
Journal Psychological Bulletin
Volume No: 130
Issue No: 3
Page No: 392-414
DOI 10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.392
Source 5
Author Joseph Nowinski, PhD
Year of publication December 4, 2012
Title of piece of writing Psychiatry Takes a Step Toward Understanding

Alcoholism
Website Psychology Today
URL URL
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-
almost-effect/201212/psychiatry-takes-step-
toward-understanding-alcoholism

Paraphrasing and Summarising
Students sometimes confuse paraphrases and summarising with direct quotations. In terms
of formatting, a direct quotation includes the appropriate use of quotation marks and the
page number. Instead, a paraphrase or a summary requires writers to use their own words
to express other people’s ideas; the page number and quotation marks are not necessary
for paraphrases or summaries. You should remember that direct quotations, especially long
quotations, are not encouraged in the APA Publication Manual because conciseness is
crucial in research reports.
Some students think that they only need to give quotation marks without providing the
page number for direction quotations, which is not correct. Some students think that if they
copy only a short expression (e.g. an expression that is five to six words long), then they do
not need to put the expression in quotation marks, but they should.
Task 3 Summarising Appropriately
Read the following extract to find Deborah Cameron’s explanation of differences between
men’s and women’s speech behaviour.2 Then discuss in groups whether texts A and B are
legitimate summaries of Cameron’s text. Explain your answer.
Statistics undoubtedly have their uses, but in language and communication research
they have to be used with care. Another problem with studies that just count how many
times men interrupted and how many times women interrupted in a conversation is that
they take linguistic behavior out of its context. And linguistic behavior is only meaningful in
context. Most of the things we do with language are capable of communicating some range
of meanings: it is the context that enables us to interpret what is being communicated in
any particular case.
2
Cameron, D. (2008). The myth of Mars and Venus. UK: Oxford University Press.

In context, for instance, interrupting someone may be rude or domineering behavior
– a way of silencing and belittling them – or it may be supportive behavior, signaling
enthusiasm for what they are saying. If we take no account of what interruptions mean,
simply counting how many men or women produce will not tell us what any difference
signifies. In theory, too, this kind of deconstextualised counting could actually conceal a
significant difference – for instance, what if men and women produced similar numbers of
interruptions, but men’s were mostly used to silence others whereas women’s were mostly
used to support others? To make sense of linguistic behaviour, we need to go back to the
context and look at what a particular linguistic feature was actually being used to
communicate. But when we do this, we may discover that what appear to be gender
differences are only indirectly to do with gender – that between gender and language-use
there is a ‘missing link’. (Cameron, 2008, pp. 45-46)
Text A
A problem with studies that only count the number of times men and women interrupted in a
conversation is that they analyse linguistic behavior out of its context. To understand linguistic
behavior, we need to go back to the context and check the message a particular linguistic feature is
used to communicate, and we may find out that the gender differences in speech behavior are only
indirectly related to gender (Cameron, 2008).
Text B
Cameron (2008) points out the decontextualised tendency in gender speech behaviour studies that
only take into account the number of interruptions in a conversation. Therefore, if we examine the
link between interruption and speech features that are being used, we will find no relationships
between speech behaviour differences and gender.

In the following sections, we will examine three basic elements related to citation: the use
of reporting verbs, verb tenses, and pronouns. Getting these basic elements right can
improve the accuracy of your writing and the credibility of your arguments.
Reporting Verbs and Verb Tenses
Task 4 Choice of Reporting Verbs
The following extracts are from Crocker and Park’s research article about self-esteem.3
Underline verbs in sentences in which the grammatical subject refers to a research study or
a researcher. Note the variety of reporting verbs the authors use when reviewing related
literature.
With a few notable exceptions, the vast majority of the published articles on self-
esteem has focused exclusively on level of trait self-esteem—whether people typically or
characteristically have high or low self-regard. Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that
high self-esteem is strongly related to the beliefs people hold about themselves. High self-
esteem people believe they are intelligent, attractive, and popular, for example (Baumeister
et al., 2003).
In light of these positive beliefs about the self, high self-esteem is assumed to have
beneficial effects, and low self-esteem detrimental effects. Recently, however, researchers
have argued that the objective benefits of high self-esteem are small and limited. For
example, a recent and extensive review concluded that high self-esteem produces pleasant
feelings and enhanced initiative but does not cause high academic achievement, good job
performance, or leadership; nor does low self-esteem cause violence, smoking, drinking,
taking drugs, or becoming sexually active at an early age (Baumeister et al., 2003).
3
Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392-414.

People differ in what they believe they must be or do to be a worthy and valuable
person, and therefore in what types of events produce a boost or a drop in their self-esteem
(Crocker & Wolfe, 2001). More than a decade ago, William James (1890) noted that people
tend to stake their self-esteem on their success in some areas of life but not others.
When self-esteem is invested in a domain, people become preoccupied with the

meaning of events for their own worth and value. For example, in a study of college seniors
applying to graduate school, Wolfe and Crocker (2003) found that students whose self-
esteem was invested in academics tended to view acceptance by graduate programs as a
validation of their ability.
• Can you find any example of “say”, “write”, “state”, “prove”, “believe” and “feel” in
the extracts above? Why?
• Citations can also appear at the end of a sentence. Identify this type of citation in the
extracts above. What effect(s) do end-of-sentence citations create?
Reporting verbs as expressions of the writer’s stance
Reporting verbs are important because they can help to convey the stance of the writer
towards a particular source. Using appropriate reporting verbs allows a writer to express
positive stance (i.e. the writer agrees with the conclusions made in the source), neutral
stance or negative stance (i.e. the writer is skeptical of the findings of a source). Can you put
the reporting verbs identified in the extracts above in the appropriate boxes below? Can you
also come up with additional examples of reporting verbs for each of the stances?

Reporting verbs suggesting Reporting verbs suggesting Reporting verbs suggesting
positive stance neutral stance negative stance
Task 5 Reporting Verbs: Verb Tenses and Voices
Based on the extracts provided in Task 4, discuss the questions below:
• Can you find any examples of the simple past tense, the present perfect tense, and
the simple present tense? Can you explain when these tenses are used?
• Compare the use of the active and passive voices in the excerpt for Task 4. Which
voice is more frequently used?

Use of Pronouns
Task 6 Using “we” in a Research Article
Below is a list of passages from Crocker and Park4 that include the pronoun “we”. Take a
look at the list and answer the following questions.
1. We suggest that the importance of self-esteem lies not only in whether trait self-esteem
is high or low but also in the pursuit of self-esteem…
2. We argue that in the pursuit of self-esteem, people often create the opposite of what
they need to thrive and that this pursuit has high costs to others as well.
3. Instead, we argue that people are motivated to achieve increases in state self-esteem
above their trait level and to avoid drops in state self-esteem below their trait level; these
fluctuations in state self esteem have powerful affective consequences…
4. … we assume that in the pursuit of self-esteem, goals are hierarchically organised, with
more abstract goals guiding and informing more specific, lower level goals.
5. In the absence of direct measures, we infer people have self-esteem goals in anticipation
of, during, and following success or failure in domains on which they have staked their self-
worth…
6. In sum, we contend that self-esteem is linked to behaviour and social problems through
the pursuit of self-esteem…
7. How do we know whether people are pursuing self-esteem? Ideally, we would directly
measure self-esteem goals in research; however, because researchers have largely focused
on level of self-esteem and not self-esteem goals, they rarely directly measure self-esteem
goals (for exceptions, see Dykman, 1998; Grant & Dweck, 2003).
4
Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392-414,

• When do the two authors use the pronoun “we” in the article?
• Explain the use of “we” in example 7. Is the use of the pronoun here similar or
different from other examples in the list?
• Do you think you can find any examples of the use of the pronoun “you” in the
article? Why or why not?
• The APA Publishing Manual suggests that the pronoun “he” should not be used as a
generic pronoun. Can you find alternatives to replace “he” in the following
expression?
When a child goes through a threatening event, he is likely to make generalisations out of
the event.
In this session, we examined a research article focusing on ways an author refers to other
sources. You should keep paying attention to the features we discussed when you are
reading so that you can further your understanding by examining how researchers refer to
other researchers’ studies in practice.
Reference

Madigan, R., Johnson, S., & Linton, P. (1995). The language of psychology: APA style as
epistemology. American Psychologist, 50(6), 428-436.
Homework
• Complete online exercises on referencing and citation (optional)

• Start identifying reliable sources for your literature review and complete a reference
list
• Write an outline and a 500-word draft for your literature review

Session Three
Writing a Literature Review Paper
• Select relevant information from literature for review

• Organise notes from readings in a systematic manner
• Synthesise similar and opposing views from different sources in writing
Task 1 What is a “literature review”?
What do you think about the following statements about writing a literature review paper?
True False Not Remarks

certain
1. A literature review is a
description/summary of research studies
conducted in relation to the research topic.
2. A literature review should only include
empirical studies relevant to the topic
being researched.
3. You should include as many studies
relevant to your research topic as possible
in your literature review.
4. You should describe each of the
sources/studies you have cited in detail.
5. There is a positive correlation between the
length of the literature review and its
quality.
6. Only the most current research should be
discussed in a literature review.
7. A literature review is written on the

assumption that the audience has a good
knowledge about your specific research
topic so there is no need to define key
terms.
8. Since you are presenting your own critical
evaluation of relevant studies in the
literature review, it is justifiable to use
phrases such as ‘I feel’, ‘I think’.
• Where do you usually see a literature review? What is/are the purpose(s) of writing
a literature review?
• How is a literature review similar to and different from an annotated bibliography?

Try to identify the features of these two text types.
Literature Review Paper Annotated bibliography

Task 2 Text Critique
Below is an example of a literature review extracted from a research paper that investigates
learners’ perceptions of the use of language arts in English lessons to enhance the learning
of English. Read the extract carefully and discuss your initial response to it with your group
mates. It is a general discussion of literature and you do not need to have expertise in the
area concerned to understand it.
Using Films in Language Classrooms
With no doubt, there are advantages of introducing films into language classrooms.
This can bring happiness to students. Yet, do students benefit from the films in language
learning? The benefits of using films are listed as follows.
Firstly, students’ motivation in learning English is aroused. Stoller stated that films
are most effective in language production and practice because they are flexible and
motivating. (Stoller, 1988, p.6) As stated in Wood (1995), films can “encourage learners to
study twice as much as ordinary texts, and nearly as much as teachers” (Wood, 1995, p.4)
because the combination of variety, interest and entertainment in films can motivate
learners. (Allan, 1985, p.49) It is further explained that using video “will enhance the
motivation of the students in class and encourage them to narrate something that happens
in real life, on which most of our communication depends” (Dikilitas & Duvenci, 1980,
p.171).
Lonergan (1984) stated that movies “are highly motivating for students and also
contextualise language development by providing meaningful and authentic models of
language use” (cited in Chapple & Curtis, 1981, p.421). Chapple & Curtis (1981) also pointed
out that films and televisions help students with comprehension because they have access
to the paralinguistic cues which are an essential part of communication. Stoller also
mentioned that “through films and videotapes, students are naturally exposed to the
myriad of authentic speech forms of the target language…. These more realistic demands, in
turn, motivate students to participate actively in film/ videotape related activities” (Stoller,
1988, p.4). While watching films, students have an exposure to the interactive language.

They must listen to how people speak to each other when they learn how to speak to
people (Sherman, 1998, p.14).
On top of enhancing students’ language skills, films can help students to develop
better language skills. Dikilitas & Duvenci (1980) pointed out that the visual materials offer
students many events and actions which stimulate them to talk about what is happening in
the video. This is supported by Wood (1995) who stated that “video with interesting content
and meaningful context is also likely to be both memorable and capable of developing
students’ language skills because of the valid and vivid actuation of language situations it
command” (Wood, 1995, p.12). Films are not just for entertainment in classrooms but also
for learning.
The following questions may help initiate your discussion:
• Has the writer conducted a critical review of the literature related to the research
topic? Cite examples from the extract to support your view.
• How would you evaluate the currency of the literature being reviewed?
• What is/are your comment(s) on the organisation of this sample extract? (Hints: pay
attention to the structure of the introduction, use of topic sentences, paragraphing,
and the use of linking words.)
• Any comments you would like to add?

Steps in Writing Literature Reviews
Step 1 Identifying a topic for review
Identifying a topic as a focus for literature review is always the hardest exercise for writers.
Writing a literature review gives you an opportunity to learn more about old and current
research in an area of your interest, but “interest” is not the only criterion for determining
what you should be reviewing. It is important to choose a topic that has been well
researched, and has yielded a number of quality studies/references for review.
How do you know whether a research topic is of current interest to academics in the
Psychology community?
1) Browse through APA journals such as Psychological Bulletin

2) Look at Current Directions in Psychological Science published by American
Psychological Society
(Recommended by Psychology Writing Centre, University of Washington)
Steps 2 and 3 Critical reading of relevant articles and organising and

synthesising information in a meaningful manner
After identifying your research topic, it is time to conduct research, which involves reading
extensively about the topic. Students often find the experience overwhelming because they
do not know how to handle the amount of information they need to process. Good note
taking skills are thus important.
Organising your notes while reading
Effective note taking while reading will help you compare and synthesise information across
different studies and identify gaps in literature. It is therefore essential to record your notes
in a consistent and systematic manner. Galvan’s (2004) framework in note taking is one way
to organise your reading. Make one entry for each article you have read:
Author(s)’ last name(s), initial(s)
Title of Article
Publication Year
Name of Journal/Vol/Number/Page numbers
Notes
1. What is the main point/argument of this article?
2. Describe the methodology used. (Include numbers of subjects, controls,

treatments, etc.)
3. Describe the findings.
4. What, if anything, is notable about this article (e.g. Is it a landmark study? Does it
have flaws? Is it an experimental study? Is it qualitative or quantitative?).
5. Note specific details you find especially relevant to the topic of your review.
Adapted from Galvan (2004)

Task 3 What should you be looking for while reading?
After reading and making notes on all the articles you have collected, you should try to
compare the differences and similarities among them. On what basis should the comparison
across different articles be made? Try to come up with a checklist of items you should pay
attention to:
Step 4 Writing the Review
Students may read extensively about their research topic, but when it is time to write a
literature review, they do not know how to give a proper opening to their review and how
to organise their sources.

Task 4 Introducing a Review
The introductions of two literature review papers written by previous students are shown
below. In groups:
- Identify the different elements of an introduction (topic of the review, research gap/gaps
based on existing literature, purpose of the review, definitions of key terms, and a
preview of the review)
- Compare the introductions and decide which one is more coherent (explain your
answers); and
- Discuss whether the titles of the reviews are appropriate.
Introduction One (title: Critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition)
The critical period hypothesis (CPH) is probably one of the most controversial topics
in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Originally proposed by Lenneberg
(1967) (in his landmark book Biological Foundation of Language), the theory claims
that language acquisition is extremely challenging after the “biological maturation” of
the brain (i.e. after puberty) due to the firm localization of language processing in the
left hemisphere. Although Lenneberg’s argument concerning brain localization was
later proved incorrect (Hoff, 2005), substantial studies have found a negative
correlation between the age of onset and language proficiency in second language
learning, thus arguing that native-like language proficiency is hardly possible after a
certain “critical period” (e.g. Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, 2009; Huang & Jin, 2011,
Winke, 2013). Despite the general consensus that “younger is better” for second
language learning, there is less agreement about the cutoff age of such “critical
period”. In fact, research findings vary dramatically on the “when” question: while
some studies claimed to find only a small proportion of perfect second language
speakers among those who started SLA as children, suggesting a critical age earlier
than six (e.g. Flege & MacKay, 2004), some others demonstrated high proficiency in
second language among late starters (after age 18) indistinguishable from native
speakers, thus pushing the cutoff line to a considerably late age (e.g. Munoz, 2006).
The present literature review examines three key subtopics of CPH that may explain
the abovementioned inconsistent findings, namely, the areas of language acquisition
to which CPH is applicable, the role of L1-L2 distance in second language acquisition,
and the psychological, social and cognitive factors that are commonly neglected in
SLA studies.

Introduction Two (title: Marital satisfaction after the transition to parenthood)
In modern era, most of the couples have the autonomy to choose whether to have
children after marriage. The determination of having children usually happens between
one to three years of a stable marital relationship (Neff & Broady, 2011). Meanwhile, some
couples consider remaining childless owing to the belief that having children will lead to
the decrease in romance (Shapiro, Gottman & Carrére, 2000). Marital satisfaction is a
measure of the perceived romance and closeness between married couples which is an
important element in maintaining a stable marital relationship (Nelson, Kushlev, English,
Dunn & Lyubomirsky, 2013). Social psychologists have been trying to identify the predictors
that might lead to the change of marital satisfaction once couples have their first child,
which is the transition to parenthood. Moreover, some researchers have demonstrated
that the presence of at least one child in a family could influence the marital satisfaction of
the couples, either positively or negatively (Twenge, Campbell, & Foster, 2003; Dew &
Wilcox, 2011; Doss, Rhoades, Stanley & Markman, 2009; Nelson et al., 2013). However, the
effect remains controversial.
By conducting a meta-analytic review, Mitnick, Heyman and Slep (2009) found that
the effect of having children was insignificant since the marital satisfaction of couples who
do not have children showed similar change. In other words, the patterns of change in
marital satisfaction after marriage, which is described as a U-shaped or inverse U-shaped
change (C. Vaillant & G. Vaillant, 1993), may problematize the initial findings on the effect
of having children. Apart from the meta-analysis, there is scarce appropriate longitudinal
research that included the comparison between the U-shaped patterns of change and the
effect of having children of marital satisfaction. Thus, the present review provides a future
research approach that can better measure the impact of entering the parenthood on
marital satisfaction.

Task 5 Organising Sources in a Literature Review Paper
Going beyond mere descriptions of previous research and synthesising the findings in
different research studies can pose a great challenge to many undergraduate students.
Extracts B1 and B2 are similar, with the exception of the italicised texts. Read the extracts
and answer the following questions.
Extract B Bilingualism in infancy
B1 There are still only a handful of studies of the process by which bilingual infants
establish the phonetic categories of each of their languages. One study of Spanish-Catalan
bilingual infants suggested that bilingual infants might temporarily merge two vowel
categories at 8 months while successfully discriminating the vowels at younger and older
ages (4 and 12 months) [32]. An initial study of French-English bilinguals indicated that
consonant perception might show a similar pattern, whereby consonant categories across
the two languages were merged at age 10-12 months before separating again [33]. In a
subsequent analysis with a larger sample, infants showed discrimination of the consonant
boundaries in both of their languages throughout the first year of life [34]. Bilingual French-
English infants maintain the ability to discriminate a French/d/from an English/d/[35].
B2 There are still only a handful of studies of the process by which bilingual infants
establish the phonetic categories of each of their languages. One study of Spanish-Catalan
bilingual infants suggested that bilingual infants might temporarily merge two vowel
categories at 8 months while successfully discriminating the vowels at younger and older
ages (4 and 12 months) [32]. An initial study of French-English bilinguals indicated that
consonant perception might show a similar pattern, whereby consonant categories across
the two languages were merged at age 10-12 months before separating again [33].
However, in a subsequent analysis with a larger sample, infants showed discrimination of
the consonant boundaries in both of their languages throughout the first year of life [34].
Similarly, bilingual French-English infants maintain the ability to discriminate a
French/d/from an English/d/[35]. These studies show that although sometimes showing a

unique developmental pattern, bilingual infants are able to discriminate vowel and
consonant distinctions in each of their languages by the end of the first year of life. The
complexity of the pattern of results could reflect the variability among bilinguals as a
function of different amounts of exposure to each language.
• How would you comment on Extract B1 and Extract B2 in terms of depth of

description of different studies and evaluation?
• Underline the reporting verbs in Extract B2. What does the choice of reporting verbs
indicate about the stance of the writer?
• Do you consider the use of tense forms in Extract B2 inconsistent? Can you explain
this?
• Based on the outline given by the authors, how many sections does the review
consist of?
When reviewing literature about your chosen topic, it is important to synthesise information
appropriately. You will not be able to show the focus of a study if you simply list one study
after another about a topic.

Task 6 Improving a Text
The following task aims at helping you think critically about ways to synthesise information
in literature reviews. Read the literature review on the next page and try to write a more
cohesive and more focused text. (Hints: identify underlying themes of the studies and
reorganise the ideas; use more appropriate reporting verbs; since it is a short text, you do
not need to write an introduction and a conclusion but informative topic sentences are
crucial, and your text should not be longer than three paragraphs).
Weinburger (1997) did a study on the benefits of giving Ritalin to very young
children. One of the results was that these children made friends more easily, and got along
better in the classroom. Weinburger studied 50 children diagnosed with ADHD in a variety
of preschool settings.
Franklin (1998) wrote a paper expressing her concerns about using stimulant
medications on very young children. She says that long-term effects of these drugs haven’t
been studied in children that young. She says, “We are giving powerful drugs to children
whose nervous systems are not developed yet. We don’t know what can happen” (p.32).
Another researcher (Jones, 1998) pointed out some advantages of using the
medications. He says that children are more compliant, which means that they go along
with what the class is doing and the teacher likes them better.
According to Noloko (1999), when very young children with ADHD are given Ritalin,
they are less likely to be asked to leave their daycare or preschool setting. This not only
makes life easier for their parents, it also allows them the opportunity to interact
successfully with other children.
Andrews (1999) pointed out in an article that the FDA has never given its approval to
use stimulant medication for very young patients. This is because there is not enough
evidence that they are free of long-term complications.
Two researchers (Ngau & Mostomi, 1999) also conducted a study in a variety of day
care and preschool settings. They found similar results, showing that teachers were less

likely to ask that ADHD children be taken out of the setting if they took Ritalin or other
stimulant medications. Smith (2000) did another study showing that children with ADHD
who took medication were more likely to remain in day care or preschool, without being
asked to leave. They also had more friends during the time of the study.
A similar study by Castillo (2001) found the same basic result. They looked at
children who were not specifically diagnosed with ADHD but showed some of the same
symptoms. Once again, children who were taking stimulant medication were able to stay in
the facility, while those who were not often asked to leave. Adapted from Landrum (2004)
Your answer:

1. Read the sample literature review, entitled “Critical Period Hypothesis for Second
Language Acquisition”, and answer the questions below.
- Are the topic sentences of paragraphs 3 to 5 appropriate? (i.e. can they capture the
main focus of the corresponding paragraph concisely?)
- Can you identify three to four attitude markers (i.e. attitude verbs, sentence adverbs
and adjectives) that highlight the writer’s stance towards a particular source or
study?
- In this literature review, the writer presents the debates regarding different aspects
of the critical period hypothesis by indicating opposing views or conflicting research
findings. Can you identify two examples from paragraphs 3 to 5?
- Do you think the writer was able to present other researchers’ findings concisely?
Give examples and explain your answer.

Task 8 Writing with an appropriate tone
The conclusion is printed below. Based on your understanding of the writer’s argument,
choose the more appropriate word to fill in each blank.
To conclude, it is _____________ (definitely / generally) agreed upon that the specific areas
of language learning should be examined separately in the study of critical period, and it is
____________ (obviously / very likely) that there is more than one critical period for second
language acquisition. That being said, the determination of a comprehensive timetable of
the critical period for each area of SLA is still ____________ (in its preliminary stage /
difficult) and requires the verification of later studies. As for the languages involved in CPH,
______________ (to which extent / the extent to which) the proximity or distance between
the first and second languages would interfere with the determination of the critical period
remains ________________ (highly controversial / heatedly debated). A
________________(substantial / large) number of research studies involving a greater
variety of first and second language pairings is needed before any further conclusion can be
drawn. Lastly, cognitive, psychological and social factors should be taken into careful
consideration in future studies when comparing groups of second language learners with
different starting ages, because the age effect of SLA may be attributed to ______________
(a lot of / multiple) factors apart from the biological constraints as proposed by most
advocates of CPH.

Extra: Variation in structuring a literature review
This task invites you to think about the different ways to structure an argument.
In class, we have examined the rhetorical features of a literature review by previous

students (e.g. identification of the research gap). Since most of you have already identified a
few research articles related to your chosen topic for the literature review assignment, you
are asked to engage with these articles and examine the ways a writer organise a literature
review.
Choose one of the articles you have found. Then:
• Identify the research gap(s) (How many research gaps does the writer state in the
literature review? What exactly are they?)
• Examine how the writer justify each of the research gaps and how the writer narrows
the focus to each of them (What approaches does the writer adopt to organise the
materials? A chronological development or other developments? Is the organisation
easy to follow?)
Now, reflect on the sample essay we read. Can you find similar or different approaches?
References
Galvan, J. L. (2004). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and
behavioral sciences. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.
Landrum, R. E. (2008). Undergraduate writing in psychology: Learning to tell the scientific

story. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Homework
• Start drafting the Literature Review Paper, which is due in week 6

Session Four
The Introduction Section
• Identify the structure and language features of the Introduction section of a research
article
• Apply the language features of the Introduction section of a research article to your
own research proposal in Psychology in an appropriate manner
• Employ an appropriate format to structure the Introduction section in a research
proposal
The Introduction section of a research proposal and that of a research article share
similarities. We are therefore going to analyse the similarities in the stylistic and linguistic
features of research articles and use the analysis as the basis for learning the language
features of research proposal.
Task 1 Features of a Good Introduction
Based on your own experience of writing, what features should a good introduction
demonstrate?

The Basic Components of the Introduction Section of a Research Article
The Publication Manual of APA (2010) suggests that researchers should consider the
following questions when drafting the Introduction section.
• Why is this problem important?

• How does the study relate to previous work in the area? If other aspects of this study
have been reported previously, how does this report differ from, and build on, the
earlier report?
• What are the primary and secondary hypotheses and objectives of the study, and
what, if any, are the links to theory?
• How do the hypotheses and research design relate to one another?
• What are the theoretical and practical implications of the study?
In other words, the introduction of a research article should include the following
components:
1. a concise scholarly review of relevant literature

2. purpose of the study
3. theoretical implications
4. hypotheses and their rationales
5. definitions of variables
You should also note that the APA Publication Manual tells researchers not to use
“Introduction” to label the opening section. It is the location of the section that indicates a
particular section as the Introduction rather than the heading.
In this session, we will examine the introductions of two research articles.
Task 2 Structuring an Introduction
To better understand how researchers structure an introduction in their research articles,

try to (1) match the extracts from the two articles with the five components recommended
by the APA Publication Manual and (2) create a logical order for the extracts.

Article 15
1. Our present research essentially sought to reverse the emphasis of such anecdotal
observation. We sought to show that characteristically happy and unhappy people differ in
the extent and manner of their responsiveness to social comparison information.
2. Our current research represents another step in a more general research undertaking on
the links among affective temperament, motivation, cognitive processes, and hedonic
consequences.
3. Our working hypothesis in the present research was that happy individuals would be less
sensitive to unsolicited social comparison information in general, and less vulnerable to
unfavorable social comparison information in particular, than unhappy individuals.
4. Self-perceptions and self-evaluations depend not only on the absolute nature of one’s
accomplishment and performance but also on the way one measures up to relevant peers
(Festinger, 1954; Suls, 1977; Wills, 1981, 1991)…… As Festinger (1954) suggested, successful
social functioning requires people to evaluate the merits of their views and abilities, and in
the absence of objective information, such evaluation necessarily depends on social
comparison.
5. In Study 1 we allowed participants to solve anagrams at whatever rate they were capable
of, but we manipulated the ostensible performance of a school peer so that participants
experienced relative success (i.e., their peer performed worse than they) or relative failure
(i.e. their peer performance better than they).
5
Lyubomirsky, S., & Ross, L. (1997). Hedonic consequences of social comparison: A contrast of happy and
unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6), 1141-1157.

Article 26
1. Reflects on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past
misfortunes, of which all men have some.
--- Charles Dickens (M. Dickens, 1897, p.45)
2. In the spirit of understanding the link between gratitude and happiness, the purpose of
this research is to experimentally investigate the effects of a grateful outlook on
psychological and physical well-being. More specifically, we address whether relative to
focusing on complaints or on neutral life events, a focus on “counting one’s blessing” leads
to enhanced psychological and physical functioning.
3. Foundationally, research on gratitude and well-being must address the issue of whether
gratitude—whether in the context of savoring positive life circumstances, coping with
negative life circumstances, or trying to counteract negative emotions—is a cause of well-
being, per se, or merely a moderately positive and active emotion that people with high
well-being frequently experience.
4. Drawing together theoretical statements, popular beliefs, and previous empirical findings,
we predict that self-guided exercises designed to induce a state of gratitude will lead to
heightened well-being over time, relative to a focus on hassles, downward social
comparisons, or neutral life events.
5. The construct of gratitude has inspired considerable interest in the general public. The
prevalence of books targeted to general audiences on the topic (Breathnach, 1996; Hay,
1996; Miller, 1995; Ryan, 1999; Steindl-Rast, 1984; Turner, 1998; Van Kaam & Muto, 1993)
testify to this concept’s widespread appeal.
6
Emmos, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation
of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(7), 377-389.

Organising Sources in the Introduction of a Research Article
In Session 3, we discussed the use of linking words, reporting verbs and tenses, as well as
ways to organise sources when referring to other scholars’ works in your writing. Apart from
these, another key to writing a good literature review is to be selective. Students should
avoid writing a literature review that aims to be exhaustive. Here are two strategies to write
a concise literature review:
• Avoid starting a paragraph with “Eliot (2007) found that…”. It is important to be explicit
about the relations between Eliot’s study and other studies.
• Avoid explaining all details in a study. Instead, describe the general approach, and then
the variations among the studies.
Discuss the questions in groups
• Can you think of ways to structure a good literature review? Is a historical review that
starts with early studies and ends with more recent research always preferable?
• Do researchers state their criticisms of other studies in the literature review?

Task 3 Analysis of a Published Journal Article
Study the text below and identify the five basic components of the Introduction section. The
excerpt below is taken from a journal article titled "Resilience Building in Students: The Role
of Academic Self-Efficacy" (Cassidy, 2015).
Extract
Resilience Building in Students: The Role of Academic Self-Efficacy
Introduction
Psychological Resilience
A shift in emphasis in mental health policy to include promotion of positive mental health as
a preventative measure (WHO, 2005), together with the identification of resilience and
coping as one of eight positive mental health grouping (Parkinson, 2008), underlines the
value of studies examining resilience. Abiola and Udofia (2011) suggest resilience is
associated with increased quality of life, wellbeing and functional capacity in times of
adversity. Although there is an intuitive appreciation for the “meaning” of resilience and
what it infers (about the individual), consensus in defining psychological resilience, both
conceptually and operationally as a measurable construct, has yet to be reached. [text taken
out] Resilience is described by Hamill (2003) as competence in the face of adversity. [text
taken out] Abiola and Udofia (2011) offer a fuller account, discussing resilience in terms of
inner strength, competence, optimism, flexibility, and the ability to cope effectively when
faced with adversity, minimizing the impact of risk factors, such as stressful life events, and
enhancing the protective factors, such as optimism, social support, and active coping, that
increase people's ability to deal with life’s challenges.
[text taken out]
The present study examines resilience in the context of education and learning (i.e.,
academic resilience), considering resilience as an asset and seeking to identify factors that
may contribute to resilience promoting interventions for students, suggested by Zautra
(2009) to have long-term benefits.
Academic Resilience
Wang et al. (1994) refer to academic resilience as an increased likelihood of (academic)

success despite environmental adversities. Resilient students are described by Alva (1991)
as those who maintain high motivational achievement and performance even when faced
with stressful events and conditions that place them at risk of poor performance and by
Waxman et al. (2003) as those who succeed at school despite the presence of adverse
conditions.

[text taken out]
Waxman et al. (2003) suggest that studying resilient students will provide important
implications for improving the education of students at risk of academic failure and
evidence already exists supporting the relevance of academic resilience. [text taken out]
They further suggest that academic resilience can be promoted by focussing on alterable
factors including social competence, problem-solving skills, autonomy, a sense of purpose
(Bernard, 1993), motivation and goal orientation, positive use of time, family life, and
learning environment (McMillan and Reed, 1994). The potential for building resilience,
together with Munro and Pooley’s (2009) suggestion that resilience may mediate adversity
and success in university students and Hamill’s (2003) prioritizing of self-efficacy over other
resilience factors, provides the major premise for the present study examining academic
self-efficacy (ASE) as a factor influencing student responses to academic adversity.
Resilience and Self-efficacy
[text taken out]
Aiming to provide a more “expansive” analysis of the factors related to academic resilience,
Martin and Marsh (2006) reported self-efficacy, planning, persistence, anxiety, and
uncertain control as predictors of academic resilience. Using class participation (behavioral)
and enjoyment at school (cognitive-affective) as educational outcome constructs and
general self-esteem (global-affective) as a psychological outcome construct, Martin and
Marsh hypothesized that the outcome constructs were consequential to students’ capacity
to effectively deal with challenge, adversity and setbacks experienced in a school setting. As
hypothesized, academic resilience was the strongest—relative to the other five motivational
and engagement factors—predictor of each of the outcome measures. Analysis to
determine students’ profiles according to academic resilience revealed that resilient
students were high in self-efficacy, persistence and planning and low in anxiety and
uncertain control. Hamill (2003) also reported self-efficacy as an important characteristic
that distinguished resilient and non-resilient 16-19-year-old students.
[text taken out] Self-efficacy emerged as a central facet in Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive
Theory, where is it described as “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the
course of action required to manage prospective situations” (Bandura, 1995, p. 2). In
educational studies, individual differences in perceived self-efficacy have often been shown
to be better predictors of performance than either previous achievement or ability (Cassidy,
2012).
[text taken out]
Self-efficacy is considered to be the foundation of human agency (Bandura et al., 1999) and
is referred to as an important protective factor regulating human functioning and emotional
wellbeing through cognitive, motivational, affective, and selective processes (Hamill, 2003).
And whilst Bandura (1993) does describe how self-efficacy operates to contribute toward
academic development—stating that students’ beliefs in their efficacy to regulate their own
learning and master academic activities determine their aspirations, level of motivation and
academic accomplishment—there is a lack evidence-based detail accounting for exactly
what high self-efficacious individuals do that impacts positively on academic outcomes; as
noted by Hamill (2003), despite an abundance of self-efficacy focussed research, relatively
little work has examined how self-efficacy relates to resilient behaviors exhibited in
response to adversity.
Present Study
Operationalizing academic resilience as students’ cognitive-affective and behavioral

responses to academic adversity, the present study seeks to establish examples of context-
specific resilience factors and resilience responses to academic adversity. Self-efficacy has
been identified as a key construct in previous studies examining factors affecting academic
achievement (e.g., Cassidy, 2012), where high self-efficacy is commonly reported as
associated with better academic performance. What has not been clearly established in
these studies are the specific responses of self-efficacious students to instances of academic
adversity, when self-efficacy beliefs are particularly relevant because of their association
with increased motivation and perseverance (Bandura, 1997) and resistance to negative
thought (Ozer and Bandura, 1990). Hamill (2003) has explored this issue but using
generalized measures of self-efficacy and coping responses in the context of general
stressful life events in a small sample of 16-19-year-old students—limitations which Hamil
partly acknowledges.
[text taken out]
Based on previous studies, it is anticipated that findings will reveal a positive relationship
between ASE and academic resilience. [text taken out]
Task 4 Achieving Coherence in an Introduction
Creating a coherent and logical flow in writing is a challenge for all writers, but experienced
writers are able to create textual links that facilitate readers’ understanding. This task aims
at identifying some features of a coherent text.
In groups, read the extract below which is from the first four paragraphs of a research
article titled “Hedonic consequences of social comparison: A contrast of happy and unhappy
people” (the Introduction section) (Lyubomirsky & Ross, 1997). Examine how the writers

achieve coherence and develop a focus in the extract, paying attention in particular to the
underlined passages.
Extract Your Notes
Self-perceptions and self-evaluations depend not only

on the absolute nature of one's accomplishment and
performance but also on the way one measures up to
relevant peers (Festinger, 1954; Suls, 1977; Wills, 1981,
1991). Opportunities for such social comparison are
ubiquitous, as everyday social interactions and the
media inundate us with information about other
people's accomplishments, actions, and lifestyles.
Furthermore, the comparison process itself often seems
relatively automatic. Most find it next to impossible to
hear about others' successes and failures, or good and
bad fortune, without reflecting on their own
accomplishments and status. People learn early in life
that success often is a matter of relative rather than
absolute performance and, consequently, strive to learn
how they stand relative to “relevant others.” Indeed,
such social comparison processes often may be highly
adaptive. As Festinger (1954) suggested, successful
social functioning requires people to evaluate the merits
of their views and abilities, and in the absence of
objective information, such evaluation necessarily
depends on social comparison.
Because Festinger and his colleagues so emphasized

evaluative needs and functions, the early literature on
social comparison focused primarily on the selection of
comparison sources and the resulting "pressures to
uniformity" and motivation to improve performance.
More recently, however, researchers increasingly have
shifted their focus from the dynamics of the comparison
process itself to the hedonic consequences of such
comparison. Much of this work has proceeded from the
simple assumption that upward comparisons generally
are threatening to well-being and self-esteem, whereas
downward comparisons are self-enhancing or
reassuring. Many laboratory and field studies (e.g.,
Morse & Gergen, 1970; Wheeler & Miyake, 1992) have
supported this proposition, showing that greater
increases or smaller decreases in participants' subjective
well-being (e.g., elevated mood, enhanced self-esteem)
follow downward comparison (e.g., Hakmiller, 1966) and
greater decreases or smaller increases in subjective well-
being follow upward comparison (e.g.. Wood, Taylor, &
Lichtman, 1985).
Empirical and anecdotal evidence, however, suggests

that the affective consequences of a social comparison
often may depend less on its direction than on the
context and manner of its use (e.g., Brickman & Bulman,
1977; Buunk, Collins, Taylor, Van-Yperen, & Dakof, 1990;
Taylor & Lobel, 1989; lesser, 1988). Thus, cancer patients
may derive solace from comparisons with real or
hypothetical peers whose symptoms or circumstances
are even more dire than their own (Wood et al., 1985),
but they may also report feeling inspired, optimistic, and
hopeful from "upward" contacts with good copers and
long-term survivors (Buunk et al., 1990; Taylor,
Aspinwall, Giuliano, Dakof, & Reardon, 1993). More
generally, a peer's success can be a source of either envy
and self-doubt or of inspiration and motivation, and a
peer's misfortune may make one feel either fortunate to
have escaped such a fate or afraid that a similar fate
awaits in the future.
The nature of one's relationship with a social

comparison target, and the nature of the evaluative
dimension, may similarly play a role. A peer's success or
good fortune obviously can produce depression,
jealousy, and lowered self-esteem, but it also can be a
source of inspiration, pride, and optimism, provided that
one identifies with that "superior'' peer (Tesser, 1988;
Wheeler, 1966; Wills, 1981; for empirical evidence, see
Major, Testa, & Bylsma, 1991; Tesser, Millar, & Moore,
1988). Conversely, although a peer's failure or bad
fortune can boost one's sense of relative worth or
status, it also can be depressing or even threatening if
one feels connected with or similar to that peer,
especially if the relevant evaluative dimension is one on
which one's own status is likely to deteriorate. Again,
however, such effects are variable and are likely to
depend on highly subjective factors that are similarly

variable and circumstantial. For example, cancer
patients who believed that they had relatively little
control over the course of their disease experienced
much more negative affect after exposure to very sick
patients than did patients who believed that they had
relatively more control (Buunk et al., 1990).
Task 5 Characteristics of a Hypothesis in a Research Article in Psychology
A hypothesis usually states the prediction the researchers make in a study. If however the
researcher does not make any prediction in their hypothesis, we often call it a research
question instead. These studies are usually descriptive. An example of a research question
of a descriptive study is “What are the different types of nurse-patient relationship?” The
research question suggests that the researcher aims to identify the different possibilities in
the relationships between nurses and patients rather than making any assumption about
nurse-patient relationships.
A hypothesis usually appears at the end of the Introduction of a research article. Students
often have questions about the choice of tenses.
In groups, compare the two versions of the two hypotheses in the following. Which version
is better and why?
Hypothesis Version A Version B
1 Hypothesis 1. Friends are more It was hypothesised that same-sex

similar than strangers in their friends would show more similar
attitudes and preferred activities. attitudes to the environments,
abortion, multiculturalism, and low and
order than would same-sex strangers.
2 The first hypothesis is that parental We anticipated that adolescent health

bonding will influence adolescent behaviours would vary with the level of
behaviours. parental bonding. Adolescents would
display positive health behaviours

when their parents displayed high
levels of affection, emotional warmth,
empathy, and closeness. Adolescents
would display negative health
behaviours when their parents
displayed high levels of overprotection,
control, and excessive contact.
Adapted from Burton (2002)
Based on your answers, can you draw a few conclusions about the characteristics of a
hypothesis in a research article?
Revisiting Verb Tenses in Literature Reviews
The two most common tenses in the literature review are the past tense and the present
perfect tense, and each tense is used for good reason, although other tenses can also be
observed.
The following extracts are from a research article. Explain why a particular tense is used for
each of the underlined expressions:

Extract 1
Because Festinger and his colleagues so emphasised evaluative needs and functions, the
early literature on social comparison focused primarily on the selection of comparison
sources and the resulting "pressures to uniformity" and motivation to improve
performance. More recently, however, researchers increasingly have shifted their focus
from the dynamics of the comparison process itself to the hedonic consequences of such
comparison…
Extract 2
Empirical and anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that the affective consequences of a
social comparison often may depend less on its direction than on the context and manner of
its use (e.g., Brickman & Bulman, 1977; Buunk, Collins, Taylor, VanYperen, & Dakof, 1990;
Taylor & Lobel, 1989; lesser, 1988).
Extract 3
In one recently completed set of studies (Lyubomirsky & Ross, 1997), we sought to show the
mediating role that temperament may play in determining the cognitive and motivational
consequences of choice or restriction of alternatives. Our findings suggested that……
Formulating a Title for Your Proposal
In the past few weeks, you should have identified a research gap in the research area you
are interested in. Based on the research gap, you will design a research study and produce a
research proposal in the second half of the course.

Before drafting the proposal, it is a good idea to give it a title. In fact, researchers often
design a working title at the start of a project. This is because a good title allows researchers
to define the focus and scope of a study in a succinct manner.
Task 6 Characteristics of Research Project/Proposal Titles
For each pair of titles, choose the one you think is more appropriate. Explain your answers.
Version A Version B
1 Self esteem and planning fallacy Effect of self esteem on

planning fallacy
2 Romantic love satisfaction among people with high High self esteem and romantic
self esteem love satisfaction: Defensive vs.
genuine high self esteem
3 Ostracism and conformity among group members The impact of ostracism

experience on victim’s
subjective well-being: A study
of conformity among group
members
4 Male Chinese university students’ self esteem and The relationship between
sports participation masculinity, sports
participation and self esteem
in Chinese university students
Based on your answers, can you draw some conclusions about the characteristics of a good
research project/proposal title?

Non-discriminatory Language
Psychology is a discipline that studies human behaviour, and in your papers and reports you
will need to describe your participants and analyse some aspect of their behaviour.
Attention is therefore needed to non-discriminatory language use (also known as inclusive
language). APA has set three guidelines about writing in non-discriminatory language:
1. Describe at the appropriate level of specificity

2. Be sensitive to labels
3. Acknowledge participation
• Point 1 focuses on how to deal with groupings. In general, being more specific rather
than less specific is preferred.
Question: Instead of “Asian Americans”, how can we be more specific about the ethical
group(s) we refer to?
• Point 2 suggests that we should pay attention to terminology.
Question: Instead of “the young” or “diabetics”, how can we avoid reducing people to their
disability or condition?
• Point 3 emphasises the importance to acknowledge people who participate in our

studies.
Question: Should we use “subjects” to refer to human participants and “he” or “his” as
generic pronouns?

In groups, discuss the meaning of the three guidelines and use inclusive language to replace
the expression on the left in the following chart.
Avoid Use
man (for all humans)
gays
schizophrenics
epileptics
the elderly
girls and men
Italo-Australians and Australians
Adapted from Taines (2008)
More information about non-discriminatory language is available on the APA Style website
(www.apastyle.org), links of which you can find on the course Moodle.

Preparing a Manuscript
The Publication Manual of the APA (2020) also provides guidelines of layout of a manuscript.
Here are some of the key elements.
1. Title Page
The title page of a manuscript should include:
• Title
o It should be in upper- and lowercase type, centred on the title page
o Capitalise all words except articles (i.e. a, an, and the) and short prepositions
and conjunctions (e.g. in, for, to, and, and but)
o If the title is longer than one line, break it into two lines in a logical manner
and double space the title
• Name
o It should be centred on the title page, below the title
o Your first name should appear first, followed by your family name
• Institution
o It should be centred on the title page, below your name
o You should use the full, official name of the institution
2. Manuscript Page Header
The manuscript page header refers to the header that appears on top of every page of a
manuscript, and it includes:
• The first two or three words of your paper or report, which should be put on the
upper left corner of a page
• The page number as a numeral (not a word) should be put on the upper right corner
of a page. Start with the number “1” on your title page
3. Running head
A running head is an abbreviation of a title. It should be less than 50 characters long and be
placed at the top of the title page, starting on the left margin. It should be introduced with
the words “Running head” followed by a colon and be capitalised. For example:
Running head: EFFECTS OF SELF ESTEEM ON PLANNING FALLACY

The Purdue Online Writing Lab provides more information about the formatting
requirements specified by the APA Publication Manual. It also includes a sample paper for
your reference.
References
American Psychological Association [APA]. (2020). General Manuscript Preparation

Guidelines. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/resources/general-manuscript-
preparation-guidelines
Burton, L. J. (2002). An interactive approach to writing: Essays and research reports in

psychology. John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Cassidy, S. (2015). Resilience building in students: The role of academic self-efficacy.

Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 1781. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01781
Lyubomirsky, S., & Ross, L. (1997). Hedonic consequences of social comparison: A contrast
of happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6),
1141-1157.
Taines, C. (2008). A practical guide to writing for psychology. Sydney: McGraw-Hill.
Homework
• Complete the literature review paper, which is due in the Reading Week

Session Five
Literature Review Paper Tutorial
In the past few weeks, we covered critical reading skills, the APA referencing style, and the
literature review paper in class. By now, you should have developed a focus of your
literature review paper and checked out sources on the topic of your choice. You should also
have read some of the sources in a critical manner and formed some basic ideas about the
topic.
This week, we will have a tutorial. It gives you a chance to:
• develop ideas for the literature review paper

• share what you learned from your readings with other students
• clarify anything you have not yet understood regarding the literature review paper
To prepare for the tutorial, you should:
• write a draft (not more than 500 words)

• develop an outline of your paper
• develop a reference list for your paper in APA style
• write down questions you would like to ask regarding the literature review paper

Session Six
The Method Section (I)
• Identify the language features of the Method section of a research article in the
discipline of Psychology
• Apply appropriate language features to write a research proposal
• Employ an appropriate structure for the Method section of a research proposal
Before we examine the different components in the Method section, let us read a research
proposal written by a student.
Task 1 Designing the Hypotheses and Research Method for a Proposal
In Session 5, we discussed the five components we often find in the introduction of a

research article.
1. A concise scholarly review of relevant literature
2. Purpose of the study
3. Theoretical implications
4. Hypotheses and their rationales
5. Definitions of variables
We will read the first part of a student’s proposal (the Introduction section). In pairs,
identify the two components stated below and answer the following questions:
1) Sentences which point out what is missing in the existing literature about human
play (Theoretical implication)
2) Purpose statements

Questions:
• In what way this introduction is similar to/different from your literature review (in
terms of style, organisation, etc.)?
• In this literature review, the hypothesis is implied rather than explicitly stated. Can
you formulate a hypothesis (or hypotheses) for the student?
• Can you develop a research approach to test your suggested hypothesis

(hypotheses)?
Not Just For Kids: The Advantages of Adult Play (Part 1)7
1 In a child’s world, nearly everything seems related to play. Every

new person, sound, and object is somehow exciting and captivating,
and it is from this stimulation that the child develops new cognitive
capacities and builds interpersonal relationships. As such, an entire field
5 of psychology is dedicated to studying child play and the ways in which
it contributes to psychologically and physically healthier children
(Ginsburg, 2007; Vygotsky, 1967). Research among adults, however, is
limited and inconclusive. Many news articles, blogs, and self-help books
have attempted to inspire awareness on the subject, declaring that
10 adult play is almost nonexistent and deserves attention. Yet adult play
research continues to be underrepresented in psychology. The aim of
the current proposal is to examine the types of structured “play” or
leisure activities adults commonly engage in, and compare them to the
less structured and imaginative play most often performed by children.
15 I propose that, just as imaginative play builds cognitive and social
resources in children, it continues to do so in adulthood. Play behaviors
can be found in young animals across the animal kingdom, and are
arguably evolutionarily adaptive, preparing the young for adult tasks
and roles (e.g., hunting, fighting, mating). In many nonhuman species,
20 play drops away in adulthood; some species, however, maintain play
into adulthood. For example, Bonobo apes more or less subsist on their
playful interactions. As close relatives of modern humans, bonobos are
7
Office of Undergraduate Research, Northwestern University. (n.d.). Summer URG proposal.
http://undergradresearch.northwestern.edu/resources/grant-samples?page=1

similarly social creatures that rely on play for behavioral flexibility,
refining cognitive and motor functioning, and establishing social
25 dynamics and roles even into adulthood (Palagi, 2005). Accordingly,
“play” for these species can be interpreted as a supplemental habit that
does not necessarily aid in an animal’s survival but instead produces an
improved state of living both in the individual and in the society (Boissy
et al., 2007). Play seems a vital component in several social species
30 (e.g., primates, canids, cetaceans) that affords community building and
sound psychological health. Human play is said to have four comparable
elements: it is typically voluntary; it is pleasurable for its own sake and
not dependent on external rewards; it involves active engagement,
whether mental or physical; and it is distinct from other behavior due
35 to its makebelieve quality (Rieber, 1996). Play essentially stretches the
boundaries of reality, challenges uncertainty, and entertains freedom
and improvisation (Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006). Therefore, humans
also derive emotional rewards from play, and correspondingly, some of
the most compelling information on play concerns child and adolescent
40 psychopathology. Distorted or weakened play habits, for example,
appear to aggravate negative affect, self-isolation, and even mood
disorders such as anxiety and depression in children and young adults
(Gray, 2011; Mol Lous et al., 2002). Furthermore, despite popular
opinion, play is not necessarily a diversion from productivity; it can
45 actually recruit the imagination to produce more diverse and creative
ideas. Play activates the mind in novel and distinct ways, and this notion
has prompted extensive research on organizational behavior in adults.
Research in work environments indicates that devoting time to play
enables development of specific skill sets, augmented creativity, and
50 better collaboration in groups (Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006). It
motivates the adult beyond simple goal assessment and provides the
stimulation needed for innovation. Unfortunately, given benefits of
play, adult forms of leisure are more often passive than playful. The
most recent year of the American Time Use Survey shows that over 60%
55 of adult leisure time is spent watching television, reading books, or
surfing the web (Bureau of Labor, 2011). The focus of my research is to
examine whether the substitution of passive leisure for play that seems
to characterize American adulthood carries costs to emotional
wellbeing.

Now, read the second part of the proposal and answer the following questions:
• Can you find the hypotheses of the proposal?
• What kind of information can you find in the proposal?
• Do you think the description of the research methods is appropriate? Why or why
not?
Extract8
In order to test these theories I will conduct a 20-minute online study that will assess how
several components of play trigger, transform, or induce certain affect states. Participants
will be 150-200 working adults between ages 25 and 55, recruited through Amazon’s MTurk.
For the purpose of this study, I have distinguished between imaginative play and structured
play, and will contrast both of these with passive leisure. Imaginative play quite explicitly
engages the creative, fantastical components of play; for instance, children often invent
scenarios in which they embody characters like pirates, princesses, or even puppies.
Structured play is equally enjoyable but is bound by rules or guidelines. Examples may
include team sports, Sudoku, and classic board games. This distinction is important because
imaginative play, more or less synonymous with creativity, closely mimics behavior in
children, and specifically, is the form of play that adults perform the least. Participants in the
study will be grouped into three conditions. The passive enjoyment control condition will
present participants with a simple YouTube video showing a magic trick with cards. Though
this task does not involve creativity or spontaneity, it provides sufficient enjoyment to
attract the viewer and therefore serves as a comparison to experimental manipulations. In
8
Office of Undergraduate Research, Northwestern University. (n.d.). Summer URG proposal.
http://undergradresearch.northwestern.edu/resources/grant-samples?page=1

the structured play condition, participants will be asked to play a card game, such as
Solitaire, so that play is being performed but is restricted by a set of rules determined by the
game. Finally, participants in the imaginative play condition will complete a narrative task in
which they craft characters and a storyline based on a set of face cards from a standard
deck. Similar to a child playing make-believe with stuffed animals or action figures,
storytelling in this fashion cultivates imaginative thinking processes. The objective of this
condition is to maximize the non-structured play effects while still making the task amusing.
The study design also consists of several measures assessing positive and negative mood,
feelings of curiosity and sensation seeking, self-efficacy, creativity, and willingness to be
social and collaborate with others (see Appendix A).
Certain measures, such as mood, will be assessed before and after the manipulation to test
whether the task positively influenced the participant. I expect that all three conditions –
passive enjoyment, structured play, and imaginative play – will increase positive mood.
Additionally, however, I expect the imaginative play condition will evoke higher feelings of
curiosity, creative thinking, self-efficacy, and sociality as compared to both the structured
play and passive enjoyment control condition. Final analyses and explorations of main
effects and interactions will be calculated using SPSS Statistics software. Extending beyond
the experiment, I also plan to analyze Northwestern’s archival data, such as the General
Social Survey’s data on leisure and mood. Collecting this information is another way to
enhance my project by organizing and investigating past attempts at researching similar
topics. Finally, as I begin to consider a Psychology Honors Thesis examining similar aspects
of play, I will use my additional time and funding to pilot materials and measures for
upcoming studies. These materials – such as surveys, scales, and condition stimuli – will be
tested on paid participants in a lab setting. In this way, I can gather invaluable feedback and
create more efficient and productive methods for my work during senior year.
Conducting a personal research project is an incredible opportunity to pursue my own

interests while implementing what I have gained from my coursework at Northwestern.
Courses like Psychopathology, Cultural Psychology, Research Methods, and a research
seminar on Emotion have enriched my knowledge of psychology and have prepared me for
further endeavors in the field. To date, I have also worked in two social psychology labs,
studying prejudice and racial relations with Professor Richeson, and emotion and the self
with Professor Gardner. These experiences have offered me a firsthand look at professional
psychological research and have incentivized me to create this project. I hope to synthesize
what I have learned and apply it to this research on adult play, with the intention of
uncovering some of the relationships between play and positive affect. In children, the
empirical evidence readily demonstrates that play fosters trust, increases creativity and

cognitive resilience, relieves stress, and even influences general welfare. Because of its
potential impact on individuals, it is an important element in daily life that is nonetheless
seemingly abandoned in adulthood. Research in both children and non-human animals
already provides insight into these benefits, but I will be expanding on these and apply them
to an adult audience, effectively to encourage the reconsideration of today’s values
surrounding adult play. To the extent that my thesis documents the benefits of imaginative
play in adulthood, adults might be encouraged to reintegrate these playful aspects into their
daily lives, thereby profiting from increased positive affect, creativity, and wellbeing.

Designing a Hypothesis for your Proposal
Before we discuss the organisation of the Method section, you need to formulate a
hypothesis for your proposal. This is because a hypothesis is closely related to the approach
a researcher selects to explore a topic.
Task 3 Formulating a Hypothesis
We have discussed the linguistic features of a hypothesis in the research article in the
discipline of Psychology in Session 5. Based on the discussion, draft a hypothesis (or
hypotheses) for your proposal.

Organising the Method Section
Here are the subsections from the Method section of three research articles.
Article 1 Article 2 Article 3
Method Method Method
- overview - participants - participants
- participants - procedure - design
- procedure and materials - well-being ratings - procedure
• Based on your observation, what are some of the subsections that are often found in
the Method section in a research article? What is their order of appearance?
• Have you come across the word “subjects” rather than “participants” in an article?
Why is the word “subjects” seldom used?

Task 4 Describing Participants
Extracts from three articles providing information about participants are shown below.
Discuss in groups the types of information provided by the underlined texts and answer the
questions below.
Article 19
Fifty female introductory psychology students at Stanford University received course

credit for their participation in this study. Participants were selected on the basis of their
responses to four Likert-type ratings of their own happiness presented in the context of a
mass-administered omnibus questionnaire……
A sample of 25 happy and 25 unhappy participants, that is, those whose composite
scores were respectively either in the top or bottom quarter of the distribution (but
excluding participants who scored 7 and above on the short form of the Beck Depression
Inventory [ BDI; Beck & Beck, 1972; see Beck & Beamesderfer, 1974]), were recruited for the
study by telephone. The correlation between participants' BDI scores and their scores on
our happiness composite, we should note, was relatively modest (r = —.38). The happy
participants' group mean on the relevant happiness scale was 6.55 (SD = 0.66), whereas the
group mean for the unhappy participants was 3.44 (SD = 1.17).
Article 210
The sample consisted of 201 undergraduate participants (147 women, 54 men)

enrolled in a health psychology class in a large, public university. They participated to fulfill
9
10
Emmos, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation
of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(7), 377-389.

the experiential learning component of the course. Of these, 9 were dropped from data
analysis because of missing or incomplete data, leaving a total of 192 participants. Students
were given an alternative of roughly equal time commitment to not participating in the
research; only one opted for the alternative.
Article 311
One hundred and one (57 male and 44 female) high school (public gymnasium)
students in Germany voluntarily participated in the experiment (no additional incentive was
provided). The age of the participants varied between 15 and 21, with a mean of 17.31.
1. What information should we include when describing the participants in our research
studies?
2. When do researchers use the words “men” and “women” or “male” and “female” to
describe the sex of the participants? When are the words “boys” and “girls” used?
3. Which example provides information about grouping?
4. How is the age of the participant presented?
11
Elliot, A., Shell, M. M., Henry, K. B., & Maier, M. A. (2005). Achievement goals, performance contingencies,
and performance attainment: An experimental test. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(4), 630-640.

Apparatus and Materials
Usually the word “Materials” is used to refer to printed materials, and sometimes
audiotapes, videotapes and computer programmes. The word “Apparatus” is used if special
equipment was used in the study.
You should list all the materials used to conduct the research, such as surveys. If you used
standardised tests and questionnaires, or tests that other researchers developed before,
you should cite the source and provide a brief description of the test or questionnaire. If you
designed an original survey and test, you should explain it in greater detail; in the case of an
originally designed survey, you should include the survey questions in the appendix.
One important principle when writing the Method section is that you should try to provide
details so that if other researchers would like to replicate the research, they should be able
to do so by reading the Method section.

Procedure
The purposes of the procedure subsection are to inform the reader what you did in the
study and how you conducted it. When explaining the experiment, we usually start with the
general nature of the task and then go into details.
This subsection usually begins with information about conditions or groups. Below are
examples from Articles 1 and 2.
Task 5 Writing Research Procedure
Read the two examples and discuss in groups the following questions:
1. Since the research project of Article 1 involved deception, what do you think the
researchers needed to do to make their research ethical?
2. Can you identify expressions that justify the design of some of the steps taken by the
researchers?
3. Since the subsection “Procedure” often involves descriptions of a process, signposts

(e.g. first, second, then, after) are frequently used. Can you locate these signposts in
the two examples?
4. What is the dominate voice in the two examples (active/passive)? Why?

Article 1 Article 2
In each experimental session, two individuals, At the beginning of the academic quarter,
a female participant and a female confederate participants were given a packet of 10
pretending to be another participant, weekly reports. The packets were
completed the relevant questionnaires and organised into three different clusters,
experimental tasks together. The representing the three experimental
experimenter, a young male (who was not conditions, and were randomly distributed
informed of participants' happiness status), during the second class session. In the
explained that participants were being paired gratitude condition, participants were
simply to "save time.'' provided with the following instructions:
The experiment was introduced as a study of There are many things in our lives, both large
"cognitive performance," one in which we and small, that we might be grateful about.
'"hoped to learn how personality and various Think back over the past week and write down
situational variables affect performance on a on the lines below up to five things in your life
that you are grateful or thankful for.
problem-solving task." Accordingly,
participants were told, they would be asked to
solve a series of anagrams during the
experimental session. To bolster this Reports were handed in at Monday’s class
purported rationale for the study, we to ensure compliance. If participants were
embedded a number of filler items, including unable to turn in the form Monday
questions about how often participants solved morning, they were instructed to turn
puzzles, how much they enjoyed them, and them in as soon as possible. After the
how important it is for them to be good at forms were passed out, each set of ratings
them, as well as their SAT scores, in the were described to participants and any
various questionnaires administered questions they had concerning the
throughout the study. procedure were answered.
Before undertaking the primary experimental

task, participants completed a preliminary
questionnaire assessing their premanipulation,
or baseline, mood on 9-point Likert-type
scales asking how good, happy, and depressed
they currently were feeling. These scales were
combined to provide a single mood index on
which more positive scores reflected more
positive moods (a = .88). We used the
individual Likert-type scales, rather than
longer mood inventories, to avoid alerting
participants to our specific topic of concern
and our hypotheses. Participants also
provided baseline measures assessing how
good they initially thought they were at
solving anagrams (1 = very poor; 7 = excellent)
and how they thought they would rank
relative to their peers (i.e., how many of a
randomly selected group of 100 Stanford
students would be better than they were at
solving anagrams).
Task 6 Use of the Active and Passive Voices in the Method Section
Some students think that the passive voice should be used throughout the Method section.
While it is true that the passive voice is frequently used in this section, the active voice can
also be found. Can you identify instances of active voice in the two examples in the above
(under Procedure) and explain why the active voice was used in those cases?
Your Notes:

The draft of the Method section prepared by a student is shown below. Can you help the
student to improve the draft?
Method
Participants
For this study, 60 participants from Bosie State University were used to help gather
the necessary information. The Psychology 101 students ranging from 18 through 30 were
recruited using a program called Experimentrix. The participants consisted of 28 males and
30 females (two participants did not specify their gender) of all different relationship
statuses (single, devoiced, married, engaged and boyfriend/girlfriend). For those
participants in an intimate relationship, the duration of that relationship was asked for in
months with a mean of 14.15. The participants were selected by their volunteering to
participate and were rewarded with points for their course.
Materials
Survey questions were developed entirely by the author, driven by the formed
hypotheses. The materials were piloted tested.
Procedure
The study was conducted in a large lecture room with all of the participants present,
as well as the author. The questions in Table 1 were a part of a larger survey being
administrated. The room was kept silent while the participants were given 60 minutes to
individually complete the 190 question survey. The survey was anonymous. Following
completion of the survey, participants were debriefed and thanked.
Adapted from Landrum (2008)
What changes should the student make to improve the draft?
Your Notes:

Reference

story. American Psychological Association.
Homework
• Start designing a proposed research study for the remaining two assignments.

Session Seven
The Method Section (II) and Abstracts
• Structure the Method section and an Abstract appropriately
Task 1 Analysing a Research Proposal
We will examine an extract from a research proposal written by a past student. The extract
covers the hypotheses from the Introduction, the Method section, and the Results section,
and this task aims to show you how a writer creates a link between these components in a
research proposal. The comments on the margin were given by the student’s psychology
tutor.
One thing to note that is that the student did NOT conduct the experiment but he pretended
that the experiment was conducted. That explains the use of the past tense in the proposal.
For this course, you should not do so and you should use the future tense to describe your
research design.
Answer the following questions after reading the extract:
1. Based on the title, what are the three research focuses of the paper?
2. Do you think the student included all necessary information in the Method section? (e.g.
describing sampling method, explaining the measures to be used in the method,
addressing ethical concerns, etc.)
3. The research design consists of two stages. Is it easy for you to follow what the writer is

going to do in each stage?
4. There are a number of signposting expressions were used to signal to the readers what
will be/have been done in each stage. Can you identify those signposting expressions?
Task 2 Purposes of an Abstract
To understand the importance of an Abstract, try to explain what the three potential
readers of the Abstract of a research article would be interested in.
1. An experienced researcher in psychology

who wants to keep abreast of the latest
research.
2. A student who wants to identify research

topic for his/her experiment.
3. A researcher who does not know a lot

about a particular topic but wants to learn
more about it.
An abstract is a 100-120 word paragraph that captures the gist of a research article. It is the
part of the article/report the reader approaches first, and thus it is important for an abstract
to be informative and follow a predictable format.
Components of an Abstract

In this session, we will examine the abstracts of three research articles to have a better
understanding of the organisational and linguistic features of an abstract.
Task 3 Drafting an Abstract
Before we examine different components of an abstract, you will be shown a talk entitled
What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study of happiness 12. In groups, write an
abstract for the talk.
Your notes:
12
Available on
https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_ha
ppiness

Task 4 Structuring an Abstract
In groups, read the abstract of article 1 and answer the questions below.
Abstract of article 113
[S1] The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined.
[S2] In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental
conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison);
they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors,
health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. [S3] In a 3rd study, persons
with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to
a control condition. [S4] The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being
across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the
comparison groups. [S5] The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust
finding. [S6] Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and
interpersonal benefits.
Questions Answers
1. What does the first sentence in the

abstract tell the reader?
From which section can this sentence

-
be found?
- What tense was used? What voice,
passive or active, was used in the first
sentence?
2. Sentences 2 and 3 provide details about
the participants and methods.
13
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental
investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
84(2), 377-389.

- Did the writers give any details about
the participants, such as the sample
size, participants’ gender and age?
- What tense and voice were used?
3. What kind of information was provided in

sentences 4 and 5? What tense and voice
were used? One hedge is used in these
sentences. Can you locate the hedge? Why
was it used?
4. How did the writer conclude the abstract?
What conclusion can we draw about the typical organisation of an Abstract?

Task 5 Text Comparison
The abstract of Article 1 shows the typical format of an abstract, which includes key
information from each section of an article. A comparison of such organisational approach
with those used in Articles 2 and 3 shows other possible ways authors organise their
abstracts.
Abstract of article 214
Two studies tested the hypothesis that self-rated unhappy individuals would be more
sensitive to social comparison information than would happy ones. Study 1 showed that
whereas unhappy students’ affect and self-assessments were heavily affected by a peer who
solved anagrams either faster or slower, happy students’ responses were affected by the
presence of a slower peer only. These between-group differences proved to be largely
independent of 2 factors associated with happiness, i.e., self-esteem and optimism. Study 2
showed that whereas the unhappy group’s responses to feedback about their own teaching
performance were heavily influenced by a peer who performed even better or even worse,
happy students’ responses again were moderated only by information about inferior peer
performance. Implications for our appreciation of the link between cognitive process and
hedonic consequences are discussed.
Identify the different elements included in the abstract (Purpose, Method, Results,
Implications). Then try to answer the following questions:
o Can you find any descriptions about the participants and the methods?
o What is the function of the sentences starting “Study 1 showed” and “Study 2
showed”?
14

o Did the authors state the implications of their study explicitly in the abstract?
Abstract for Article 315
Researchers have recently questioned the benefits associated with having high self-esteem.
The authors propose that the importance of self-esteem lies more in how people strive for it
rather than whether it is high or low. They argue that in domains in which their self-worth is
invested, people adopt the goal to validate their abilities and qualities, and hence their self-
worth. When people have self-validation goals, they react to threats in these domains in
ways that undermine learning; relatedness; autonomy and self-regulation; and overtime,
mental and physical health. The short-term emotional benefits of pursuing self-esteem are
often outweighed by long-term costs. Previous research on self-esteem is reinterpreted in
terms of self-esteem striving. Cultural roots of the pursuit of self-esteem are considered.
Finally, the alternatives to pursuing self-esteem, and ways of avoiding its costs, are
discussed.
Identify the different elements included in the abstract (Purpose, Method, Results,
Implications). Then try to answer the following questions:
o Can you find any details about any experiments conducted by the authors?
o What do you think was the authors’ reason for adopting such an organisational
approach?
o What tenses were used?
15
Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392-414.

Task 6 Abstract Trivia
The APA Publication Manual suggests that an Abstract should be accurate, non-evaluative,
coherent and readable, and concise. In terms of its location in a manuscript, an Abstract
should start at the top of the second page of a manuscript, with the word “Abstract”
centred on the top.
The Manual also makes other stylistic suggestions for writers. Examine the following
statements about abstracts.
True False
1. Do not include information that is not included in the article (e.g.

implication that is not covered in the article)
2. An abstract is usually less than 250 words.
3. If one refers to someone’s else work in the abstract, no reference is

needed.
4. Use words rather than numbers for numbers under 10 in an abstract.
5. One can start a sentence with a number in an abstract (e.g. “1000

participants completed the survey”).
6. Mathematical symbols should not be used.
7. Express common fractions in words (e.g. two-thirds of the

participants).

Task 7 Presentation Skills
By now, you should have already developed some initial ideas of your proposed research
project. It is time to think about how to present the materials in a presentation.
Activity One: Thinking and Speaking on your Feet
Scenario: In an undergraduate student conference, you are invited to present your final year
project on synthetic happiness. Your audiences are undergraduate students who may not
have any background in psychology.
The extract below introduces the concept of synthetic happiness. After understanding the
concept, you need to present the concept in a way that engages the audience (for about 3
minutes). Try to think about ways to draw your audience attention. No note cards will be
allowed in the presentation.
Extract16
There are two types of happiness, natural happiness and synthetic happiness. The former
refers to the happiness experienced by people get what they desire, or in other words,
when the external world goes well. The latter refers to the ability to manufacture one’s own
happiness. The frontal lobe of the brain, which is possessed only by human beings, enables
functions such as higher reasoning to make decisions. Because of the frontal lobe, people
can choose to be happy even when the external circumstances are not favourable.
Dr. Daniel Gilbert, conducted a study with two groups of students. The students were taught
to take pictures in a dark room and at the end of the project, the students could only choose
one of the two pictures they made. One group of students could not switch their picture
after they chose it while the other group of students could come and switch their picture
whenever, if they did not like it. Interestingly, the group of students who could not come
back and switch their picture were more satisfied with their picture than those who were
given the choice to switch their picture. Gilbert explained that is because the group of
students who did not have the choice to switch pictures adjust to the external limitations
through synthetic happiness.
16
Adapted from Valdez, M. (September 21, 2017). The new type of happiness of 2017: Synthetic happiness.
Huffington Post. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-new-type-of-happiness-of-2017-synthetic-
happiness_us_5868015be4b04d7df167d53e

Reflections: What strategies have you and your classmates used to engage the audience?
Activity Two: Presentation Appreciation
We will watch the first 10 minutes of the video on synthetic happiness by Daniel Gilbert.
Identify at least three ways the speaker used to engage the audience
(https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy).
Homework
• Work on a 600-word partial draft/outline of your proposal.

Session Eight
Results and Discussion
• Understand the requirements of the Results and Discussion sections in a research

article in Psychology
Results and Discussion
Although in this class you do not need to conduct the research you have designed for the
proposal assignment, we will examine some important language forms used in the Results
and Discussion sections, which will help you to handle these two sections when writing for
your Psychology classes.
Before we examine ways to present results in an article, it is important to think about

differences between the Results and Discussion sections. What do you think are the
differences between the two sections?
Your Notes:

Results
This section includes information such as how the data were analysed, the main findings
based on the analyses, and whether the findings supported the research questions or
hypotheses. In general, the section starts with a brief summary of the main findings and
then more details are provided in relation to each of the hypotheses posed by the
researcher.
Landrum (2008) recommended the following approach to organise the section (p.117):
• Verify that your study was successful in setting up the conditions needed to
adequately test your hypothesis (i.e., that nothing major went wrong in the conduct
of the study)
• Describe your overall approach to data analysis, including the methodology used to
obtain your dependent variable measurements.
• Provide a brief reminder of the main conceptual question or hypothesis, and a
reminder about the basic tests performed and behaviours measured.
• Answer your hypotheses as clearly and as unequivocally as you can, using words,
then your statistical evidence in numbers, in APA format.
• After addressing the major hypotheses of the study, address other findings or
surprises that emerged. Use the same format – describe what happened clearly, in
words, then numbers.
• You may want to organise your Results section into logical subsections if that will
help the reader follow the story. As you move from paragraph to paragraph in the
Results section, try to provide smooth transitions between paragraphs, emphasising
the logical flow of your hypothesis testing and the outcome of your research.
In addition, there are things a writer should AVOID in the Results section:
• discussing the implication of the results;

• organising subsections of your Results section by type of analysis; instead, organise
subsections by variable to be studied or hypothesis to be tested; and
• using the word “proved” because in science we never prove anything.

Let us take a look at extracts from the results section of an article and answer a few
questions.
Extracts17 Questions
Results - What kind of information can be
Data Reduction found in the subsections Data
For each of the 9 weeks during which follow- Reduction and Manipulation Check?
up surveys were collected, we aggregated Why is it important to provide such
people’s scores on the three adjectives information?
related to gratitude (grateful, thankful, and
appreciative) to derive a single measure of
mean weekly gratitude. These three
adjectives were highly correlated, with
internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s - When reporting the results,
alpha) estimates ranging from .86 to .92. researchers not only state the
These three-item composites were numerical results but also provide a
aggregated to form a single 9-week highlight of the results. In the
composite measure of gratitude. Similar 9- subsection Global Appraisals and
week composites were created for each of Health Measures, which expressions
the 27 discrete affects. We omitted the first were used to express the direction of
weekly report because the well-being items the results?
on the report were answered prior to the
gratitude listing.
We also calculated mean 9-week composites - Are references to tables put before
of positive and negative affect by …… the descriptions of the results or
after?
Manipulation Check
We conducted a one-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA), with the 9-week mean
gratitude rating as the dependent variable - What tense is used to report results?
and the three experimental conditions
(gratitude, hassles, events) as the three
17
84(2), 377-389.

levels of the independent variable to
determine whether the three conditions
elicited differential amounts of gratitude
across the 9-week follow-up period. The
means and standard deviations of the 9-
week composite gratitude and the 9-week
composite positive and negative affect
factors appear in Table 1. The main effect for
condition was significant, F(2, 189) = 4.69, p
= .01. A post hoc Scheffe´’s test revealed
that ……
Global Appraisals and Health Measures

The mean ratings for the two global well-
being items, amount of exercise, and
physical symptoms are shown in Table 2.
There was a significant main effect for the
ratings of one’s life as a whole and
expectations concerning the upcoming
week: Participants in the gratitude group
rated their life more favorably on these two
items than did participants in the hassles
group or events group (group means and Fs
can be found in Table 2)…….

Task 1 Reporting Statistics
After deciding on what to include and the overall organisation of the Results section, you
will need to think about ways to present descriptive statistics. The following gives you three
basic approaches to descriptive data presentation. Can you describe the differences among
them? (Hint: Pay attention to the location of the mean and standard deviation, e.g. in
parentheses.)
Types of Presentation Examples
Overall, participants solved a mean of 17.8

anagrams (SD = 8.23) during the allotted
20-min test period. (Lyubomirsky & Ross,
1997, p.1150)
The manipulation of positive versus

negative feedback, in the absence of any
information about peer performance, was
effective in influencing participants' ratings
of their own performances. That is, those
participants in the no-social-comparison
condition who were told that they had
done well later rated their own
performance as significantly better (M =
3.78, SD = 1.22) than those told that they
had done poorly (M = 2.75, SD = 1.45), F(1,
73) = 6.41, p < .02. (Lyubomirsky & Ross,
1997, p.1150)
As Table 1 indicates, the results show

nearly equal means in the traditional
emphasis class and in both moderate
emphasis classes but notably better scores
in the high-emphasis class. (From Beins,
1993, p.162)

For results using other statistical methods, you will need to refer to other sources to see
how researchers provide statistical information. It is advised that you should check out more
recent journal articles as the format recommended by the APA Publication Manual changes
from time to time.
In groups, answer the following questions based on the research articles you have read so
far.
o Should we put spaces between symbols?

o What is the difference between writing 0.16 and .16?
o When should we italicise a symbol?
o How many decimal places are often used when researchers report results?

Task 2 Creating Tables
In the following, we will discuss the use of tables in presenting means and standard
deviations. You will need to consult sources or journal articles for other ways to present
other types of data. Remember, however, that the APA Publication Manual advises that
tables and graphs should be used only when necessary, because they are usually more
expensive to print.
Let us take a look at the paragraph below. The experiment was about how women and men
respond to three types of jokes: jokes that victimised women, men, or neither gender. The
mean was calculated on a scale of 1 (not funny) to 7 (very funny):
“There was a significant interaction between sex of joke victim and sex of rater. Women
rated male-victimising jokes as funniest (M = 3.6, SD 1.2) followed by no-victim jokes (M =
3.4, SD = 1.0), then by female-victimising jokes (M = 2.7, SD = 1.2). Men rated male-
victimising jokes (M = 3.2, SD = 0.68) and no-victim jokes (M = 3.2, SD = 0.9) comparably,
and female victimising jokes funniest (M = 3.9, SD = 1.2), F(2, 160) = 26.66, p < .001, prep >
.986.”
Adapted from Beins & Beins (2008)
Try to put the data into a table in the space below. Here are a few suggestions
o Identify the variables (2 in this example)

o Give table number and table title (use “Table 1” for this exercise)
o Put a horizontal line below the title
o Do not use vertical lines
o Insert a line under the variable/condition, and at the bottom of the table
o Align the decimal points so they are on top of each other in the column

We have discussed only the basics about using tables in research articles. You should consult
the Publication Manual of the APA if you want to find out more about using tables and
graphs for your papers.
Remember that when you use tables/graphs in your papers, you should refer to them in
your text. In addition, when you use a graph, you need to think carefully about the scales of
X- and Y-axes, which can change the appearance of the graph.
Discussion
A research proposal often does not include the Discussion section. But since it is an
important section in a research article, a discussion of the typical features will facilitate your
writing when you complete research reports of empirical studies for your classes.
The section often focuses on the following components, although not all of them can be
found in a report or a research article.
o Discussion of the results in terms of the hypotheses (i.e. whether the results support
or fail to support the hypotheses)
o Identification of possible explanations and/or alternative explanations for the results
o Identification of the similarities and differences between the results and research
undertaken previously by other researchers
o Indication of practical applications based on the results and/or suggestions for
further areas for exploration
o Acknowledgement of the limitations of the experiment(s) conducted

In terms of the use of tenses, the past tense is often used to describe the results and
present tense for statements about human behavior in general (e.g. the limitations of the
study are…; the results suggest…).
Another linguistic feature that can be found in the Discussion section is hedging, especially
when researchers try to make generalisations out of their research results or identify
possible explanations for the results.
Below is an extract from a research article.18 Can you identify the hedges used by the
authors and explain why hedges are used for each case?
Gratitude and Well-Being: An Upward Spiral?
Insofar as it is not possible to account for our results in terms of methodological factors,
what mechanisms, psychological or otherwise, might explain why participants in the
gratitude condition generally evidenced higher levels of well-being than those in the
comparison conditions? We believe that Fredrickson’s (1998, 2000) broaden and build
model of positive emotions may be especially helpful here. She has argued that positive
emotions broaden mindsets and build enduring personal resources (Fredrickson, 1998).
These resources function as reserves to be drawn on in times of need. Seen in the light of
this model, gratitude is effective in increasing well-being as it builds psychological, social,
and spiritual resources. Gratitude inspires prosocial reciprocity (McCullough et al., 2002),
and indeed, is one of the primary psychological mechanisms thought to underline reciprocal
altruism (Trivers, 1971). The experience of gratitude, and the actions stimulated by it, build
and strengthen social bonds and friendships. Moreover, encouraging people to focus on the
benefits they have received from others leads them to feel loved and cared for by others
(Reynolds, 1983). Therefore, gratitude appears to build friendships and other social bonds.
These are social resources because, in times of need, these social bonds are wellsprings to
be tapped for the provision of social support. Gratitude, thus, is a form of love, a
18
84(2), 377-389.

consequence of an already formed attachment as well as a precipitating condition for the
formulation of new affectional bonds (Roberts, in press). Gratitude is also likely to build and
strengthen a sense of spirituality, given the strong historical association between gratitude
and religion (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000; McCullough et al., 2002).
Task 3 Text Critique: Writing discussion effectively
Apart from giving a highlight of the key results, researchers also need to explain the
significance of the results in a reader-friendly manner. Two paragraphs can be found below
based on a fictitious study. Which paragraph is more effective in discussing the results?
Explain the answers (Hints: pay attention to both the information provided and the writing
style).
Paragraph 1
An in-depth study (Smith et al., 2016) of the intelligence quotas of doctoral students
researching in the field of engineering, robotics, bioscience, agriculture and veterinary
sciences revealed that such students had a level of intelligence, which on average, was equal
to a value of 8.115% above the norm. In the present work, with a larger sample (i.e. 5000
students as opposed to the 500 students analyzed in the study by Smith et al) it was found
that students in the same disciplines (i.e. engineering, robotics, bioscience, agriculture and
veterinary sciences) had an intelligence quota of 9.996% below the norm.
Paragraph 2
Smith et al. (2016) found that PhD students in engineering, robotics, bioscience, agriculture
and veterinary sciences had above average intelligence (just over 8%). Our study totally
contradicts Smith’s finding. Using a sample that was ten times larger, our experiments
proved that such PhD students have very limited intelligence (a surprising 10% below the
norm), and would in fact be more suited to cleaning toilets than carrying out research. This
radical finding may help governments reduce the amount of funding given to post-graduate
university education.

Adapted from Wallwork (2016)
References
Beins, B. C., & Beins, A. M. (2008). Effective writing in psychology: Papers, posters, and
presentations. Blackwell Publishing.

story. American Psychological Association.
Wallwork, A. (2016). English for writing research papers (2nd ed.). Springer.
Homework
• Work on the complete draft of the proposal.

Session Nine
Writing Qualitative Research and for the General Public
• identify the differences and similarities between qualitative and quantitative

research reports and articles
• identify the components in a research article that draws on qualitative research
method(s)
• Identify the differences and similarities between research articles in Psychology and
articles about Psychology in magazines and newspapers
In the previous sessions, we examined research articles that are based on the quantitative
research paradigm. In this session, we will focus on research articles that draw on
qualitative research methods. Before concentrating on the different organisational and
stylistic features in articles using different research paradigms, let us first discuss these two
major research paradigms in psychology.
Questions: Could you suggest some of the major differences between these two research
methodologies in terms of theoretical concerns, data collection, and analysis? Which
research methodology do you think is more common in Psychology? Why?
Quantitative Research Methodology Qualitative Research Methodology

In the box below, you can find two common qualitative research methods used in
Psychology. Can you describe briefly what these research methods are about? Can you
identify other qualitative research methods?
Research Methods
Grounded Theory
Case Studies
Other methods?
Evaluating a Qualitative Research Study
In order to understand ways to approach a qualitative research article, we need to know

what to look for in a qualitative research article.
Taylor (2001) identified six criteria for a good qualitative research study. Can you explain in
your own words what these criteria mean?
• Ability to locate the research in the light of previously published research

• Systematic investigation for data analysis (in other words, data should not be “left to
speak for themselves”)
• Coherence and persuasiveness of the argument (rather than an argument that
appeals to the reader’s emotion)

• Fruitfulness of findings
• Relevance to social issues/political events
• Usefulness and applicability
Writing a Qualitative Research Article
After a brief discussion about qualitative research methods, can you decide whether the
following statements on research papers that draw on qualitative research methods are
true or false?
True False Not Remarks

certain
1. You are unlikely to find any statistical

analysis in a qualitative research article.
2. You are unlikely to find any preliminary
hypothesis in a qualitative research article.
3. A qualitative research article in psychology
often shows a similar structure to a
quantitative research articles (i.e. abstract,
introduction, methods, results and discussion).
Task 1 Analysing a Research Article Based on Grounded Theory
We will examine an article written by Janice Morse, entitled “Negotiating commitment and
involvement in the nurse-patient relationship”.19 The researcher interviewed 12 nurses and
59 secondary participants and used grounded theory to identify themes from the interview
data. The abstract identifies two areas of focus of the article: types of nurse-patient
19
Morse, J. (1992). Negotiating commitment and involvement in the nurse-patient relationship. Journal of
Advanced Nursing, 16, 455-468.

relationship and changing nature of the relationship (in other words, negotiations between
nurses and patients).
Let us examine each section of the article in greater detail.
Overall Organisation
Which of the following components does the article include: Abstract, Introduction,
Method, Results, and Discussion?
Introduction
The introduction contains three paragraphs. In groups, discuss the following:
(1) the function of each paragraph; and
(2) whether the Introduction includes the five components identified in Session 5 (a concise
scholarly review of relevant literature; purpose of the study; theoretical implications;
hypotheses and their rationales; and definitions of variables).
Text Function
Despite the vast amount of

literature on care in the nurse-patient
relationship, and the routine and compulsory
course in all undergraduate programmes on
communication skills, information about the
development and types of nurse-patient
relationship is sparse. Most of the literature
focuses on descriptions of techniques for
responding therapeutically, examples of
patient management (e.g. Magnan, 1989) or
discussions about the ‘problem’ patient
(such as the difficult, confused or violent
patient) (see English & Morse, 1988).

Although there is some literature on the
establishment and development of the
nurse-patient relationship, an explanatory
model for the development of various types
of nurse-patient relationships has not thus
far been developed.
Research in this area is important.

Although included under the umbrella of the
humanistic perspective, presently the
content of communication courses is taught
to student nurses in a static stimulus –
response mode. For instance, students are
taught how to respond to angry patients,
fearful patients, defensive patients, and so
forth, yet there is no theory about the
process of the developing relationship
available to students. Although there is some
content about how students should
introduce themselves and how to prepare
the patient for the termination of the
relationship, these instructions do not imbue
the nurse with an in-depth notion of the
meaning and significance of the relationship.
Research project
This research project addresses this area and

describes the development of the nurse-
patient relationship and presents an
explanatory model for describing the various
types of relationship that occur. This project
began as a study of gift-giving as a response
to care in the patient-nurse relationship.
During the data analysis, it became clear that
the gift was merely a symbol of the type of
relationship developed; therefore, it was
necessary to extend the theoretical sampling
to obtain data on the development and

types of nurse-patient relationship and on
the parallel patient-nurse relationships.
Method
In groups, compare the Method section of the article with those we analysed in Session 6.
To what extent is the Method section in this article similar to those identified in Session 6?
(i.e. Does it include information about the participants, materials and procedure?)
The study was conducted in a northern Canadian city. The sampling began with eight
research assistants seeking participants from eight clinical areas with which the interviewers
were not familiar. The areas were psychiatry, medical-surgical, long-term care, home
care/community, intensive care, paediatrics, maternity and palliative care. Later in the
study, purposeful sampling was used to interview nurses who had also been patients and
who were interviewed from the patients’ perspective, nurse administrators, and nurses
from special care areas, such as the operating room and the organ donor and transplant
programme. Twelve nurses were interviewed once, 26 were interviewed twice and six were
interviewed three times, to give a total of 86 interviews. In addition, the emerging theory
was validated with 59 secondary informants and clarified in the light of their perceptive
questions.
Demographic characteristics of primary informants were as follows: 19 (43.2%) had a

diploma in nursing, 20 (45.5%) a baccalaureate, four (9.0%) a masters and one (2.3%) a
doctoral degree. The age of informants ranged from 25 to 65 years with a mean of 44.4
years. Eleven (25%) informants were single, 27 (614%) were married, four (9.0%) were
divorced and two (4.6%) were widowed. The sample contained one male nurse.
The tape-recorded interviews were transcribed onto a microcomputer. Content

analysis was conducted using a Macintosh® Ilex computer and Microsoftword® software
(Morse 1991). By opening multiple windows simultaneously, the investigator was able to
read the interview file in one window, use italics or bold text to emphasise significant
phases or paragraphs, and insert comments or notes directly into the file. (This method of
analysis was brought to my attention by Katharyn A. May, personal communication, 1989)….
Data were analysed using the techniques of grounded theory. The process of the
nurses' and patients' experience over the course of the relationship was identified and the

characteristics of each type of relationship, including the causes, or external or internal
factors and circumstances pertaining to the interaction, were elicited. The core variable,
‘negotiating the relationship’, was identified in order to add insights into the types of
relationship evident, an explanatory typology (2 x 2) was constructed by comparing the
effects of the presence or absence of characteristics….

Results
Let us examine the following passage in the Results section in detail, focusing on the use of
data and tenses. In Session 7, it was suggested that the Results section should be organised
around the hypotheses the researcher set out to test. Since a qualitative research article
often does not contain any hypotheses, what approaches can a researcher use to organise a
qualitative research article?
Discuss in groups and try to (1) identify ways by which findings are organised and interview
data are referred to in the text, and (2) identify and explain when the present tense and the
past tense are used.
Text Questions
Connected relationships (1) Identify ways by which

findings are organised and
With a connected relationship, while maintaining a interview data are referred to.
professional perspective, the nurse views the
patient first as a person and second as a patient
(Figure I). The patient and the nurse have either
been together long enough for the relationship to
have evolved beyond a clinical and a therapeutic
relationship or the process is accelerated because
of the patient’s extreme need In this relationship,
the patient chooses to trust the nurse (‘they give
you their complete trust’) and the nurse chooses to
enter the relationship and to meet the patient's
needs. The nurse will bend and break ‘rules’ for the
patient. For example, a palliative care nurse,
providing home care, described how she would
surreptitiously eat a patient's porridge for him each
morning. ‘Then he would smile at me and wink,
“Oh, thank you. She [his wife] will have such a good
day now believing that I ate this porridge.”’
(2) Identify and explain when the

These nurses will serve as a patient advocate, present tense and the past
interceding on behalf of a patient with family or tense are used.
medical staff, and will buffer or protect patient

from some of the more unpleasant aspects of care.
The patient will consult this particular nurse about
recommendations for changes in treatment
modalities. In this relationship, the patient believes
that the nurse has ‘gone an extra mile’, respects the
nurse’s judgement and feels grateful, the nurse
believes that her care has made a difference to the
patient. The following is an example of a connected
relationship initiated.
There was a woman who was also a nurse — she

had no family The ex-husband and — they weren't
divorced then —knew she was in labour, but didn't
show up. She had an anacephalic. We tried to
induce her It took a long long time and, well, the
baby lived. The baby was alive when it was born.
And she ended up having a Caesarean but, well,
they decided they wouldn't do anything — usually
we don't have to do anything with these babies —
they go to ICU and die there, but [this time] they
had decided to let it die [here]. She was in intensive
care just because it was quiet, and I thought ‘How
am I going to deal with this?’ So I asked her what I
could do for her to help her be with his baby while
it expired, and she asked me if she could have a
rocking chair —she just wanted to get out of bed
and rode it till it died. I went to the NICU and got
her a chair and helped her out, because she had
just had a section 2 hours before that. And she was
in the chair I strapped her in and made her
comfortable, and then, in about an hour, the baby
died. And so she and I bathed it together and we
wrapped it and cried a lot together. I'll never forget
her. But I think she appreciated the humanness.
The fact that I could cry with her or that it would
upset me as much as it upset her. She had no one I
remember staying a couple of hours late with her
so she wouldn't have to meet anyone else. And

when I left, we hugged one another. And that was
meaningful — a hug.
This account reveals many of the characteristics of

a connected relationship. In this case, there was not
enough time for the nurse and the patient to get to
know each other before the relationship developed
to the intensity of a connected relationship the
patient was in crisis, and the nurse, recognising her
need, made a commitment to help her. The nurse
bent and broke rules for her patient: she borrowed
a rocking chair for her from another department,
and she helped her out of bed only 2 hours after
the Caesarian section with epidural. She ‘went the
extra mile’, staying with her after work ‘so she
would not have to meet anyone new’. In this case,
the patient was so grateful that she donated an
IVAC machine to the hospital, with the nurse’s
name engraved on a brass plaque and an
inscription that read ‘To __, for her humanness and
caring’. Although the relationship did not continue
following the patient’s discharge, neither the nurse
nor the patient will forget their relationship.

Discussion
The paragraph below is the last paragraph of the article. Can you underline the hedges the
author uses and explain their functions in the paragraph?
Commitment
Examination of this concept in nursing is important. From this study it appears that
'commitment' may be a more appropriate term to use than 'caring' in the nurse-patient
relationship. In the emotional sense, caring has connotations of ‘fondness’ or ‘love’, neither
of which may be present (or desirable) in a professional relationship. Further, commitment
fits the emerging model of patient-nurse relationships and commitment may be applied to
other aspects of the nurse's role and evident in nursing behaviour. Theoretically, if the nurse
is committed to treatment goals, to the cure or to the physician, enforcement of these
objectives may take priority over humanistic goals. To implement these goals, the nurse
may unwittingly violate human rights by obtaining orders for restraint or by forcibly
administering treatments, and she may also be more likely to work in the 'high tech'
treatment settings, such as the intensive care unit. Should the nurse be committed to
herself rather than to the patient, she may do only what is necessary for the patient, and
perhaps be less likely to invest in connected relationships with patients, preferring to clinical
relationships. Significantly, a wise nurse is committed to all of these goals and can balance
priorities, for the good of the patient, for the good of the profession and for the good of
herself.

Task 2 Analysing a Case Study
The case study article we will examine is Ulric Neisser’s “John Dean’s Memory: A case
study”.20 The researcher analysed the testimony of John Dean, the former counsel to
President Richard Nixon, during the investigation about the Watergate Scandal. He
compared two types of data: testimony given by Dean about two meetings with Nixon and
the actual transcripts of the two meetings. We will find that this article shows a number of
textual differences from those we examined in the previous sessions and the article we
examined in task 1.
Let us start by examining the abstract of the article. In Session 7, we found that an abstract
of a research article in psychology often includes four components: purpose, method,
results and implication. Does the abstract of Neisser’s article, as printed below, include
these four components as well?
Abstract
John Dean, the former counsel to President Richard Nixon, testified to the Senate
Watergate Investigating Committee about conversations that later turned out to have been
tape recorded. Comparison of his testimony with the actual transcripts shows systematic
distortion at one level of analysis combined with basic accuracy at another. Many of the
distortions reflected Dean’s own self-image; he tended to recall his role as more central
than it really was. Moreover, his memory for even the “gist” of conversations was quite
poor except where that gist had been rehearsed in advance or frequently repeated. But
while his testimony was often wrong in terms of the particular conversations he tried to
describe, Dean was fundamentally right about what had been happening: the existence of a
20
Neisser, U. (1981). Analysis of John Dean’s testimony. Cognition, 9, 1-22.

“cover-up” and the participation of various individuals in it. His testimony was accurate at a
level that is neither “semantic” (since he was ostensibly describing particular episodes) nor
“episodic” (since his accounts of the episodes were often wrong). The term “repisodic” is
coined here to describe such memories: what seems to be a remembered episode actually
represents a repeated series of events, and thus reflects a genuinely existing state of affairs.

At first glance, the organisation of this article is very different from those we have studied in
this course. A closer examination of the organisation of the article therefore allows us to
understand better how the article was structured.
Let us take a look at the first 7 paragraphs of the article.
• Can you identify the common elements in the introduction section in a quantitative
research article (literature review, purpose, theoretical contribution, hypotheses and
definitions of variables)?
• What are the functions of paragraphs 1 to 4?
Let us move on to the section “Dean’s own account of his memory”
• What are the functions of the first two paragraphs in the section?
• How were the two types of data presented in the article? Why were long stretches of
data presented in this article?
Let us move on to the section “Implication for the Psychology of Memory”.
• What is the function of the four paragraphs in the final section?

• After examining the organisation of the article, what are the differences and similarities
between this article and a quantitative research article?
• Can you identify some linguistic features that are not common in a quantitative research
article? Can you suggest why the author used these uncommon linguistic features?
Writing for the General Public
Nowadays specialists (scientists for example) need to communicate their ideas to the
general public more often – think of the health columns and specialists interviews on the
media. Communicating to a different group of audience often requires writers to adjust
their style to meet the expectations of that group of audience. For instance, readers of a
research article often read for a different purpose from the general public who read a news
column on a similar topic.
To examine the different styles shown between disciplinary writing and writing for the
general public, we will analyse two texts based on the same research study.
Task 3 Writing for the General Public
Imagine you were an editor of the newsletter of the Psychology Student Association of the
University and one of your responsibilities was to draft articles for the newsletter not only
for your fellow psychology students but also for the University community in general. Write
a news article based on the following article entitled ‘Interpersonal Pathoplasticity in

Individual with Generalised Anxiety Disorder’21. Note that the short form “GAD” is used for
Generalised Anxiety Disorder in the extract.
Pay attention to the background knowledge of your intended reader.
Extract
Interpersonal pathoplasticity refers to a mutually influencing but nonetiological relationship

between the interpersonal system and psychopathology (Klein, Wonderlich, & Shea, 1993;
Widiger & Smith, 2008). Pathoplasticity is thus part of the inextricable link between
personality and psychopathology; the latter is always expressed within the larger context of
the former (Millon, 2005), and it would be unreasonable to assume that the expression of
pathology would not be influenced by one's characteristic manner of relating to others (and
vice versa). Thus, pathoplasticity theory suggests that, although individuals diagnosed with
GAD may experience many of the same worry-related symptoms, on the basis of
dispositional tendencies, subgroups of individuals might cope with or act on these
symptoms in different ways insofar as their interpersonal behavior is concerned. For
example, an intrusive and warm individual with GAD may exhibit worry regarding others'
health and safety through repeated expressions of concern about family members. Cold and
intrusive individuals with GAD may express concerns for others' safety by criticising what
they view as reckless behavior. Although both individuals have similar worries, the
manifestation of their worries is different, as is the impact of their worries on others.
Information from the assessment of such interpersonal tendencies is distinct from
information regarding the symptoms of Axis I diagnoses and thus provides additional helpful
clinical information about a particular individual and treatment of his or her symptoms. A
pathoplastic model would suggest that although GAD and interpersonal functioning are
21
Przeworski, A., Newman, M. G., Pincus, A. L., Kasoff, M. B., Yamasaki, A. S., Castonguay, L. G., & Berlin.
K. G. (2011). Interpersonal pathoplasticity in individuals with generalised anxiety disorder. Journal of
Abnormal Psychology, 120(2), 286-298.

distinct, they are mutually influencing; therefore, to truly understand the manifestation of
individuals' GAD symptoms and psychological functioning and to identify the most
appropriate treatment, it is essential to identify individuals' interpersonal subtype.
Task 4 Text Comparison
Your teacher will give you an article entitled “Worrying Can Impact Interpersonal
Relationships, Study Finds”.22
Compare the article you wrote with this article. Then answer the following questions.
• Was the article divided into Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion? If not, how
was the article organised?
• How many paragraphs does the article have? How long is each paragraph?
• Does the author include any hypotheses for the research?
22
Case Western Reserve University. (2011, July 26). Worrying can impact interpersonal relationships, study
finds. ScienceDaily, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110726132402.htm

Language and Style
• What is the major difference between the titles of the news article and the research
article?
• What word is used as a synonym of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in the news
article? How many times do both GAD and its synonyms appear in the news article? Why
do you think the author introduces a synonym?
• Can you find the definition of GAD in the introduction of the news article? Where can
you locate the definition of “interpersonal pathoplasticity” in the research article?
• How many direct quotations does the article include? What are their functions?
• Can you identify 2 to 3 differences in the way the information was presented in the news
article that we examined in task 1 and in the paragraph printed above?
References
Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. (2008) Introduction to research methods in psychology (2nd ed.).
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Taylor, S. (2001). Locating and conducting discourse analytic research. In M. Wetherell, S.

Taylor, & S. J. E. Yates (Eds.), Discourse as data: A guide for analysis (pp. 5-48). Sage.

Willig, C. (2008). Introducing qualitative research in psychology: Adventures in theory and
method. McGraw Hill/Open University Press.
Homework
• Continue working on the proposal, which is due Revision Week

• Prepare for next week’s presentation rehearsal

Session Ten
Proposal Presentation Rehearsal
This week, you will give a presentation rehearsal to receive feedback from your classmates
and your teacher.
Task: Preparing for the Proposal Presentation
Discuss with your classmates the essential features of a good presentation and draft the
criteria for the speech assessment for each of the four categories given below.
Content
Language
Delivery
Visual Aids
Other criteria presenters need to pay attention to:

Remember to refer to the Oral Presentation assessment criteria on the course Moodle
when you are preparing for the presentation.

Session Eleven
Presentation Assessment and Course Evaluation
This week, you are going to present your proposal to your teacher and the rest of your class.
Your classmates will listen to your presentation in the lesson, and then you will have to
answer any questions your classmates have on your proposed research project in the Q&A
Session that follows.
A Checklist for Oral Presentation

Y/N Does my presentation include an introduction that identifies the purpose and gives
an overview of the whole presentation?
Y/N Does my presentation include a conclusion that summarises the key points in an
effective manner?
Y/N Are there enough examples to support my claims (e.g. analysis, details of the study)?
Y/N Are all the materials organised in a logical manner?
Y/N Can I cover all the materials included in my presentation in 5-6 minutes?
Y/N Have I checked the pronunciation of words I am not sure about?
Y/N Are the PowerPoint slides well-designed (e.g. large enough font size, a good balance
of text and graphics)?
Y/N Have I saved a backup copy of the PowerPoint slides?
Y/N Have I interacted with my audience in my presentation?
Y/N Do I sound confident in my presentation?
Y/N Can my audience hear me clearly?
Y/N Am I prepared to answer questions from my classmates in the Q&A session?

Session Twelve
Research Proposal Tutorial
Since Session 5, we have analysed different sections of a research article and discussed the
differences between a research article and a research proposal. By now, you should have
identified a research gap, developed a hypothesis (or hypotheses), and designed research
methods to test the hypothesis.
Meanwhile, you should also have read a number of sources to investigate your research
topic more deeply and to learn about methods used by other researchers in order to
develop your proposal.
This week, we will have a tutorial. It gives you a chance to:
• further develop ideas for the proposal;

• improve your writing style;
• clarify anything you have not yet understood regarding the proposal assignment.
To prepare for the tutorial, you should:
• write a draft or a detailed outline of not more than 600 words (of any section of your
proposal);
• develop a preliminary reference list for your proposal;
• write down questions you would like to ask regarding the assignment.
Notes to students:
At the presentation in Session 11, you may have received some feedback from your
classmates or your teacher about the design of your proposed research study. Therefore,
modifications can be made to your proposal. (In other words, the proposed research in your
written Assignment 3 does NOT need to be identical to the one described in Assignment 2
presentation.)

Homework
• Complete the research proposal assignment and upload it onto the course Moodle
(Please check with your teacher about the due date).

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2023- CAES9923

CAES9923 Writing Psychology:

Text and Context

© Centre for Applied English Studies

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 2

1 Letter from the Director of CAES 5

4 Communication-intensive Course Syllabus Statement 13

7 Feedback Policy of Assessment Tasks 20

9 Session One: Course Introduction and Introduction to 23

10 Session Two: Referencing and Citation Style 31

11 Session Three: Writing a Literature Review Paper 44

12 Session Four: The Introduction Section 60

13 Session Five: Literature Review Paper Tutorial 79

14 Session Six: The Method Section (I) 80

15 Session Seven: The Method Section (II) and Abstracts 96

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 3

18 Session Ten: Proposal Presentation Rehearsal 136

19 Session Eleven: Presentation Assessment and Course Evaluation 138

20 Session Twelve: Research Proposal Tutorial 139

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 4

Welcome to your Academic English course!

Dr. Clive Martyn Lee

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 5

1. Attendance and Participation

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 6

3.1 Plagiarism and self-plagiarism

• paraphrasing and/or quoting without acknowledgement;

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 7

Learning resources to help you avoid plagiarism:

In the University of Hong Kong, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. If a submission contains

3.2 Ghostwriting and its consequences

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 8

• Assignments which are handed in up to four days late without any

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 9

For classes and examinations not yet started:

For classes and examinations already started:

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 10

For more information, and to book go to: https://caescss.hku.hk

Support services provided by HKU-CEDARS

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 11

Additional information can be found at the HKU Equal Opportunities web-site:

CEDARS –Main Building/Meng Wah Complex

Please visit this link for contact information of CEDARS: https://www.cedars.hku.hk/contact-us

Counselling and Psychological Services

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support

Careers and Placement advice

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 12

This is a certified Communication-intensive (CI) Course which meets all of

• the teaching and assessment of written, oral, visual and digital

How will students learn these?

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 13

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 14

In particular, the objectives of the course are:

Course Learning Outcomes

SKILL / LANGAUGE FOCUS COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Features of disciplinary • Evaluate the linguistic and stylistic features of text

Critical reading • Synthesise and incorporate sources appropriately to

Writing Psychology: Text and Context (2023-24) Page 15

• Group activities (e.g. peer review)

• Moodle tasks (e.g. discussion forum)

ASSESSMENT TASK WEIGHTING DATE OF ASSESSMENT

Literature Review (Individual) 35% 5 March 2024 (Tue)

Oral Presentation on Research Proposal 30% Session 11