Writing For Psychology 7Th Edition Robert Oshea All Chapter

Writing for Psychology 7th Edition
Robert O'Shea
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Robert P. O’Shea
Wendy McKenzie
Writing for 7e
PSYCHOLOGY
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300
Writing for 7e
PSYCHOLOGY
i
To Urte Roeber, Cecilia O’Shea, Emilian O’Shea,
and Irmela O’Shea from Robert O’Shea.
To Greg, Clancy, Ted, and Martha from Wendy McKenzie.
ii
Robert P. O’Shea
Wendy McKenzie
Writing for 7e
PSYCHOLOGY
iii
Writing for Psychology © 2021 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
7th Edition
Robert P. O'Shea Copyright Notice
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 25 24 23 22 21
Brief Contents
Chapter 1 Read This First! 1
Chapter 2 Writing Research Reports 21
Chapter 3 Writing Essays 65
Chapter 4 Finding and Using References 83
Chapter 5 Thinking Critically and Developing Ideas 107
Chapter 6 Writing Correctly and With Style 126
Chapter 7 Writing for Other Forms of Assessment 148
v
Contents
To the Student xii
To the Instructor xiii
About the Authors xvi
Acknowledgements xvi
Guide to the text xvii
Guide to the online resources xix
Chapter 1 Read This First! 1

1.1 Writing for Psychology 1
1.2 Excellent Assignments 3
1.2.1 Relevant Literature 3
1.2.2 Original Ideas 3
1.2.3 Logical and Empirical Defence 4
1.2.4 Academic Integrity 4
1.2.5 Acknowledgements and Avoiding Plagiarism 7
1.2.6 Editorial Style 8
1.2.7 Sources of Help 8
1.3 Writing Style 9
1.3.1 Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation 9
1.3.2 Objectivity, Formality, Impartiality, and Respect 9
1.3.3 Simplicity 12
1.3.4 Precision and Clarity 13
1.3.5 Conciseness 13
1.3.6 Interest 13
1.3.7 Audience 13
1.4 APA Editorial Style 14
1.4.1 Margins, Spacing, Font, Running Heads, and Page Numbers 14
1.4.2 Structure, Headings 15
1.4.3 Citation and References 15
1.4.4 Other Aspects 18
1.5 Writing 18
1.5.1 Plan 18
1.5.2 Rewrite 18
1.5.3 Character Limits, Word Limits, and Page Limits 19
1.6 Submission 19
1.6.1 Online vs Paper? 19
1.6.2 Deadlines 19
1.7 Helpful Sources 20
vi
Contents
Chapter 2 Writing Research Reports 21

2.1 Kinds of Research and Expectations for Research Reports 21
2.1.1 Hypotheses 21
2.1.2 Marking Criteria 23
2.2 Structure 23
2.3 Title Page 24
2.3.1 Independent, Manipulated Variable 24
2.3.2 No Variable was Manipulated 25
2.3.3 Mediation or Moderation 25
2.4 Abstract 25
2.5 Introduction 26
2.5.1 Importance 26
2.5.2 Literature Review 27
2.5.3 Link Past and Present 27
2.5.4 Aim and Outline of Your Study 27
2.5.5 Hypotheses 28
2.6 Method 28
2.6.1 Participants or Subjects 29
2.6.2 Materials 30
2.6.3 Procedure 31
2.6.4 Design 31
2.6.5 Data Diagnoses and Analyses 32
2.6.6 Qualitative Methods 34
2.7 Results 35
2.7.1 Any New Variables 35
2.7.2 Data Summary 35
2.7.3 Figures 36
2.7.4 Tables 39
2.7.5 Hypothesis Tests 40
2.7.6 Units 42
2.7.7 Qualitative Data 42
2.8 Discussion 42
2.8.1 Summary 43
2.8.2 Predicted Significant Findings 43
2.8.3 Non-Significant Findings 44
2.8.4 Unexpected Significant Findings 44
2.8.5 Practical and Theoretical Importance 44
2.8.6 Limitations and Future Research 45
2.8.7 Conclusion 45
2.9 References 45
2.10 Appendices 46
vii
Writing for Psychology
2.11 Finer Points of APA Style 46

2.11.1 Personal Reference 46
2.11.2 Tenses 47
2.11.3 Numbers 48
2.11.4 Abbreviations 48
2.11.5 Footnotes 49
2.11.6 Lists 49
2.11.7 Italics 49
2.12 Example Research Report 50
Chapter 3 Writing Essays 65

3.1 Expectations 65
3.1.1 Argument 65
3.2 Before You Start 66
3.2.1 Analysis 66
3.2.2 Reading 67
3.2.3 Draft Argument 67
3.2.4 Plan 68
3.3 Structure 68
3.4 Title Page 69
3.5 Abstract 70
3.6 Introduction 70
3.6.1 Significance 70
3.6.2 Controversies 70
3.6.3 Final Argument 71
3.6.4 Map of Your Essay 71
3.6.5 Definitions 71
3.7 Body 72
3.7.1 Organisation 72
3.7.2 Conciseness and Precision to Show Rather than to Tell 72
3.8 Conclusion 73
3.9 References 73
3.10 Finer Points of APA Style 74
3.10.1 Personal Reference 74
3.10.2 Tenses 74
3.11 Example Essay 74
viii
Contents
Chapter 4 Finding and Using References 83

4.1 Finding Information 83
4.1.1 Scholarly Sources 83
4.1.2 Search Strategies 84
4.2 From Reading to Writing 85
4.2.1 Active Reading 85
4.2.2 Notes 86
4.3 Citation 87
4.3.1 Citation Types 87
4.3.2 Secondary Sources 88
4.3.3 Personal Communication 89
4.3.4 Learning Resources 89
4.3.5 Format 90
4.3.6 Quotations 92
4.4 References 94
4.4.1 General Principles 94
4.4.2 The Digital Revolution 96
4.4.3 Journal Articles 97
4.4.4 Book Chapters 98
4.4.5 Books 99
4.4.6 Other Sources 99
4.5 Reference List 101
Chapter 5 Thinking Critically and Developing Ideas 107

5.1 Critical Thinking 107
5.2 Your Hypothesis or Argument 107
5.2.1 Theories 108
5.2.2 Support for Theories 109
5.2.3 Critical Thinking About Theories 109
5.2.4 Integration of Theories 110
5.3 Research 111
5.3.1 Experiments vs. Non-Experiments 111
5.3.2 Causality 112
5.3.3 Spurious Variables 113
5.3.4 Confounds 114
5.3.5 Inadequate Measures 115
5.3.6 Generality 116
5.4 Original Thinking 117
5.4.1 Non-Obviousness 117
5.4.2 Alternative Explanations for Significant Findings 117
ix
5.4.3 Alternative Explanations for Non-Significant Findings 118

5.4.4 Unexpected Findings 119
5.4.5 Future Research 120
5.4.6 Practical Implications 121
5.5 Flawed Arguments 121
5.5.1 Vacuous Support for Arguments 122
5.5.2 Vacuous Dismissal of Opposition 122
5.5.3 Misrepresentation of the Opposition 122
5.5.4 False Generalisation 124
Chapter 6 Writing Correctly and With Style 126

6.1 The Reader’s Journey 126
6.2 Parts of Speech, Combinations of Words, and Grammar 126
6.2.1 Verbs 126
6.2.2 Nouns 127
6.2.3 Pronouns 129
6.2.4 Adjectives 131
6.2.5 Adverbs 132
6.2.6 Prepositions 132
6.2.7 Conjunctions 133
6.2.8 Determiners 134
6.2.9 Combinations of Words 135
6.3 Punctuation 135
6.3.1 End Marks (Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark) 135
6.3.2 Commas 136
6.3.3 Semicolons 136
6.3.4 Colons 137
6.3.5 Apostrophes 137
6.3.6 Parentheses 137
6.3.7 Em and En Dashes 138
6.3.8 Hyphens 138
6.3.9 Quotation Marks 138
6.4 Style 139
6.4.1 Formal and Dispassionate Writing 139
6.4.2 Simplicity 141
6.4.3 Precision and Clarity 142
6.4.4 Economy 144
6.4.5 Integration 145
6.5 Finer Details 146
6.5.1 Keep Infinitives Intact 146
6.5.2 Keep Prepositions Away from the End of a Sentence 146
x
Contents
6.6 Your Own Style 146

Chapter 7 Writing for Other Forms

of Assessment 148
7.1 Examinations 148
7.1.1 Preparation 148
7.1.2 Planning During an Examination 148
7.1.3 Multiple-Choice Questions 149
7.1.4 Short-Answer Questions 150
7.1.5 Essay Questions 150
7.1.6 Helpful Sources 150
7.2 Posters 151
7.2.1 Content 151
7.2.2 Format 152
7.3 Narrative Literature Reviews 154
7.3.1 Content 154
7.3.2 Format 154
7.4 Systematic Reviews 155
7.4.1 Content 155
7.4.2 Format 156
Appendix A Flawed Research Report 157
Appendix B Flawed Essay 170
Appendix C Statistical Assumptions 182
Appendix D Common Measurement Abbreviations 183
Appendix E More Plurals 185
References 188
Glossary 193
Index 197
xi
To the Student
In your psychology course, your instructor has asked you to write an assignment and to use this
book as a style guide. Why has your instructor recommended this book? It provides an introduction
to the style most writers in psychology use: APA style. It is described in the seventh edition of the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association,
2020), which we will call the APA Manual, and in the APA-style blog (https://apastyle.apa.org/
blog). Rather than burden you with all the intricacies of APA style, your instructor has opted for
this introductory version. When you proceed to advanced study of psychology or submit to an APA
journal, you will replace this book with the APA Manual. This book is best regarded as a primer for
APA style.
Some conventions of style govern most scientific writing. APA style is more than a collection
of arbitrary rules about such apparently trivial issues such as where to place commas and when
to use an ampersand (&). It embodies most of the features of excellent writing, such as having a
clear message, respecting the reader and others, acknowledging sources, dealing with information
honestly and economically, communicating persuasively, being clear and simple, and adhering to
various conventions that produce a consistent look and feel.
As well, APA style is a guide to the basic structure of a scientific paper. The structure allows
researchers to distinguish sections they need to read carefully from sections they can skim. This, in
turn, allows them to read the articles swiftly and to compare articles.
We have tried to organise the book to be as useful as possible in the situation each of us remembers
well from our own student days: An assignment is due in a week, and I have not started work. What
should I do first? Read Chapter 1, helpfully entitled “Read This First!”. It outlines the hallmarks of
excellent assignments. If you have time and the assignment is a research report or an essay, proceed
to Chapter 2, “Writing Research reports” or to Chapter 3, “Writing Essays” respectively.
Of course, we hope you are a better organised student than we were. Your best approach is to read
everything once, then return to the relevant chapters when you are preparing your next assignment.
Occasionally, however, we have had to depart from APA style, especially for formatting, mainly
because our purposes, to teach, are different from yours, to write a good assignment. For example,
we use numbered sections to allow you to find more information on a topic (see next sentence for an
example of how we do it). You should use standard headings for your assignment (1.4.2).
xii
00_OShea_7e_sb_41124_pre.indd 12 08/09/21 5:09 PM

To the Instructor
We thank all of you who adopted this book for your courses. We were prompted to write our new
edition by the publication of the seventh edition of the APA Manual. But we also took the opportunity
to revise generally, based on the many helpful comments on the previous edition we received from
reviewers, students, and instructors. In this new edition, we have:
• updated the book to include changes in APA style and adhered closely to that style;
• transferred some of the subtle principles or advanced details to the on-line material that
accompanies the book—or to the end of chapters—to ensure that students are not initially
overwhelmed with complex details;
• maintained the formal set of guidelines students can follow, such as procedures to identify
spurious, suppressor, and confounding variables, to enhance the depth of their discussions and
explanations;
• updated the chapter on grammar to incorporate changes in the past 30 years;
• added information about qualitative research to the chapter on research report writing; and
• added systematic reviews to the chapter on writing types of assignments other than essays and
research reports.
As part of reconciling the book with the seventh edition of the APA Manual, here we highlight the
major differences between it and the sixth edition, and some aspects of the sixth that carried over
into the seventh, for which our advice to students may differ. We have classified these into five broad
categories.
Student Writing
The editors of the seventh edition of the APA Manual gave separate formatting instructions for
student papers and for papers to be submitted to academic journals. Student papers provide unit
information (e.g., unit code and name, instructor name, due date) on the title page and can omit the
running head, the author note, and the abstract. We, however, assumed you prefer your students
to master papers to be submitted to academic journals because that is what we have always done,
because online lodgment of assignments is now common (obviating the necessity of a different title
page), and because it is easier for you to tell your students to omit the running head, the Author Note,
or the Abstract than vice versa.
Bias-Free Language
The editors also:
• Included one whole chapter on bias-free language. We distilled this into one table showing the
eight categories of bias and how to avoid them (Usage Example 1.6), and a few paragraphs on
sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
• Approved using the singular “they” as a way to avoid bias. We adhered to this, but emphasised
the editors’ suggestion to use other means, such as pluralisation, to avoid offending those not
comfortable with committing what some may regard as a grammatical error.
• Continued to allow participants to be called “subjects” or “sample”. We agreed with the editors’s
recommendation by encouraging students to distinguish participants—those who gave
informed consent to participate in research—from subjects—those who could not give informed
consent. We did not mention calling individuals the “sample”.
xiii
Structure of a Paper and Formatting

The editors also:
• Integrated the APA’s Journal Reporting Standards (American Psychological Association, 2018)
into the manual. This has no relevance for students, except for how the standards affect APA
style.
• Reiterated character limits for some components of manuscripts (e.g., the running heads).
We gave character limits for every component of an assignment (along with word limits
in parentheses) because the number of characters in a file cannot be deceived whereas the
number of words can be underestimated by some unscrupulous students.
• Reiterated that the Abstract’s format should be governed by the journal to which a manuscript
is submitted, but added that the word limit is typically fewer than 250. To encourage
conciseness, and because student assignments are usually briefer than professional papers, we
opted for a limit of 975 characters (150 words).
• Moved some of data analysis, such as how authors of research reports deal with missing data,
out of the Results and into the Method. We added this to our chapter on research report writing.
• Reiterated the necessity to report effect sizes and confidence intervals in the Results, including
confidence intervals for effect sizes. We omitted confidence intervals for effect sizes, having
never seen these in any published paper and because it is not illustrated in the APA Manual’s
sample papers.
• Simplified the running head; it now appears the same on every page of a paper.
• Allowed tables and figures to be in the main text rather than on separate pages after the
references. We opted for the former, for ease of marking.
• Gave five levels of headings, formatted differently from the sixth edition. We gave only the top
three: 1. Centred, bold, “title case” (i.e., with the first letter of major words capitalised); 2. Flush
left, bold, title case; 3. Flush left, bold italic, title case. This is because students are unlikely to
need more.
• Harmonised the formatting of numbers in all parts of a paper (i.e., same in the Abstract and
main text).
• Enclosed linguistic examples in quotation marks instead of setting them in italics.
• Required all margins of 2.54 cm (implicitly with letter-sized paper). In the sixth edition, its
editors said “Leave uniform margins of at least [emphasis added] … 2.54 cm” (p. 229). We
recommended 3.54 cm margins and required A4 paper. This brings the number of characters
per line closer to the optimal of about 60 (Bringhurst, 1996), making students’ assignments
easier for markers to read.
• Allowed sans-serif and serif fonts and sizes from 10 to 12 points for the main text. In the sixth
edition, its editors required Times New Roman 12 point for all text except that in figures. For
simplicity and readability, we opted for Times New Roman 12 point for the main text and
Calibri for tables, figures, and footnotes.
• Reiterated the restrictive conditions under which footnotes can be used in the main text.
Rather than go into these, we opted to tell students not to use them at all.
• Reiterated the acceptability of numbered or bulleted lists in the main text. With the rise of
PowerPoint, we accepted that students would inevitably use these. We use them ourselves.
• Reiterated the necessity to define abbreviations of statistical terms and tests the first time they
are used, such as “standard error of the mean (SEM)” and “analysis of variance (ANOVA)”.
• Reiterated that tables and figures in appendices are called with the appendix’s letter and an
ordinal number without a hyphen (e.g. Table A2, Figure B3, Figure B4).
xiv
To the Instructor
• Changed every instance of “on-line” to “online” and every instance of “e-mail” to “email”.
• Minimised the use of “electronic”, instead referring to “ebooks” and “eLocators”.
• Eliminated the extra space after some punctuation. Hallelujah!
Structure and Formatting of Figures and Tables

The editors also:
• Structured tables and figures in the same way, with, from top to bottom: the number (boldface),
title (italics), the table or figure, and any notes.
• Recommended that text in figures be in a sans-serif font and that the tables and figures
be separated from the main text by one blank line above and one below. For simplicity, we
suggested students use a sans-serif font for tables too.
• Allowed colour in figures.
• Reiterated the desirability of placing a graph’s legend on the body of the graph. For increased
comprehensibility, we added that the legend should be segregated from the graph by being
enclosed in a box, that the axes be duplicated at the top and the right of the figure, and that the
ticks be inside the axes.
Citation and Referencing

The editors also:
• Simplified formatting of in-text citations, with “et al.” for all author surnames after the first when
there are three or more authors, unless this would be ambiguous.
• Gave more than 100 examples of formats for references. We simplified these into four major
types: books, book chapters, journal articles, and others (including theses, web pages, and
websites), because students will be unlikely to read any references other than these.
• Accepted Wikipedia articles (book-chapter format) as references in papers submitted to APA
journals. We told students to be cautious about using Wikipedia.
• Required issue numbers in journal-article references.
• Omitted the place of publication for references to books.
• In references to books, omitted the name of the publisher when it is the same as the author.
• Simplified DOIs and URLs so they all serve as clickable links in online papers. Restricted
“Retrieved from” to references for which the retrieval date is important.
• Required that classical works (e.g., religious works such as the Bible, works of ancient Greek
philosophers, Shakespeare’s works) now appear in the reference list.
• Reiterated that quotations of classical works with canonical line numbers be accompanied by
those numbers (e.g., “[Act] 3.[Scene]1.[lines]56–64 for Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “To be, or not
to be …”).
• Added the title of a website to the information in its reference.
• Omitted to illustrate the reference format for an Abstract (apparently it is now unthinkable to
cite a work that is only an abstract). We retained this to emphasise to students that they need to
be truthful about what they actually read.
• Illustrated how to cite learning resources obtained via learning management systems.
We hope you like our scrutiny of the changes to APA style and agree with our choices for students.
Please let us know.
xv
About the Authors
Dr Robert P. O’Shea
Robert P. O’Shea is Guest Scientist at Leipzig University where he also wrote and taught courses
on scientific writing. He has conducted research and taught at Murdoch University, Southern Cross
University, University of Otago, Dalhousie University, Northwestern University, Queen’s University
(Canada), and the University of Queensland.
He has published extensively in major psychology and neuroscience journals. His research is
mainly in cognitive neuroscience, visual perception, and history of psychology and science. He has
taken study leaves at Leipzig University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and the University
of Rochester. Dr O’Shea has been an editor of Scholarpedia and an associate editor of Perception &
Psychophysics.
Dr Wendy McKenzie
Wendy McKenzie has many years of experience as an educator and researcher in psychology,
teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate courses in psychology at Monash University. Her
main areas of interest are human memory, teaching and learning in higher education (in particular
the use of educational technology), and geropsychology.
Acknowledgements
We thank Fiona Hammond who patiently supported us through the effects the coronavirus
pandemic had on our writing, the reviewers who highlighted the sections that needed upgrading,
and Julie Wicks who copyedited. Please let us know of any improvements we can introduce to this
edition; we will be delighted to thank you if there is a next edition.
Robert O’Shea is particularly grateful to Urte Roeber for her support in making his contributions
to this edition possible, to Erich Schröger for general support, and to the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and the Max Planck
Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) for support.
The authors and Cengage would like to thank Elizabeth Coady for her early editorial support in
implementing APA style.
Cengage and the authors are especially grateful to the following reviewers for their incisive and
helpful feedback:
• Robyn Brunton—Australian Catholic University
• Madeleine Ferrari—Australian Catholic University
• Trevor Hine—Griffith University
• Mervyn Jackson—RMIT
• Michael Platow—Australian National University
xvi
read further. Because of the clarity and brevity required, each word in the Abstract should
be meaningful. Follow this order:
Guide to the text

• Introduce the topic by demonstrating its importance, either theoretical or practical.
Include a citation only if the study is a replication or extension of that work.
• Specify the aim of the study, which can include a statement of the hypotheses.
• Specify the number of participants and include any of their characteristics (e.g.,
As you read this text
gender, age,you will find
or ethnicity) a number
critical ofoffeatures
to the design the study. in every
chapter designed to enhance

• Summarise yourparticipants
the procedures understanding
completed.of the APA style,
and what makes

• Outline thegood writing,
conditions to whichand help you
participants were apply these
assigned, if applicable.
• Briefly describe
conventions andtheprinciples
measures or apparatus
to yourused,ownif work.
applicable.
• Specify the principal findings. Give effect sizes, confidence intervals, or statistical
significance.
FEATURES WITHIN CHAPTERS
2.6.2 Materials
• Specify the conclusions of the study.
APA Example boxes show theIntext
APAexactly as it should
Example appear
2.4, notice howinone
an APA styled
or two assignment,
sentences providing
are devoted to aeach of the
thorough demonstration of the the Materials
In application of section,
APA styledescribe
guide inthe equipment, measures, and objects you used to
practice.
previous points.
collect your data, making clear how the variables were operationalised. Although we give
some general guidelines, you might also read journal articles reporting similar research to
APA Example 2.4
yours to help you decide which details toAbstract
include.
Abstract The prevalence of violent videos has continued to soar over the last decade.
Psychological Tests. If you used or constructed a questionnaire or psychological test,
To investigate whether exposure to violent videos increases mistrust of strangers,
specify
24 psychology students rated the extent to which a stranger in a photograph seemed
hostile
• theand untrustworthy.
purpose Before
of the measure orthey rated this person, half the participants watched
scale;
a•violent video; the remaining
the task of participants; participants watched a quiz show. Participants who
watched the violent program were more likely to perceive the stranger as hostile
(d• = the definition
2.26) of each untrustworthy
and somewhat subscale, if the(d
measure
= 0.06) included
than weremore than one;
participants who
watched the quiz
• a sample show.for
question These
eachfindings
subscale;suggest that depiction of violence could
promote perception of strangers as hostile and untrustworthy, ultimately provoking
• the response options; and
aggression.
• if possible, some evidence the measure or scale is reliable and valid, such as
Cronbach’s α (APA Example 2.9).
APA Example 2.9

Materials 2.5 Introduction Materials
Participants completed a 24-item questionnaire designed to measure perceptions
ofThe introduction
trust, comprisingbegins on a newhostility
two subscales: page, following the abstract.AIts
and trustworthiness. Level question
sample 1 heading is
thefortitle of the research report (1.4.2). The introduction usually contains
hostility is, “This person might attempt to harm me”. A sample question for about one-third of
thetrustworthiness
characters of your is, “Ireport.
might trust this person to keep a secret”. Participants responded
toIneach
the question on a you
introduction 5-point scale,why
explain fromthestrongly disagree
study was (1) to strongly
conducted, present agree (5). for
your case
The scale exhibits excellent internal consistency based on previous research,
why the topic requires investigation, and outline what the researchers understood to be
Cronbach’s
true α = .90
at the outset. (J. Smith,
It can be the personal communication,
most difficult July 12,
section to write 2020).you must provide
because
a brief but comprehensive review of the relevant literature and develop a convincing
justification for the aims and hypotheses
Experimenter-Constructed of your
Materials. If youstudy.
constructed the experimental materials
yourself, include enough detail to ensure that your stimuli could be duplicated by another
Annotated reports and essay 2.5.1 Importance
examples,
researcher (APAfeaturing
Exampleconcise 2.10), such and as
engaging annotations and explanations,
that are set out in clear APA format, so you can easily see how to do it yourself.
Highlight
• description the importance
of stimuli; of your study in the first paragraph of the introduction. Begin
Chapter 2: Writing Research Reports
that paragraph with a sentence that encourages the reader to read further. In it, write in
• number of stimuli per condition; All text in the
SELF-ESTEEM AND ABILITY 1
simple words something1 about your topic that relates to people
ARE EXAMINATIONS UNFAIR? essay is doubleor to animals. One2 useful
• method of presentation;
spaced (1.4.1).
strategy is to pose a question (e.g., “Does viewing violent videos make people aggressive?”).
•on Creative
any control procedures studythat to awere used or in theoretical
the construction of the is materials, such
The Abstract
Another
The Effect of a Boost to Self-Esteem isandtoAnalytic
relate your
Ability
Begin running practical issue that
Abstract topical or vital, is not
indented
such
Andrea Student as randomising the order
head and page
as depression, aggression, racism, intelligence,
numbers (1.4.1). of presentation or construction
Examinations mightsuccess,
be unfair to someor of multiple
consciousness.
students study
either because anxiety interferes lists
(3.5).
for
counterbalancing; and
The research with their performance or because attempts to control this anxiety impair their These
report is Discipline of Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of sentences
double spaced concentration. I evaluate the assumption that examinations are fair because demonstrate
(1.4.1). Higher Education the issue is
• how you scored the test. they partly assess the capacity of students to manage their anxiety—an ability complex and
highlight the
Author Note that is vital to work settings. I show, however, that ability to manage anxiety in argument
examinations does not predict ability to manage anxiety in the workplace. Teachers (3.5).
26
I thank my fellow students in PSY101 for providing the data for this study and
APA M.Example 2.10
Y. Tutor for coordinating data collection and for collating the results. I also thank
Materials
and administrators need to reduce anxiety to ensure that examinations are fair.
Experimenter-
M. Y. Mother and M. Y. Flatmate who read earlier drafts of my report.
Participants responded to 20 adjectives that are used to describe people, selected
This
sentence
Please address correspondence about this report to Andrea Student, 2/14 Short Street,
Constructed specifies an
from a list of low to medium frequency words (Corpus of Contemporary American

Big City, 4011. Email: Andrea.student@psy.uhe.edu.au implication
of this
Materials conclusion
Legitimate use
of personal
reference
English [COCA], n.d). Words were between 4 and 10 letters in length (Appendix A). (3.5).
(2.11.1).
BK-CLA-OSHEA_7E-200568-Chp02.indd 26 There were two lists, containing the same 20 adjectives in the same random order This sentence
presents the
4/10/21 11:01 AM
except that in one list the adjective “humorous” appeared first and in the other it conclusion
(3.5).
appeared last. Each list was presented on a single sheet of A4 paper, one word per
line, using double-line spacing, Times Roman, 12-point font. A five-point rating scale
from not at all (1) to very much (5) was printed next to each word.
xvii
Guide to the Text
FEATURES WITHIN CHAPTERS
A flawed report and flawed essay are included in the appendices. Footnotes in them identify errors and
frequent points of difficulty, helping you to avoid common mistakes.
Appendix A: Flawed Research Report Appendix B: Flawed Essay
Self-Esteem and Ability 2 Running head: Are examinations unfair? 1
Abstract Other work 50 has shown that anxiety can compromise exam performance. Ciarocco,
Summer, and Baumeisters 51, 52 (2001) study showed that suppression of emotions, such as
5
Many individuals erroneously assume that intelligence is fixed and hence they do not
anxiety, compromises performance on a variety of tasks. Martjin, Tenbult, Merckebach,
engage in activities which 6 might refine their mental capacity.
Dreezens, & de Vries (2002) also revealed that SOE 53, 54 compromises performance. 55
7, 8
153 9, 10 participants completed tasks that assess their capacity to propose creative
In a study conducted by Schmeichel, Vohs, and Baumeister (2003), individuals watched
suggestions as well as their ability to apply principles and algorithms to solve problems.
a disturbing 56 distressing movie. The participants who were asked to pretend they were
Before they completed these tasks, to boost their self-esteem, half 11 the participants
unperturbed performed less effectively than other individuals on a later set of activities that
transcribed a series of favourable adjectives and preceded each term with the letter I.12
assessed their mental acuity. These observations suggest that individuals who feel anxious
Participants in the control group completed the same task, but preceded each term with the
before an exam might occasionally strive to conceal their emotions, and this inclination
letter X. The hypotheses were only partly supported. 13 The implications and limitations of
might then impair their subsequent performance.
these findings are discussed. 14
The S.O.E. 57 does not impair performance on all activities, however. It is indisputable
58
that suppression of emotions would disrupt the capacity of individuals to walk. 59
Accordingly, suppression could not compromise performance on all tasks; in other words,60
attempts to conceal emotions do not impair performance. 61
Therefore, 62 the thoughts and concerns that coincide with anxiety, and not merely
the suppression of this emotion, might also use working memory (Baddeley, 1976). 63, 64
Consistent with this suggestion, Beilock and Carr (2005) found the capacity of individuals
to recall a sequence of digits 65 purportedly a reflection of working memory (Baddeley,
1976) 66, 67 tended to deteriorate when their levels of state anxiety were elevated.
The findings of this study imply that working memory, and thus performance, is often
compromised2.5.5 Hypotheses
in individuals who experience considerable anxiety, although this finding does
not necessarily imply thatyou
Finally, examinations are unfair,
should specify because, toorsome
the hypothesis, extent, whether
hypotheses, orand
as clear not unambiguous
examinations statements
are equitablethat predict
depends thecriteria
on the resultsthatofare
your
usedstudy. Hypotheses
to appraise fairness.should
68, 69, 70, 71be presented
in normal prose as complete sentences. Hypotheses do not need to be presented

Examinations could be fair even if anxiety significantly 72 compromises performance.
last, but should appear somewhere within the last paragraph of the introduction
Individual’s 73(Usage
who experience undueQualitative
Example 2.1). anxiety, and cannotmethods
research regulate tend
thesetoemotions
be more exploratory and may
Usage pose not
effectively, might research questions
only perform and aims
modestly inrather
examsthan hypotheses
but might (Levitt
also fail et al.,in2018).
to thrive a
Example 2.1
work context. ie, 74, 75 the capacity to temper anxiety might be pertinent to work settings,
Specify Hypotheses
Avoid Best practice
Usage examples lead you through the process which are often stressful. Exam performance, while 76 confounded with the ability to curb
Each conceptual hypothesis Exposure to violent videos As predicted from active-self
anxiety, might predict work success accurately (e.g., Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002).
of understanding what makes superior writing. should follow logically from a
theory or an argument.
should promote mistrust towards theory, exposure to violent
strangers. videos should promote mistrust
towards strangers.
You can quickly compare examples side-by-side Each hypothesis should According to active-self theory According Chapter 4: to active-self
Finding and Using References
with explanations of what makes better writing indicate the direction of a

relationship.
exposure to violent videos
should affect mistrust towards
theory, exposure to violent
videos should increase mistrust
Wikipedia article. It can be useful fortowards
Internet searches will usually yield astrangers. strangers.
work, enabling you to identify how to improve your overview of a topic and
Each hypothesis mightuse
should contain key referencesto(4.1.1).
According
getting an
active-self theory, According to active-self
own writing. words
variables
yourself
that match
5. Evaluate. how
Evaluate thethe
will be measured
the questions
exposure
suitability and
in Exhibit in
to violence
credibility shouldyou havetheory,
of each source
4.1. promote adverse attitudes.
exposure to violent
found. Ask
videos should promote mistrust
159 your study. towards strangers. 173
6. Refine. Continue to refine your search by using relevant sources to search for other
Eachreferences:
useful hypothesis should be According to active-self theory, According to active-self theory,
testable—research cannot
• Look for key words listed for journal exposure to identify
articles to violent new
video games
search terms.exposure to violent videos
prove the absence of an effect. should not affect mistrust should be more likely than
BK-CLA-OSHEA_7E-200568-App_A.indd 159 12/04/21
• If you find a key
4:50 BK-CLA-OSHEA_7E-200568-App_B.indd
PM 173
article, go backwards
towardsinstrangers.
time by looking in its reference list forto violent video games
exposure 12/04/21 5:32 PM
relevant prior research. to promote mistrust towards
• Go forwards in time, using citation indices such as Google Scholar, Webstrangers. of Science, Citation index: An online
or Scopus, from a key article to find sources whose authors have cited it. If those resource allowing one to
search for later sources
authors cited your key article, it is likely their papers will be important for you too.
2.6 Method
that cite an earlier source.
Relevance Exhibit 4.1

Evaluate Sources
• How closely does the information The method
relate tosection follows immediately after the Introduction on the same page, with
your topic?
of Information
the Level 1 heading:
• Is the depth of coverage adequate for your purpose? Method. Divide the method section into its appropriate subsections
with Level 2 headings. We describe the most common subdivisions below. Subdivide these
Currency subsections when necessary, such as to describe specific measures, using Level 3 headings
• Is the source sufficiently(1.4.2).recent for your purpose? Check online sources for a date when first
published or last updated.
Exhibits contain useful information, advice and Replication: A key element
Credibility
of the scientific method
The purpose of the method section is to provide only enough detail to enable an
experienced researcher to replicate your study—to repeat the study with exactly the same
suggestions to support your learning. • Has the information beenmethod. Omit details that could not possibly affect the results (e.g., whether
peer reviewed? Chapter 3: you recorded
with two meanings: First,
Writing Essays
any researcher should be
• What
able are
to repeat thethe
the responses
authors’ professional
method
with an
affiliations or HB or a 2B pencil). In some reports, further details (such as verbatim
credentials?
of any past study. Second, instructions)
• Has the work been cited by others? can be provided in an appendix (2.10), but this can be done only if there is
Chapter 3
having conducted the new enough information in the Method (in this case, a concise description of the instructions).
• Are
study, thethere
researchsigns
shouldof author bias or conflict of interest?
obtain the same results as
Beware using an appendix to cut down the character count of your report. You will lose
• For internet sources, what
those of the past study.
are the
marks forlast letters of
omitting the URL?
crucial If they arefrom
information com,thethemethod.
source is
published by a commercial organisation; if edu, by an educational institution; if gov, by a
government, and if org, by aAll sentencesorganisation.
not-for-profit within sections must from
Information be complete
edu and gov, andand intelligible. Do not assume
possibly from org sites isthe reader willthan
read the heading as part of the section. For example, follow the heading
Writing Essays
more reliable com sources.
“Participants” with “The participants were 20 students” to ensure the sentence is complete
Note. Adapted from two sources: 1. andDoingintelligible. EachA section
a literature search: of the
comprehensive method
guide should
for the social be (p.
sciences written
26) in normal prose.
by C. Hart, 2001, Sage Publications. Copyright 2001 by Sage Publications. Adapted with permission. 2. Writing research
papers: A complete guide (15th ed. Global ed.) (pp. 63–66) by J. D. Lester and J. D. Lester, Jr., 2015, Pearson Education.
Key terms for Writing for Psychology are bolded in Copyright 2001 by Pearson Education. Adapted with permission.
28
We define essays to include essays (1.1), literature reviews (7.3), book reviews, and Literature review (also
known as a narrative
commentaries. In all of these, you need to write something useful for a reader. In the most
the text with margin definitions in clear, concise 4.2 From Reading
literature review):
common essay assignment, your instructor will have given you a topic, usually a question A form of essay in which
(e.g., “Does viewing violent videos lead to aggression?”), and a list of references. To write an author makes a more
language for easy identification and understanding.

to Writing
comprehensive review of
an essay, you first need to read the references, to read more widely about the topic, to
the literature surrounding
understand the topic, and
BK-CLA-OSHEA_7E-200568-Chp02.indd 28 then to write something useful on it, usually an answer to the a topic than in an essay
4/10/21 11:01 AM
These definitions also appear in the glossary at the question in the form of an argument: a brief, clear statement of what you will show to be
true about a topic (1.2.2).
to acquaint the reader
with the main issues.
4.2.1 Active Reading

end of the book. This chapter is to help you write an essay. We present a good essay and a flawed version
To uncover valuable information, you need to be a critical, selective, and active reader.
of the same essay in Appendix B.
This requires four steps.
3.1 Expectations
1. Read purposefully. Before you begin, write down the precise questions you are
trying to answer or your purpose. For example, are you searching for factual information,
research evidence, or theoretical explanations? While you read, ensure you can see your
listYour
of keyinstructor and tomarker
search terms will
help you have focused
remain some expectations
on your topic.about your essay. These
include structuring your essay to propose and test an argument, and meeting various
marking criteria.
3.1.1 Argument 85
The hardest part of writing an essay is deciding on an argument (1.2.2). Suppose your
topic was “Does viewing violent videos lead to aggression?” Possible arguments include:
• Viewing violent videos leads to aggression.
BK-CLA-OSHEA_7E-200568-Chp04.indd 85 12/04/21 3:54 PM
• Viewing violent videos does not lead to aggression.
• Viewing violent videos leads to aggression in some people.
• Viewing violent videos leads to tolerance towards aggression.
• Whether viewing violent videos leads to aggression is unknown.
You would opt for one argument after extensive reading on the topic convinced you
that it was best supported by the evidence.
xviii 3.1.2 Marking Criteria

In an essay, in approximate order of priority, your marker will likely assess how
Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May notwell
beyou
copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300
• addressed the essay topic;
• put an organised and effective argument with a clear rationale;
Guide to the online resources
FOR THE INSTRUCTOR
Cengage is pleased to provide you with a selection of resources

that will help you prepare your lectures and assessments.
These teaching tools are accessible via cengage.com.au/instructors
for Australia or cengage.co.nz/instructors for New Zealand.
INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
The Instructor’s Manual is packed with content that helps you set up and administer
your class: chapter outlines, adjunct teaching tips and warmup activities, questions for
review and further discussion.
WORD-BASED TEST BANK

A bank of questions has been developed in conjunction with the text for creating
quizzes, tests and exams for your students. Deliver these through your LMS and in
your classroom.
POWERPOINT™ PRESENTATIONS
Use the chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides to enhance your lecture presentations
and handouts by reinforcing the key principles of writing for psychology.
ARTWORK FROM THE TEXT

Add the digital files of exhibits, examples, figures and tables into your learning
management system, use them in student handouts, or copy them into your lecture
presentations.
STUDENT DOWNLOADS: CHECKLISTS AND WRITING GUIDES

Student checklists and writing guides provide extension material for you to support
your students with their writing and use of APA style.
xix
Chapter 1
Read This First!
In this chapter, we give essential information for doing any writing for psychology.
1.1 Writing for Psychology

In your psychology course, you will need to complete two main types of assignments—
research reports and essays—and other sorts of assignments you can read about in Research report: A type
Chapter 7. of assignment describing
research you conducted,
In a research report, you describe research you conducted to test a hypothesis (2.1.1), usually in a practical class.
usually in a practical class (e.g., “The Effect of Speech Style on Witness Credibility” and “The Essay: A type of assignment
containing a review
Relationship Between Birth Order and Coping Style”). You need to specify why you did the of the literature on a
research, what you did, what you found, what your results mean, and why your results are particular topic, structured
interesting and important. We provide the details for writing research reports in Chapter 2. by an argument.
Hypothesis (plural
In an essay, your instructor usually presents a topic, or choice of topics, often framed hypotheses): A testable
as questions (e.g., “Does viewing violent videos lead to aggression?”). Your task is to review conjecture about a cause
and an effect or about
the literature on this topic and to present your answer in the form of an argument or
a relationship between
thesis statement (3.1.1). We provide the details for writing essays in Chapter 3. at least two variables.
Both sorts of assignments must have a clear structure, marked by headings (1.4.2). Argument: An argument
is a proposition you try to
In most assignments, you need to use formal writing. It is scholarly, respectful, convince readers is true
about a particular topic.
humane, simple, precise, concise, clear, and scrupulously grammatical—qualities that
Thesis statement: An
help make your work credible. Formal writing differs from informal writing found in such
alternative (mainly
works as novels, newspapers, magazines, letters, emails, blogs, tweets, text messages, and American) term for
some websites. We give further advice about writing formally in 1.3 and in the remaining an argument.
chapters. Formal writing: The

language of most psychology
We illustrate some differences between informal and formal writing in Usage Example 1.1. assignments. It is scholarly,
If you included the first example in your assignment, there would be at least two problems. respectful, humane, simple,
precise, concise, clear, and
First, the words belong to their author, Shakespeare (ca. 1600); to use them you would scrupulously grammatical.
have to show they are quoted and give the source using citation. Citation is how you let Citation: A noun describing
a reader know the source of information for something you wrote. A citation contains the how you let a reader know
the source of information
surname(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication. Citations point to references in
for something you wrote.
a reference list. A reference gives the details a reader needs to find the source, which is The verb is “cite”. A citation
also called a reference. Second, the words are in the language of literature and do not fit contains the surname(s) of
the author(s) and the year of
into any psychology assignment. The good example rectifies these problems and gives a
publication. A citation points
reference. the reader to its reference.
If you included the second example in Usage Example 1.1, from a blog by Grohol Reference: 1. The
bibliographic information
(2011), problems include that it is copied, it is written in a casual style, the citation style a reader needs to find
is not APA, and it is too long and chatty. The good example comprehensively paraphrases the same information.
2. A source of written
Grohol’s words while making it quite clear that the ideas are his. It is formal, it gives
information about a topic.
APA-style citations, it is concise, and it provides references.
1
Usage
Example 1.1
Use Formal Writing
Avoid Best practice
Write in the language of To be, or not to be, that is the According to Lake (2006), Hamlet’s
psychology, rather than in question: famous soliloquy, “To be, or not to
some other language (e.g., Whether 'tis nobler in the mind be…” (Shakespeare, ca. 1600/1970,
of literature, of some other to suffer 3.1.56–64a), shows that Hamlet
discipline, of the press, or of was depressed and suffering from
The slings and arrows of
a blog). migraine headaches.
outrageous fortune,
References
Or to take arms against a sea of Lake, A. E., III. (2006). Medication
troubles, overuse headache: Biobehavioral
And by opposing end them? issues and solutions. Headache:
To die, to sleep, The Journal of Head and Face
No more; and by a sleep to say we Pain, 46 (Suppl. 3), S88–S97.
end https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-
4610.2006.00560.x
The heart-ache, and the thousand Shakespeare, W. (ca. 1600/1970).
natural shocks Hamlet
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a (A. W. Verity, Ed.). Cambridge
consummation University Press. https://archive.
Devoutly to be wished. org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201634
Thank goodness the Wall Grohol (2011) criticised a study
Street Journal isn’t known for its reported by Silverman (2011)
outstanding health reporting. claiming to show that surfing the web
In a story written by Rachel improves employees’ productivity.
Emma Silverman, she reports Grohol pointed out that the employees
on some preliminary research were really undergraduate students,
recently presented at a management that the task (to highlight certain
conference. Like a lot of research letters in text) did not resemble what
that gives us “surprising” results, it most people do at work, and that there
was done on a single group of 96 was no control condition in which
undergraduate students at a single students took a non-web-surfing break
college campus. from work.
And the task designed for the References
college laboratory setting by the Grohol, J. M. (2011, August
researchers would be difficult to 22). Web surfing at work helps
characterise as analogous to most you be more productive?
people’s work environment or jobs— PsychCentral. https://web.archive.
it was highlighting every single letter org/web/20111021012031/
“e” or, in the second part, “a,” while http://psychcentral.com/blog/
reading. archives/2011/08/22/web-surfing-at-
work-helps-you-be-more-productive/
The question the researchers Silverman, R. E. (2011, August 22).
asked—Can surfing the internet help Web surfing helps at work, study says.
you to become a more productive Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.
employee? com/articles/SB10001424053111904
The answer, according to the 070604576518261775512294
researchers, is an overwhelming,
“Yes!” And it’s no wonder …
a
Give the pages of a quotation (1.2.4) unless it is a religious or classical work (4.3.5), in which case
give the book, chapter, and verses for religious works, and the act, scene, and lines for plays, and the
section numbers for ancient Greek and Roman works.
2
Chapter 1: Read This First!
1.2 Excellent Assignments

Below, we suggest some qualities your instructor may assess in any assignment.
It is possible, however, that your instructor will assess other qualities or will omit some
we mention. This means you should carefully read your instructor’s requirements to
understand which parts of an assignment to provide. We list all the parts in this book, but
your instructor might not want them all (e.g., some instructors do not want raw data in an
appendix of your research report; other instructors do not want an abstract—a summary— Abstract: A brief summary
for your essay). The advice of your instructor always supersedes ours. If your instructor of a research report or essay.
insists that you write an assignment with a pink font on yellow paper, follow that advice!
1.2.1 Relevant Literature

To write an excellent psychology assignment, you need to be well informed by reading
current, relevant, and scholarly literature on your topic. As a bare minimum, you need
to read one new source for every 650 characters (100 words) of your assignment. Your
instructor might give you some readings to get you started. In Chapter 4, we present
strategies to help you find others. You should aim to read mostly primary research articles
in psychology journals. A journal is a collection of articles, each written by different Journal: A collection of
authors and each with its own reference list, that have been approved for publication by articles, each written by
different authors and each
the journal’s editor and have been published by a commercial, professional, or scholarly with its own reference list,
publisher. Useful journals include Psychological Review and Psychological Science. that have been approved
for publication by the
You should also read some review articles in psychology journals (such as Annual journal’s editor and have
Review of Psychology and Psychological Bulletin), a few book chapters in books devoted to been published by a
commercial, professional,
your topic, and one or two textbooks. or scholarly publisher.
1.2.2 Original Ideas

In a psychology assignment, you must establish a clear and rational position on a
topic rather than merely regurgitating the information you have read. Research reports
require you to develop and test one or more hypotheses. Essays require you to present and
develop an argument. Usually, the hypothesis or argument will not be provided for you;
you need to derive it from your own reading and thinking.
Usage
The best assignments demonstrate original thought. We give advice on this in Chapter 5; Example 1.2
it is one of the hardest things to do. Usage Example 1.2 gives some techniques. Be Original
Avoid Best practice

Classify previous research in Many findings suggest that Many findings indicate that
an original manner. viewing violent videos provokes viewing violent videos provokes
aggression. aggression. These findings can
be divided into three categories.
Whether children who exhibit
behavioural difficulties are more
likely than are peers to watch
violent videos.
…
Refer to research into new Anderson et al. (2010) Anderson et al. (2010) concluded
avenues. concluded that playing violent that playing violent video games
video games leads to aggression. leads to aggression. However,
Kasumovic et al. (2015) noted the
lack of research into why people
like to play such games.
3
1.2.3 Logical and Empirical Defence

You need to defend every statement you make in your assignment. Only two kinds are
Deduction: A form of
logical reasoning in which
acceptable: logical and empirical. To show that a particular statement is true using logic,
a conclusion follows from you need to use deduction. In deductive logic, a statement follows logically from previous
two or more premises. premises (Usage Example 1.3).
Usage Avoid Best practice

Example 1.3
Use Deductive If all violent videos promote If all violent videos promote
Logic aggression and if “The Wiggles” aggression and if “The Wiggles” is
promotes aggression then “The a violent video then “The Wiggles”
Wiggles” is a violent video. must promote violence.
To ensure your arguments are logical, you can apply formal rules (Chalmers, 2013).
Another method is simply to ask yourself whether or not an alternative to your argument
could be correct. To illustrate, after you read the poor example in Usage Example 1.3,
ask yourself whether “The Wiggles” could be a sound recording. The answer could be yes,
because the first sentence does not imply that only violent videos promote aggression.
To show that a particular statement is true empirically, you need to cite a study in which
someone has collected some relevant data (4.3). For example, you might write: “Coogan
et al. (2012) collated data from the U.S. Census and other sources to show that children
from low socioeconomic strata watch more TV than children from high socioeconomic
strata”. You then need to give a reference so that a reader could find that study (4.4).
1.2.4 Academic Integrity

Being a student requires you to act according to ethical standards, demonstrating
your academic integrity. The principles of academic integrity include that individuals
are honest in their ideas, words, work, and actions, that individuals credit the ideas,
words, work, and actions of others, and that individuals respect the rights of others (e.g.,
Princeton University, 2019). Breaches of any of these principles can leave you liable to
serious penalties including expulsion. The principles translate into at least four rules:
1. Data are Sacred. Data must be reported honestly and exactly. To breach this
Falsification of data: An rule, to falsify data, by altering or inventing data, is fraud. Instructors and university
extremely serious breach
administrators take an extremely dim view of fraud or of any dishonest practice.
of academic integrity in
which someone makes 2. Your Contributions are Sacred. Your contribution to anything you write must be
up data or alters data
clear. This rule can be broken by collusion. It happens when a student collaborates too
for a research report.
Collusion: A serious breach
closely with one or more other students. It is evident when two or more students submit
of academic integrity in assignments that are identical or similar. Many universities now use text-matching
which Student A copied software (e.g., Turnitin) to help instructors decide if a student has copied the words of
the work of Student B,
either with or without
someone else. If such software finds a string of words in an assignment that match another
permission. If Student B gave student’s, this could be evidence of collusion. If Student A were to copy Student B’s
permission, then Student work without permission, this is a more serious offence for Student A than copying with
B committed a breach of
academic integrity too. permission. If the Student B gave permission, Student B becomes an accomplice to the
offence.
Although your instructor might encourage students to work with one another, each
student’s final assignment should usually be that student’s own work. If you are working
on a group assignment, ensure you know your instructor’s expectations about the amount
Plagiarism: A serious breach of collaboration allowed in the final work.
of academic integrity in
which an author fails to 3. Others’ Contributions are Sacred. The ideas words, work, and actions of others
cite or attribute the words, must be credited. Plagiarism happens when a student presents the words, work, or ideas
work, or ideas of others.
of someone else without that credit. That is, plagiarism is theft; instructors and university
4
administrators take a very dim view of it. Text-matching software will almost certainly find
any text in an assignment that matches that of another author. If the suspect text is not in
quotation marks or if no author is cited, then this could be evidence of plagiarism.
To avoid plagiarism of words and ideas, you must cite the author and either place any
original words in quotation marks and give information, such as a page number, to allow
Paraphrase: Authors
a reader to find them in their source, or you must paraphrase—put the author’s words into paraphrase when they
your own (4.3). We show an original source (Exhibit 1.1; James, 1890) and various forms restate another author’s
words in their own.
of plagiarism and how to avoid it (Usage Example 1.4).
Desire, wish, will, are states of mind which everyone knows, and which no definition Exhibit 1.1
can make plainer. We desire to feel, to have, to do, all sorts of things which at the Some Text from
moment are not felt, had, or done. If with the desire there goes a sense that attainment Which to Illustrate
Plagiarism
is not possible, we simply wish; but if we believe that the end is in our power, we will
that the desired feeling, having, or doing shall be real; and real it presently becomes,
either immediately upon the willing or after certain preliminaries have been fulfilled.
(James, 1890, Vol. 2, p. 330)
Usage
Reference Example 1.4
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 2). Henry Holt. https://archive.org/ Avoid Plagiarism
details/PrinciplesOfPsychologyVol2/page/n3 and Overuse
of Quotation
Avoid Best practice

Use citation and quotation Everyone knows what desires, James (1890) said:
when you use the original wishes, and will are, that they Desire, wish, will, are states of
words of an author. are states of mind. We desire mind which everyone knows,
to feel things we are missing, to and which no definition can
have things we do not have, to do make plainer [give the rest of
things we have not done. If with this block quotation (4.3.6) here]
desire we sense that attainment (Vol 2, p. 330).
is not possible, our desires are
wishes; if with desire we feel that
attainment is possible we can fulfil
our desires by exercising our will
(James, 1890).
Paraphrase an author’s words James (1890) said that everyone James (1890) said that there
comprehensively, rather than knows what desires, wishes, and is no need to define “desire,
overusing quotation. will are, that they “are states of wishes, [and] will” (Vol 2.,
mind” (p. 330). He added that p. 330), because everyone
“we desire to feel [the thing we knows these mental states. He
are missing]” (p. 330), to have explained that desires arise when
the thing we do not have, to do we want what we do not have,
things we have not done and that that desires become wishes
“if with desire [we] … sense that when we cannot get what we
attainment is not possible” (p. want, and that desires turn into
330), our desires are wishes; if will when we realise we can get
with desire we feel that attainment what we want.
is possible we can fulfil our
desires by exercising our will.
(Continued)
5
(Continued)
Avoid Best practice
Cite an author’s ideas There is no need to define James (1890) said there is no
carefully and completely. mental states such as desire, need to define mental states
wishes, and will, because such as desire, wishes, and will,
everyone knows what they are because everyone knows them.
(James, 1890). Desires arise He explained that desires arise
when we want what we do not when we want what we do not
have, desires become wishes have, desires become wishes
when we cannot get what we when we cannot get what we
want, and desires turn into want, and desires turn into will
will when we realise we can get when we realise we can get what
what we want. we want.
A student who handed in the first example in Usage Example 1.4 would have
committed plagiarism of the words in boldface on the left: they are identical with James’s
(1890) words and they are consecutive. Moreover, the ideas belong to James. Although
the student has cited James at the end of the last sentence, it still contains plagiarism; the
other sentences are the graver crime because there is no citation for them.
A student who handed in the second example in Usage Example 1.4 would have
honoured the letter of the law, because all James’s words and the student’s identical words
are enclosed in quotation marks. But in this case, the student has too much quotation.
Your instructor wants you to put the words of other authors into your own, to paraphrase
or to summarise (4.2.2). The corrected example, of paraphrasing, is well cited with James’s
Summarise: Authors
summarise when they name in the first sentence and with the pronoun “he” in the second. It shows James’s
use their own words to important words in quotation marks and gives the page number.
give only the relevant
ideas of another author. A student who handed in the third example in Usage Example 1.4 would have
paraphrased and cited the first sentence correctly, but committed plagiarism of ideas
in the second sentence. This is because the parenthetical citation at the end of the first
sentence does not apply to the second. Moreover, the two sentences together represent
plagiarism of ideas because the structure of (the order of) this information is the same as
that of James’s original. The corrected example is well paraphrased and well cited, with
James’s name in the first sentence and with the pronoun “he” in the second.
It might seem instructors are lying in wait for an unwary student to blunder into the
plagiarism trap, whereupon they pounce and impose a terrible punishment. But this is exactly
the opposite of our intentions and those of other instructors we know. It breaks our hearts when
we discover evidence of plagiarism in a student’s assignment. Instructors are keen to teach
students how to communicate their own words and ideas and the words and ideas of others.
If your instructor allows, we recommend you use text-matching software to review
your assignment before submission. That way, you can see what the instructor would see
if you had submitted that version, and you can do something about it. The best approach
if text-matching software shows that some of your words match those in its database
is to go back to the paragraph containing those words in your assignment and rewrite
it completely in your own words. Then you can put the assignment through the text-
matching software again to see if you were successful.
A much worse approach would be to (use software to) rearrange the words until the
text-matching software no longer yields a match. Originally you might have plagiarised
unintentionally, but taking this approach means you are trying to fool the marker. This is a
dishonest practice—a form of fraud.
6
The worst approach would be to see the match and to do nothing about it before
submitting—to hope that the marker will not notice or will not care. Your markers will
notice and they do care.
We should mention that getting a clean report from text-matching software does
not mean your assignment is free from plagiarism. You might have copied words from a
source not in the text-matching software’s database, you might have paraphrased well but
omitted the citation, or you might have rearranged original words sufficiently to avoid the
software’s criteria.
4. Scholarship is Sacred. A pervasive form of deception some students (and admittedly
some researchers) practise is citing studies they have not read in full, to increase the length
of their reference lists and to give their assignments spurious credibility. Such students
may have read only a few sentences another author wrote about a study or have read
only its abstract. The rule is: “You must sight whatever you cite”.
Of course, it is not necessary to read a whole book to cite it, but you must read enough
of it to meet the rule, such as reading all of a chapter or section about a particular topic.
In that case, you cite the chapter or section you did read; in all other cases, use secondary
citation, in which you cite the authors you did read (4.3.2).
Text-matching software will likely fail to detect citations that have not been read in full.
But markers might know by various means, such as seeing a citation from a source the
library does not hold or from a source in a foreign language.
1.2.5 Acknowledgements and Avoiding

Plagiarism
You should acknowledge anyone who helped you with your assignment for no
particular reward, for example, by discussing it with you or by commenting on drafts. You
do not need to thank your tutor or instructor, but you might need to thank your study
partner with whom you shared literature for your assignment. You include these people in
the Author Note section on the title page of your assignment.
Some instructors require students, when submitting an assignment, to sign a statement
along these lines: “I understand what plagiarism is and I state that my assignment
contains no examples of plagiarism”. In any case, that sort of statement is implicit when
you submit. Here are some tips on how to have a clear conscience on signing such a
statement and how to avoid plagiarism:
• Make sure that if you copy the words of others, you always enclose all of the copy in
quotation marks, record the page number, and record the full reference. This is true
whether you copy by hand or copy from an electronic source.
• Try to get the topic and what you have read into your own head, to think about it.
Before you begin writing a particular section of your assignment, consider putting
all your written notes and electronic notes away and writing down what you want
to tell your reader in your own words. Imagine your reader to be a well-meaning,
interested, high-school student wanting to study psychology (1.3.7)—this will
force you to use your own words because most of what you have read will be for
professional psychology researchers.
• As far as possible, avoid paraphrasing. Although this might seem to contradict what we
have said earlier, instructors rarely want paraphrasing in an assignment. They want you
to summarise and integrate information (6.4.5), to take your own perspective.
• Be humble and realistic. The authors you read have spent the best part of their
lifetimes honing their abilities to write. Your instructors do not expect you to have
attained this standard, although they do expect you to aspire to it over the years of
7
your psychology course. If you are realistic about your own abilities, you might not
try to exceed them by copying the styles, ideas, or words of the people you read.
• Being humble and realistic also includes realising that if you come up with an
idea in the few days or weeks you might spend on an assignment, it is quite
likely that someone among all the psychologists who have contributed to that
topic during its history has also come up with the idea. For example, your
instructor is not going to be impressed if you concluded your research report’s
introduction with the hypothesis that there is a magic number seven that
affects human memory if you did not credit Miller (1956) with originating this
hypothesis. For another example, your instructor is not going to be impressed
if you argued in your essay that how one identifies with various social groups
affects attitudes to people in and out of those groups if you did not credit Tajfel
and Turner (1979) with originating this argument. That is, you should make a
reasonable search for whoever originated any idea you come up with and cite
that person in your assignment if your search is successful.
• A poor approach to avoiding plagiarism would be to submit an assignment
containing mainly long quotations. Markers will often regard assignments that
include more than 325 characters (50 words) of quotes for every 6,500 characters
(1,000 words) as unoriginal. Nevertheless, the penalties for plagiarism are usually
much more severe than the marks you would lose for having too much quotation.
We give further guidelines on summarising, paraphrasing, and quoting sources
in 4.3.5.
1.2.6 Editorial Style

Part of studying psychology is learning its writing conventions. Indeed, part of studying
at university is to learn about various conventions in different disciplines and professions.
We, as academic psychologists, follow many conventions including the National Health
and Medical Research Council’s (2009) precepts for treating human research participants,
the code of ethics of the American Psychological Association (2017), our own universities’
codes of ethics, and this book’s publisher’s style guide. Other professionals have their own
conventions to follow.
Psychologists use a writing style called APA style, from the American Psychological
Association. It is a set of conventions for written communication of complex scientific ideas
and findings in psychology, using a standard structure (1.4.2). APA style is also widely used
in related disciplines. These conventions are described in detail in the seventh edition of
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020) (APA Manual).
Some of the requirements of APA style apply to most forms of writing in psychology (1.4).
Other requirements are more specific to certain types of writing, such as research reports
(Chapter 2) and essays (Chapter 3). Unless your instructors tell you otherwise, they will
assess your use of APA style.
1.2.7 Sources of Help

If you are starting out in psychology, you may need help with your first or later
assignments. Your instructors will recognise this and will help you in various ways. For
example, your first assignments might be relatively short, focusing on just one or two
aspects of writing, such as finding literature or citing and paraphrasing. Your instructors
may also give you classroom or online writing instruction—make sure you take these
opportunities. You may have access to tutors who can answer your questions, to librarians
who can help you with finding material, to dedicated teaching-and-learning staff members
8
who can help with grammar and writing style, and to counsellors who can help if you get
stuck with issues such as procrastination or writer’s block. Make sure you get help from all
these people if you need it; you will find them only too happy to provide it.
There are some things the people we have mentioned are unlikely to do. For example,
your instructors or tutors will not read a draft of your assignment, especially if they will
also mark it (this is an issue of equity). Your librarian will probably be unlikely to download
papers for you. But you can get help with such things by setting up your own support
networks. Consider forming a study group so you can share resources and recruiting a
trusted person to read your drafts.
Above all, read, read, read! Read articles in good psychology journals, books in the
library, and your textbooks. Read great novels too. The more you read the better your
writing will become through a psychological process called incidental learning. Exploit it.
1.3 Writing Style

1.3.1 Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation
In your assignments, your grammar, spelling, and punctuation must be correct. These
goals are not as easy to accomplish as they are to say (Usage Example 1.5). We give the
principles of grammar and punctuation in Chapter 6.
Avoid Best practice Usage

Example 1.5
Either lollies or smiling promote Either lollies or smiling promotes Use Correct
happiness. happiness. Grammar and
Punctuation
The man who Smith examined felt The man whom Smith examined felt
happy after smiling. happy after smiling.
A child will feel happier if they are Children will feel happier if they are
asked to smile. asked to smile.
Smiling promotes happiness, and also Smiling promotes happiness and also
fosters hope. fosters hope.
Use the recognised arbiter of spelling for your area. In the United States use Webster,
for Canada use Gage, for Australia use Macquarie, and elsewhere use the Oxford English
Dictionary. Use an electronic dictionary (e.g., OneLook dictionary search, n.d.) for internet-
and web-specific words.
If your word processor includes spelling and grammar checkers, use them once
immediately before you submit your assignment. However, be aware that even the best
spelling checkers will sometimes overlook errors (e.g., “there” for “their”, “right” for “write”)
and report false errors (e.g., names, technical terms, and local spellings such as “colour”
for “color”). Grammar checkers are also fallible—missing errors and identifying correct
grammar as incorrect. Be sure you understand why your grammar checker has identified
an error before changing your text.
1.3.2 Objectivity, Formality, Impartiality, and

Respect
In your assignments, you must write objectively, formally, impartially, and respectfully. Avoid
clichés and colloquialisms as well as casual, pretentious, and emotional words. For example, a
9
student might write, “At the end of the day [cliché] the research is up the creek [colloquialism]
and only an idiot [emotional word] would get [casual word] caught by the theory’s proselytising
[pretentious word]”. That student would be better to write, “The methodological errors in the
research prevent the results from supporting the theory” (6.4.1).
Formal writing means communicating your intentions and feelings with words, and not
with typography, such as using boldface, all uppercase, or italics to emphasise particular
words or phrases. Emojis, of course, are also never part of formal writing.
Treat all people you write about with respect and inclusivity. Use the terms they
themselves prefer. Describe different people using the same sorts of words (if possible) and
give specific information about them. The editors of the APA Manual give eight personal
attributes that writers need to respect (Usage Example 1.6).
Usage
Example 1.6
Be Respectful
Avoid Best practice
Age Participants were 100 young Participants were
people and 100 elderly. 100 younger people (ages
[“Elderly” implies a stereotype, 20–35 years) and 100 older
is not specific, and is not people (ages 65–80 years).
preferred by the people
described.]
Disability Autistic people have the People with autism [use
following characteristics ... person-first language] have the
[Giving the label first, or, worse, following characteristics ...
only the label (“Autistics”),
implies that such people are
defined by their label.]
Gender He [the participant] was required Participants used the right index
to use his right index finger to finger to press the response
press the response button … [If button … [Active voice also
gender is irrelevant, either avoid makes the participants the
personal pronouns or use plurals agents of their actions.]
or both.]
Abrams (2017) described what it Abrams (2017) described
is like to be gender non-binary, what it is like to be gender
drawing on her experiences … non-binary, drawing on their
[“Her” is not among Abrams’s experiences …
preferred personal pronouns;
they are the singular “they”,
“them”, and “their”.]
Intersectionality (how different There were 48 immigrants and Participants were
contexts can interact to 52 citizens; 56 were women and 23 immigrant women,
produce inequality) 44 were men. [This disguises 25 immigrant men,
intersectionality of gender and 33 citizen women, and
status in a country.] 19 citizen men.
(Continued)
10
(Continued)
Avoid Best practice
Participation in Research Subjects were ... [Although the Participants were …
editors of the APA Manual allow Subjects were 16 pet dogs
“Subjects” because this term (Canis familiaris)
was used for about 100 years
prior to 1994, we and they prefer Subjects were
“Participants” to record that 63 babies aged from
people participate in research, 6 to 9 months….
giving their informed consent.
We and they prefer “Subjects”
for non-human animals. We
prefer “Subjects” for individuals
who cannot give informed
consent, such as children.]
We studied 12 patients and 12 We studied 12 people diagnosed
people matched for age. [Use with schizophrenia and
“patients” only in health contexts 12 age-matched people with no
to describe people with a such diagnosis.
diagnosed disorder and receiving
treatment by a health-care
provider. In any case, describe
them equitably and specifically.]
Race and ethnicity Participants included 100 New Participants included 100 New
Zealanders and 100 Maori. Zealanders of European descent
[This implies incorrectly that and 100 New Zealanders of
Māori people are neither New Māori descent.
Zealanders nor have a preference
for how their race is spelled.]
Afro-American people… [“Afro- African American [or Black
American” is American, with a capital “B”]
non-preferred.] people …
Sexual orientation and gender Homosexuals can be Sexual minorities including
identity distinguished from lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans,
heterosexuals. [“Homosexual” queer, and others can be
is not a preferred term; the distinguished from the majority
description incorrectly implies of heterosexuals.
that sexual orientation is binary.]
Socioeconomic status Participants were 10 homeless Participants were
people and 10 middle-income 10 people experiencing
people. [Use person-first homelessness and on low
language, make equitable terms, incomes and 10 people living in
and give specific information their own homes and on middle
about relevant aspects of incomes.
socioeconomic status.]
11
Sex: The biological aspects

The personal attributes of individuals that cause the most confusion we see in student
that differ among males, writing are sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
females, and various
forms of intersexuality. Sex refers to the biological aspects that differ among males, females, and various forms
Gender: The social aspects of intersexuality and transsexuality. In most cases, it is determined by genetic makeup
that differ among men, and how genes are expressed in individuals to produce various aspects, including sex
women, and various
chromosomes (i.e., XY for males, XX for females, and some mixture for intersex), primary
other genders.
Sexual orientation: The
sex characteristics (i.e., present at birth, such as penis and testicles for males, vagina
attraction individuals and ovaries for females, and some mixture of both for intersex), and secondary sex
have for others based on characteristics (i.e., present at sexual maturity, such as deep voice and facial hair for males,
their sex or gender.
breasts and wide hips for females, and some mixture of both for intersex). Transsexuality
is when an individual uses surgery and hormones to change some sex characteristics to
a sex that matches his, her, or their gender. If, in a survey, there was a question asking
participants to state their sex, then, depending on the criterion, some people could not be
sure, because very few people have had their genetic makeup and sex hormones tested. If
the subjects in an experiment were human babies, then it is legitimate to describe them as
males (or boys) or females (or girls), based on their primary sex characteristics. Likewise, if
the subjects in an experiment were animals, then it is legitimate to describe them as males
and females, based on their secondary sex characteristics.
Gender refers to the social aspects that differ among men, trans men, women,
trans women, and various other genders, including non-binary and genderqueer. It is
determined by sex and by societal influences. If, in a survey, there was a question asking
participants to state their gender, then everyone knows his, her, or their gender identity.
Sexual orientation refers to the attraction individuals have for others based on their sex
or gender. It is unknown exactly how it is determined, but social influence, sex, and gender
are presumably involved. Men attracted to same-sexed or same-gendered people are gay.
Women attracted to same-sexed or same-gendered people are lesbian. Those attracted
to different-sex or different-gendered people are heterosexual. Others have various
attractions such as bisexual, asexual, and pansexual.
1.3.3 Simplicity
Your writing should be simple rather than complicated, or worse, pretentious.
Simplicity includes ensuring that each sentence you write contains one thought, that each
Topic sentence: A sentence
paragraph contains one major idea, and that each paragraph contains a topic sentence
that summarises the major that gives its major idea (6.2.9). It also includes:
idea of a paragraph.
• using the active voice in which the subject acts on the verb (e.g., “The participant
Voice: A property of a verb.
There are two possibilities: [subject] pressed [active-voice verb] the key [object]”; 6.2.1),
active voice (we recommend
• avoiding all but essential technical terms, and
it), in which the subject
acts on the verb (e.g., “The • avoiding jargon from outside of psychology (6.4.2).
participant [subject] pressed
[active-voice verb] the key Some psychology works, especially articles published before about 1994, contain
[object]”), and passive voice,
prose with no personal reference and written in the passive (6.2.1) voice (e.g., “It will be
in which the subject is acted
on by the verb, (i.e., “The argued by the present author that …”). Then, such writing was considered to confer an
key [object] was pressed objective style. Now, guidelines first given in the APA Manual (1994), and re-emphasised in
[passive-voice verb] by the
subsequent editions, are that you use personal reference for your own contributions to the
participant [subject]”).
work for your assignment and the active voice to simplify and humanise your writing (e.g.,
“I will argue that …”; 1.3.7). Many instructors, however, consider this advice too confusing
for students in the first three years of their study (misleading them, for example, to write “I
think …”, which you should never, never, never write in any psychology assignment). Check
with your instructor and look at Chapters 2 and 3 for how to deal with this issue.
12
1.3.4 Precision and Clarity

In informal writing, ambiguities can be amusing, such as the newspaper headlines
“Iraqi head seeks arms” or “Red tape holds up new bridge”. However, scientists are not
renowned for their sense of humour and prefer writing that is precise and clear (Usage
Example 1.7). We provide further advice in 6.4.3.
Avoid Best practice Usage

Example 1.7
Harris and Prouvost (2014) concluded Harris and Prouvost (2014) concluded Write Clearly
that dogs can experience jealousy, that dogs can experience jealousy,
but others do not agree. but other scholars do not agree.
Many teachers wear flat shoes Many teachers wear flat shoes to
to ensure they do not stumble. ensure they do not stumble. Principals
Principals encourage this. encourage teachers to wear flat
shoes.
You need to ensure all the words you use mean what you think they mean; use a
dictionary if you have the slightest doubt. Your marker will not be impressed if you wrote
“suppository of all wisdom” when you meant “repository”, as famously said by a former
Australian Prime Minister.
Some psychology terms have different meanings from the same words in informal
writing. That is, psychology has its own jargon you must learn and use correctly. The most
common mistake we see from students is “prove”. Only in mathematics can someone prove
anything, such as a theorem. In science, the best anyone can do is to provide evidence
consistent with a hypothesis or theory.
Another reserved word is “significant” and its variants (e.g., “significance” and
“significantly”). Researchers use them to refer to statistical significance—whether a
particular finding can be taken seriously or dismissed as due to chance factors. It is best
to use words such as “important” or “considerable” instead of “significant” for other uses.
Lilienfeld et al. (2015) give other examples of misused psychology terms (1.7).
1.3.5 Conciseness
Write as concisely as possible. You need to eliminate unnecessary paragraphs,
sentences, phrases, and words. For example, this: “At the present time [wordy] we need to
conduct future planning [tautology] for events in close proximity [tautology] to our location
[wordy]”, can be reduced to “Now we need to plan for nearby events”. In 6.4.4 we present
more tips on how to shorten your assignments.
1.3.6 Interest
You need to write interesting prose in your assignments. You do this by being original
(1.2.2) and by organising your writing so your sentences and paragraphs flow seamlessly,
from one to the next (6.4.5).
1.3.7 Audience
You need to have a clear image of the audience, the reader, of your assignment. Imagine
one person you know, care about, and respect, but who knows less about your topic
than you. If you are an introductory student, imagine writing for a final-year high-school
student. If you are an advanced student, imagine writing for an introductory student.
13
Nevertheless, you need to keep your distance from your reader (1.3.3). You can use the
first-person singular (6.2.3) only when referring to your contributions to an assignment
(e.g., “I used a t-test to analyse the results”) and the first-person plural only if you are
writing a group assignment (e.g., “We tested five participants each for a total of 25”).
You use the third person when referring to others (e.g., “He [Chalmers, 2013] gave the
principles of deductive logic”, “They [participants] used a key pad to give responses”).
Unlike our approach in this book, you must avoid the second person (i.e., “you”).
For example, rather than writing “You can see in Figure 1 …”, write “Figure 1 shows …”.
And, unless you are writing a group assignment, you must avoid the first-person plural
(e.g., “we”). Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “Only kings, editors, and people with
tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we’” (O’Toole, n.d.). For example, rather than
writing “We [you and the reader] will reach the conclusion …”, write “I will show … …”.
1.4 APA Editorial Style

The ability to develop and defend original ideas, as well as to write appropriately, might
require several weeks, months, or even years to develop. You might be alarmed if you first
opened this book today and need to submit an assignment tomorrow. Fortunately, you
can quickly learn the basic aspects of APA style. To help, we provide Word templates for
research reports and essays in the online resources for the book.
1.4.1 Margins, Spacing, Font, Running Heads,

and Page Numbers
APA style for presentation of your assignment is to:
• Use white, A4-sized pages and leave a 2.54 cm margin on all sides. We recommend
1 cm larger (i.e., 3.54 cm) left and right margins, which make your writing easier to
read.
• Use double line spacing (24 point) throughout with no extra spacing or lines after
headings or paragraphs, except for figures and tables which have one extra line
above and one below (2.7.3, 2.7.4).
• Insert one space at the end of a sentence, and after all punctuation.
• Use black 12-point serif font, such as Times New Roman, or 11-point sans-serif font
such as Calibri or Arial, throughout. We recommend 12-point Times New Roman,
also for readability, except for figures and tables, for which we recommend at least
10-point Calibri (2.7.3, 2.7.4).
• Justify text on the left margin; leave the right margin ragged.
• Indent each paragraph by 1.27 cm on the first line (use your word processor’s
paragraph tools to do this).
• Make exceptions to the above requirement for the abstract, figure titles and notes,
and table titles and notes, which are not indented, and for references, which are
formatted as hanging paragraphs (4.5).
• Provide a running head in the top left corner of each page, beginning on the title
Running head: A short,
informative version of the page. The running head is an abbreviated title of fewer than 50 characters including
title of an assignment printed spaces, presented in all-capital letters, such as “VIOLENT VIDEO CONTENT AND
at the top left of every page.
AGGRESSION”.
• Number pages in their top right corners, on the same line as the running head.
14
1.4.2 Structure, Headings

APA style has a clear structure for all writing, including research reports and essays,
requiring various sections in order. Each section is marked with its own heading (APA
Example 1.1). In research reports, headings are used for:
• The main sections, which have Level 1 headings: on the first page, the Title and
Author Note; after a page break, the Abstract; after another page break, the
Introduction with the Title as its heading, the Method, Results, and Discussion;
and then after page breaks, the list of References, and any Appendices. Level 1
headings are centred, with boldface font, and with each major word capitalised.
Major words: All words of
Major words comprise four or more letters or are nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, four or more letters or that
and pronouns (even if fewer than four letters, such as “Is” and “He”). are nouns, adjectives, verbs,
adverbs, and pronouns (even
• Subsections within the main sections have Level 2 headings. Commonly the Method if fewer than four letters,
has subsections; in order they include Participants, Materials, Procedure, and such as “Is” and “He”).
Design). Within the Introduction you might use subsections (e.g., Theory A, Theory B).
Within the Results you might use subsections (e.g., Measure 1, Measure 2).
Within the Discussion you might use subsections (e.g., Implications for Theory A,
Implications for Theory B). Level 2 headings are left-justified, with boldface font,
and with each major word capitalised.
• Sub-subsections within Level 2 subsections have Level 3 headings. These are rare
in introductory student research reports, but you might use them later if you have
a complicated Level 2 subsection (e.g., a Participants section might have Sample 1,
Sample 2). Level 3 headings are left-justified, with boldface, italicised font, and with
each major word capitalised.
In essays, Level 1 headings are used for the main sections: on the first page, the
Title and Author Note; after a page break, the Abstract; after another page break, the
Introduction (with Title as its heading), then the Body and Conclusion; and, after a page
break, the list of References. Level 2 headings can be used to distinguish subsections of
the main text. Level 3 headings are rare in essays of fewer than about 13,000 characters
(2,000 words).
A Level 1 Heading Is Centred, in Boldface, with the First Letter of Each Major APA Example 1.1
Word Capitalised Three Levels
of Headings
A Level 2 Heading Is Left-Justified, in Boldface, with the First Letter of Each
Major Word Capitalised
A Level 3 Heading Is Left-Justified, in Boldface and Italics, with the First Letter of
Each Major Word Capitalised
With all three headings, text then continues as a new paragraph.
1.4.3 Citation and References Narrative citation: A

citation comprising the
Citations and references must comply with APA editorial style. We give the basics here; surname(s) of the author(s)
Chapter 4 gives detailed advice about finding, reading, citing, and referencing. Citations followed by its year of
publication in parentheses.
appear in the text of your assignment; references appear in the section at the end of your
Parenthetical citation:
assignment.
A citation comprising the
There are two forms of citation: narrative citations and parenthetical citations. Before surname(s) of the author(s)
and the year of publication
we go on, we need to clarify some APA terminology. Parentheses are round brackets used separated by a comma
for punctuation and to enclose text not needed for understanding the surrounding text. and all in parentheses.
15
Parentheses (the They always come in pairs; the left parenthesis is “(” and the right parenthesis is “)”. In this
singular is parenthesis): book we call them parentheses, although they are sometimes referred to as round brackets
1. Punctuation marks,
or brackets. We distinguish them from square brackets [thus], also confusingly known as
also known as round
brackets or brackets, used brackets, and braces {thus}, also known as curly brackets.
to enclose text that is not
vital for understanding
Parenthesis also means a part of a sentence—like this—that is not essential to the
the surrounding text or meaning of the sentence. It is set off from the rest of the sentence by paired punctuation,
to enclose the year in a such as commas, dashes, or parentheses. Parenthetical is the adjective; in a parenthetical
narrative citation.
2. Parenthesis: A singular
citation, the citation, although vital for a reader, is unnecessary for the meaning of the
noun referring to a part of a sentence containing it.
sentence that is not essential
to its meaning or to one of • Narrative citations include the surname(s) of the author(s) of a reference followed
the punctuation marks. by its year of publication in parentheses. An example is, “Breuer and Freud (1895)
Square brackets: suggested that …”. Note that in a narrative citation, “and” between two authors’
Punctuation marks, also
names is spelled out fully.
known as brackets, used to
enclose parenthetical text • Parenthetical citations include the surname(s) of the author(s) of a reference and
for various purposes [thus].
its year of publication separated by a comma and all in parentheses. An example
Braces: Punctuation
marks, also known as curly is, “there is some doubt about whether males have poorer verbal skills than females
brackets, used to enclose (e.g., Hyde & Linn, 1988)”. Note that in a parenthetical citation, “and” between two
parenthetical text for
authors’ names is abbreviated to an ampersand (&).
various purposes {thus}.
In both types of citation, if there are three or more authors, give the first author’s
surname followed by “et al.,” (Latin abbreviation for “and others”) unless such a citation
would refer to more than one reference. In that case, give enough names to identify which
reference a particular citation corresponds to.
In the list of references, you give the details of each source so a reader could find it in
the library or on the internet.
There are four basic types of references: journal articles, book chapters, books, and others
(e.g., government reports, theses, conference papers, web pages). APA Example 1.2 gives
basic templates and some examples. We have printed components of each reference in
different colours to show the components (e.g., author names in orange, (year) in very dark
blue, and title in light blue; 4.4.2–4.4.5). You should print your references all in black text.
APA Example 1.2 Journal Article

Basic Reference
Templates and
Author1, I. N., Author2, I. N., & Author3, I. N. (year). Title of journal article.
Examples
Journal Title, Volume(Issue), start page–end page. https://doi.org/Digital
Object Identifier (DOI) if available or Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
Alais, D., Cass, J., O’Shea, R. P., & Blake, R. (2010). Visual sensitivity
underlying changes in visual consciousness. Current Biology, 20(15),
1362–1367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.06.015
Adams, G. K. (1923). An experimental study of memory color and related

phenomena. American Journal of Psychology, 34(3), 359–407. http://www.
jstor.org/stable/1413955
(Continued)
16
(Continued)
Book Chapter
Author1, I. N., Author2, I. N., & Author3, I. N. (year). Title of book chapter.
In I. N. Editor1 & I. N. Editor2 (Eds.). Title of edited book (pp. start page–
end page). Publisher. DOI or URL
Gross, C. G. (2008). Charles G. Gross. In L. R. Squire (Ed.), The history

of neuroscience in autobiography (Vol. 6, pp. 96–157). The Society
for Neuroscience. http://www.sfn.org/about/history-of-neuroscience/
autobiographical-chapters
Kotler, J., Wright, J., & Huston, A. (2001). Television use in families with
children. In J. Bryant & J. A. Bryant (Eds.). Television and the American
family (2nd ed., pp. 33–48). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.
org/10.4324/9781410600172
Tetris effect (2020 April 26). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.

php?title=Tetris_effect&oldid=953287222
Book
Author1, I. N., Author2, I. N., & Author3, I. N. (year). Title of book. Publisher
or Site Name. DOI or URL
Howe, M. L. (2011). The nature of early memory: An adaptive theory of the

genesis and development of memory. Oxford Scholarship Online. https://
doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195381412.001.0001
Other Works
Author1, I. N., Author2, I. N., & Author3, I. N. (year). Title of other work.
Any publication details. DOI or URL
Lingelbach, B., & Ehrenstein, W. H., Jr. (ca. 2000). Das Hermann-Gitter
und die Folgen [The Hermann grid and its implications]. Institut für
Augenoptik. https://web.archive.org/web/20031030182518/http://www.
leinroden.de/304herfold.htm
Miller, A. (1943). Investigation of the apparent shape of the sky. Unpublished

B.A. thesis, Pennsylvania State University.
Riak, J. (Ed.). (2010). Project NoSpank. Parents and Teachers Against Violence
in Education. http://www.nospank.net/
17
You will notice some complications. The citation and reference for “Tetris effect” (2020)
shows what to do when authors are unknown. The citation and reference for Lingelbach
and Ehrenstein (ca. 2000) shows what to do when a reference’s date is uncertain, when an
author’s name has a title, and when the title is in a foreign language. We give details about
complications in Chapter 4.
List references in alphabetical order. List only references you cited in the text of your
research report or essay.
1.4.4 Other Aspects

What we have given in 1.4.1–1.4.3 are the most important aspects of APA style if you are
starting your assignment 48 hours before the deadline. You should now read the remainder of
this chapter, close the book, start reading some references, and then start writing.
If you have more time, APA style governs numerous other aspects, including use
of tenses, numbers, abbreviations, figures, and tables. We cover these in the following
chapters.
1.5 Writing
1.5.1 Plan
Organisation is basic to effective writing. As early as possible, establish what the research
report or essay requires you to think about; develop broad arguments and questions—subject
to regular modification—that direct your reading and your search for specific material.
Record notes as you read using various systems, such as in tables or shorthand. Prepare a
flow diagram or outline to structure your ideas. Chapter 4 provides more information on
strategies to help you find and use references efficiently and effectively.
1.5.2 Rewrite
Be prepared to write at least two drafts of your research report or essay. As Stanley Roscoe
said: “Good writing isn’t written, it’s rewritten” (as quoted in O’Hare, 2015, p. 10). Writing
involves two separate jobs you perform alternately: writing and editing. When you are
writing, you should be concerned with recording your ideas rather than with perfecting your
expression. As Thurber (1939/1990) said: “Don’t get it right, just get it written” (p. 37).
When you are editing, you should pretend that someone else has written the draft
and your task is to improve it. Allow a few days between completing a draft and editing
so you can see it with fresh eyes. Ensure what you have written really relates to the
assignment topic. Prune any unnecessary words or paragraphs. Correct errors of spelling,
punctuation, and grammar. Reorganise the material to ensure a clear, logical flow of ideas.
If you need to rewrite substantial parts of your assignment, return to being an uncritical
writer, then re-edit. The more times you can go through writing and editing, the better
your assignment will be.
The best people to edit a close-to-final draft are other people, trustworthy yet unfamiliar
with the topic. We use the plural on purpose here—the more people who are prepared to
comment on your draft, the better. Your editors’ completely fresh eyes will readily see
writing errors and glitches in your logic or flow.
Treat your editors’ comments like gold, even if their suggestions about how to fix
problems are contradictory. If any editor could not follow something in your writing, resist
the temptation to explain it to your editor. Swallow your pride, thank your editor, and then
rewrite to explain the material more clearly. Edit your work again before preparing the
final version for submission.
18
1.5.3 Character Limits, Word Limits,

and Page Limits
Your instructor will usually set a character limit, a word limit, or a page limit and will
apply a penalty for exceeding it. Make sure you keep within the limit. A character limit
includes all characters, including spaces and punctuation, in the main text including
the Abstract, citations, dates, parenthetical comments, abbreviations, figures, and
tables. The reference list is, however, usually excluded. As a rough guide, there are about
6.5 characters per word. A word limit is similar and would include every word in the
assignment, including words of three letters or fewer, such as “is”, “the”, and “a”. There
are about 1,600 characters (150 words) per page. If a page limit is imposed, ensure you
understand the requirements. For example, is the title page included or not? Are the pages
of the references included? Are there instructions on margins, line spacing, and font size?
Instructors enforce character, word, or page limits for two reasons. First, in the real
world, your writing needs to be concise. Your colleagues, clients, managers, and editors do
not have the time to read lengthy pieces of work. Second, your marker needs to be fair to
students who conform to the limit.
1.6 Submission
1.6.1 Online vs Paper?
Make sure you keep a copy of your assignment!
Most likely, you will submit your assignment online, via your institution’s learning
management system (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle). This system will also likely put your
assignment through software to detect plagiarism. The system will automatically
record your name, student ID number, the time and date you submitted, the name of
the assignment, and the unit information. It may also show the marker the number of
characters, words, and pages, and a score of how closely your text matches that of others.
If you do not know how to submit your assignment online, check the instructions in the
online resources for your unit, search the web, or ask fellow students.
If you submit your assignment on paper, precede your assignment with a cover page
with your name, student number, assignment topic, subject or unit code, due date,
instructor’s name, and a count of characters and words. This cover page is separate from
the title page of your assignment and would not normally contribute to the character/
word/page count.
1.6.2 Deadlines
The deadline is the date and time before which you must submit your assignment. If
you submit after the deadline, even by one minute, you will most likely lose some marks for
the assignment. Make sure you understand your instructor’s penalties for submitting late
and use these to optimise your submission. For example, if you will lose 10% of potential
marks per 24-hour period after the deadline, submit late only if in each such period you
can improve your marks by more than 10%. If the worst happens and you know you are
already late by five minutes, spend some more time improving your assignment in the
next 23 hours, and then submit.
At the beginning of the semester, understand the deadlines of all your assignments from
all your units. Use them to manage your time. Construct a schedule for each assignment.
You need to give yourself time to read, to write, to revise, and to submit.
19
Start work on any assignment at least three weeks before the due date. A schedule
might be days 1 to 4 for reading, days 5 to 7 for producing a first draft, days 8 to 11
for showing the assignment to others, days 12 to 15 for producing the final draft and
submitting, and days 16 to 19 for emergencies. Stick to your schedule.
If unforeseen circumstances beyond your control delay your submission, ensure you
are familiar with your instructor’s policy on late work. Some instructors allow students to
apply for extensions if they do so before the due date. You will probably not be penalised
if you become ill around the deadline, provided you have the necessary documentation
to support your case. Your instructor may consider other circumstances, such as
difficult family or personal issues. Most instructors will not accept excuses such as work
commitments, other assignments due at the same time, or computer problems.
Keep in mind Murphy’s Laws when planning your work schedule for an assignment:
• Anything that can possibly go wrong will.
• It will go wrong at the worst possible time.
• Anything that goes wrong will have the worst possible outcome.
• When adding on two days for unexpected delays, add on two weeks for unexpected
delays.
• Your vital piece of equipment, such as your computer, typewriter, pen, photocopier,
car, or bicycle will break down irreparably for 48 hours before the due date.
• Any people vital to the assignment, such as your typist, study companion, person
commenting on your drafts, instructor, head of department, vice-chancellor, or
head of state will disappear 48 hours before the due date.
• Anything about you vital to the assignment will cease functioning 48 hours before
the due date: your hand will become paralysed, your memory will go blank, and
your motivation will evaporate.
• All material vital to the assignment, including your notes, photocopies, rough drafts,
internet connection, or the library itself will disappear 48 hours before the due date.
Good luck!
1.7 Helpful Sources

American Psychological Association. (2020). APA style. https://apastyle.apa.org
This site provides instructions and examples of how to apply APA style.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Sauvigné, K. C., Lynn, S. J., Cautin, R. L., Latzman, R. D., & Waldman,
I. D. (2015). Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: A list of inaccurate,
misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases.
Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 1100. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01100
The title of this paper says it all.
Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2010). The psychologist’s companion: A guide to writing
scientific papers for students and researchers (5th rev. ed.). Cambridge University
Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511762024
This provides general advice on writing research reports, including the basics of
editorial and writing style.
20
Chapter 2
Writing Research
Reports
We describe research reports (1.1) next. Other research reports include systematic
Systematic review:
reviews (7.4) and meta-analyses (7.4). Research reports do not include reports that A literature review that is
registered psychologists write about their clients (if necessary, you will receive training for structured like a report, with
an Introduction, Method,
such reports during postgraduate study).
Results, and Discussion. The
Method gives explicit details
2.1 Kinds of Research and

of how the author searched
the literature; the Results
give the details of that search.
Expectations for Research

The Introduction and the
Discussion give the author’s
hypotheses or arguments.
Reports
Meta-analysis:
A particular type of report,
in which the data are
effect sizes from primary
For a research report, your instructor may have involved you in a study, such as in a research reports following
laboratory or practical class, in which you and your classmates collected some data. To a systematic review.
write a report of your research, you describe and interpret it, based on a set of readings,
to test one or more hypotheses (1.2.2). In this chapter, we help you prepare for and write
such a report. We provide a good example research report (2.12) and a flawed version of it
(Appendix A).
Research can be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods. Quantitative research Quantitative research:
involves numerical measurement of variables (e.g., response times, numbers of correct Research using numerical
responses, rating scales) followed by statistical analysis. Most undergraduate reports measurement of
variables followed by
are quantitative research. Qualitative research includes participants talking about their statistical analysis.
experiences (e.g., in interviews, focus groups, surveys) followed by content or discourse Qualitative research:
analyses (2.6.6, 2.7.7). Mixed-methods research combines quantitative and qualitative Research using participants’
methods. talking about their
experiences (e.g., in
Your instructor and marker will have some expectations about your report. They interviews, focus groups,
surveys), followed by content
include that you have a research question from which you have drawn a hypothesis and
or discourse analyses.
that you meet various marking criteria. Mixed-methods research:
Research combining
2.1.1 Hypotheses quantitative and

qualitative methods.
A hypothesis is a simple statement predicting a relationship between a cause and an
effect or a relationship between at least two variables (1.2.2). There are two broad classes: Conceptual hypothesis: A
conceptual hypotheses, in which the variables are framed conceptually (e.g., praise and simple statement predicting
self-esteem respectively) and operational hypotheses, in which the variables are framed a relationship between at
least two variables framed
between what has been manipulated or measured (e.g., reward tokens and scores on a test broadly as concepts.
of self-esteem, respectively). Operational hypothesis: A
simple statement predicting
a relationship between at
least two variables framed
narrowly as what was
manipulated or measured.
21
Theory: A well-substantiated, Ideally, your hypothesis comes from theory. A theory is a well-substantiated, organised,
organised, general general explanation of a set of phenomena and facts from which predictions, hypotheses,
explanation of a set of
can be made (5.2.1).
phenomena and facts
from which predictions For example, you might participate in a class activity in which your instructor asks
can be made.
you to rate the extent to which you perceive a stranger in a photograph as hostile and
untrustworthy. Some of your classmates watch a violent video before they rate this
Experiment: A procedure photograph. Other classmates watch a non-violent video before they rate the photograph.
designed to test a hypothesis
about cause and effect. In
Your operational hypothesis might be “Exposure to a violent video increases measures
psychology, an experiment is of perceived hostility and mistrust”. Your conceptual hypothesis might be “Exposure to
a study in which individuals violent videos increases perceived hostility and mistrust”. Your hypothesis might derive
are randomly assigned to
conditions, in which each
from more general theories, such as Bandura and Walters’s (1977) social learning theory—
individual performs in all that we tend to imitate behaviours—and from Wheeler et al.’s (2007) active-self theory—
conditions, or in which there that we expect others to share our view of our own behaviours.
is some mixture of these two
experimental designs. In This instructor has run what we define as an experiment, a procedure designed to test
the first case, the procedure
a hypothesis about cause and effect (5.3.1). The procedure differs between individuals only
differs between individuals in
one aspect—the independent in one aspect—the independent variable; it is manipulated by the researcher. Everything
variable. Everything else in else in the procedure is identical for all individuals, including the dependent variable; it
the procedure, including
is what the researcher measures. If the measures differ in the different conditions of the
the dependent variable, is
identical for all individuals. independent variable, then those differences must have been caused by the independent
In the second case, the variable.
procedure differs among
the conditions creating In our example the independent variable is whether participants watched a violent or
the independent variable; non-violent video. The dependent variable is how much participants perceive the stranger
the dependent variable is
identical for all conditions.
as hostile and untrustworthy.
Independent variable: Less frequently, an instructor might run a quantitative non-experiment, designed to
The variable that is
test a relationship between two or more dependent variables (5.3.1). For example, the
assumed to cause a
change in the dependent instructor might read to the class lists of digits, each list longer than the preceding one,
variable. In experiments, and after a fixed delay for each list ask the students to write down its digits. The longest
the independent variable
list correctly recalled by each student is the dependent variable of memory span. Then
is manipulated by
the researcher. the instructor asks the students to write down the number of hours slept the previous
Dependent variable: The night, another dependent variable of sleep duration. The instructor might call this second
variable that is measured dependent variable an independent variable, because of a hypothesis that sufficient sleep
by the researcher.
improves memory. But, of course, all that can be shown from the study is the extent of the
relationship between the two variables—not about whether one causes the other.
Non-experiment: Any other
psychology study that does After running the class exercise, your instructor may then provide you with a summary
not have the characteristics of the class results and ask you to write a research report on it. To do so, follow the four
of an experiment.
main steps researchers take in conducting any quantitative research:
1. Read the scientific literature to identify the arguments, theories, or issues you
Introduction: The section of
a research report in which want to assess, and to develop your hypotheses. You review the literature in the
you review the literature and Introduction of your research report, which concludes with a statement of your
conclude with a statement of
aims and hypotheses.
your aims and hypotheses.
Method: The section 2. Collect data to test these hypotheses. You describe how you collected the data in the
of a research report in Method section.
which you describe how
you collected the data. 3. Analyse these data using various statistical procedures. You report the outcomes of
Results: The section of a these analyses in the Results section.
research report in which
you give summaries of the 4. Interpret and explain the results, and discuss how they contribute to existing
data (in text, in figures, or in knowledge. You do so in the Discussion section.
tables) and of statistical tests.
Discussion: The section of
a research report in which
you explain your results and
consider their implications.
22
Chapter 2: Writing Research Reports
2.1.2 Marking Criteria

In a research report, in approximate order of priority, your marker will likely assess how
well you
• interpreted and explained your findings convincingly, with a thoughtful discussion
of the theoretical and practical implications of the results and careful consideration
of the limitations of your research;
• provided an introduction in which the hypotheses evolved logically and clearly from
the literature you cited;
• analysed the data appropriately, specified the results precisely, gave details of any
statistical procedures employed, and used tables or figures correctly;
• communicated the details of the experimental method concisely and precisely so
that someone else could replicate the study;
• read sufficiently and cited that reading effectively and precisely to support your
hypotheses and discussion;
• used clear and accurate expression, including grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and
• adhered to APA style.
The best research reports have some similarities to, and at least one key difference
from, a good mystery story. They are similar in that a good research report writer begins
with something that interests the reader (first paragraph), draws the reader into a mystery
(remainder of the Introduction), shows the reader how the researchers went about solving
the mystery (Method), shows the key pieces of evidence for solving the mystery (Results),
and ensures that there is a happy ending and that all loose ends are tied (Discussion).
Reports differ from mystery stories in that research-report writers want their readers
to know the solution to the mystery from the outset, and to be one step ahead of how
the mystery was solved. In fact, readers know the solution from the Abstract. In the
Introduction, a good research-report writer outlines the issues and theories so clearly that
the reader will be jumping up and down, crying, “I know what the conceptual hypothesis
will be, and I know how to test an operational hypothesis” before the writer has to state
them. A good research-report writer confirms these expectations in the Method, in the
Results, and in the Discussion, yielding the happy ending.
2.2 Structure
Most research reports consist of eight main components: Title (page), Abstract (1.2),
Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, References, and optional Appendices
(Figure 2.1).
Bem (1987) gave a useful analogy for the organisation of a report: like an hourglass.
At the top, the Introduction starts broadly, with some general statement about how the
area of psychology contains your topic. It narrows to describe theories within that area.
It narrows further to examine your topic, how it relates to theory and to evidence, and to
give your hypotheses.
The Method and Results are the narrowest parts of the hourglass: you give the details
of what you did and what you found. It broadens in the Discussion, beginning with
summaries of your hypotheses and results, then with considering what the results mean
and whether there are any alternative explanations for them, then with considering the
implications for theory of your findings. At the broadest part it contains the implications of
your findings for the general area of psychology, for real-world implications, and for future
research.
23
The references and appendices form the base of the hourglass.
Figure 2.1 Main

1
Components of a
(Title page) 2
Research Report
Abstract 3
Title
Title 4
Author name 5
Author affiliation Method Procedure

Author Note Participants
Results
Materials
6
7
8
References 9
Appendix
Discussion
The sections are presented in the order they appear in a report—which is not necessarily
the best order in which to write them. You may find it helps to begin writing the Method,
followed by Results, before tackling the Introduction and Discussion sections. Write the
Abstract and Title after all other sections, and finish with the References and Appendices.
2.3 Title Page

The first page of your research report should be the title page. Unless your instructor
has opted for the APA Style Manual style for student papers, start the running heads
(1.4.1) and page numbers. Use a Level 1 heading (1.4.2) for the Title, centred, boldface
with the first letter of each major word capitalised. Then, in ordinary text, give your name
in one line, then your department and institution in the next, also centred. Then give
the centred heading Author Note, followed by, in two separate, ordinary paragraphs,
acknowledgements to any people who helped you with the research report (1.2.5) and the
addresses for correspondence about the report, including your postal and email addresses.
The title of your research report also appears on the second page as a Level 1 heading
for your Introduction. The title should contain fewer than 100 characters (15 words) and
must be concise and informative. Eliminate any redundant phrases—such as “a study
of”, “results of”, “an experiment into”, “research into”. A title can have a question mark or,
Period: A punctuation rarely, an exclamation mark, but omits a period (full stop; 6.3.1). The title should either
mark consisting of a
outline the relationship between the principal variables or highlight the main issue.
single dot, usually at the
end of a sentence.
2.3.1 Independent, Manipulated Variable

Most titles, particularly in undergraduate courses, describe the association between
pairs of variables, such as exposure to violent videos and perceived hostility. The italicised
words in APA Example 2.1 highlight phrases that are often used in titles if one variable is
an independent, manipulated variable (5.3.1). These words specify that the independent
variable is a cause and the other variable is the effect. (Note: we use italics here as an
example; you should use them in your titles only in the unlikely event it includes a genus
and species name, such as Mus musculus.)
24
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then remove from pan. (Crust will crack.)
★ WALNUT SQUARES
Almost candy ... so rich and nutty.
1 egg
Beat in ...
1 cup brown sugar

½ tsp. vanilla
½ cup sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

½ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. soda
Mix in ...
a dull crust. Cut into squares while warm, cool, then remove from
pan.
TUTTI-FRUTTI SURPRISES
Like moist fruit cake ... full of good things.
2 eggs
Gradually beat in ...
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
Stir in ...
3 tbsp. shortening, melted
¾ cup sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

1½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Mix in ...
1 cup cut-up nuts

1 cup cut-up dates
¾ cup cut-up candied fruit
a dull crust. Cut into squares while warm, cool, then remove from
pan.
Deliciously rich two-layer cookies.
TOFFEE-NUT BARS ( Recipe) Almond-coconut topping on melt-

in-the-mouth crust.
BOTTOM LAYER
Mix together thoroughly ...
½ cup soft shortening (half butter)

½ cup brown sugar
Stir in ...
1 cup sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour
Press and flatten with hand to temperature: 350° (mod.

cover bottom of ungreased oven).
oblong pan (9 × 13 × 2″). Bake time: Bake 10 min.
10 min. Then spread with
ALMOND-COCONUT TOPPING
Beat well ...
2 eggs
Stir in ...
1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and stir in ...
2 tbsp. GOLD MEDAL Flour

1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Mix in ...
1 cup moist shredded coconut

1 cup cut-up almonds (or other nuts)
Return to oven and bake 25 temperature: 350° (mod.

min. more until topping is oven).
golden brown. Cool slightly ...
time: Bake 25 min.
then cut into bars.
amount: About 2½ doz. 1″ × 3″
bars.
COCONUT-LEMON BARS
Follow recipe above for Bottom Layer. Bake 10 min. Let stand a
few minutes before spreading with
COCONUT-LEMON TOPPING
Beat well ...
2 eggs
Stir in ...
1 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
½ tsp. salt
Spread almond-coconut topping on
Mix in ... bottom layer.
1 cup moist shredded

coconut
½ cup cut-up raisins
Return to oven and bake 25 min. more until topping is golden brown.
Cool slightly ... then cut into bars.
★ JELL-MERINGUE-FILBERT BARS
Jeannette Campbell of our Staff goes into rhapsodies about these luscious bars.
Follow recipe above for Bottom Layer—except use sifted
confectioners’ sugar in place of brown, and stir 2 egg yolks into the
sugar and shortening mixture. Bake. Spread with ½ to ¾ cup
softened jelly (currant, raspberry, or grape), then with
MERINGUE-FILBERT TOPPING
Beat until stiff ...
2 egg whites
Beat in gradually ...
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
Fold in ...
1 cup ground filberts

(unblanched)
Return to oven and bake 25

min. more until topping is The fluffy meringue-filbert topping is piled on
golden brown. Cool slightly ... top of softened jelly spread over the crust.
then cut into bars.
Fruit fillings between nut-rich crumb crusts.
FILLED BAR COOKIES ( Recipe)

First, prepare desired filling (see below), and cool.
FOR CRUST
¾ cup soft shortening (part butter)

1 cup brown sugar
1¾ cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

½ tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
Stir in ...
1½ cups rolled oats
Mix thoroughly. Place one half of this crumb mixture in greased and
floured oblong pan (9 × 13 × 2″). Press and flatten with hands to
cover bottom of pan. Spread with cooled filling. Cover with remaining
crumb mixture ... patting lightly. Bake until lightly browned. While
warm, cut into bars and remove from pan.
temperature: 400° (mod. hot oven).
amount: About 2½ doz. 1½″ × 2″ bars.
DATE BARS (Matrimonial

Cake)
These cookies won the first prize at
the famous Minnesota State Fair one
year ... for Mrs. C. Arlt of St. Paul.
Follow recipe above, using:

Date Bars ... perfect pals for good hot
coffee or tea
DATE FILLING
Mix together in saucepan ...
3 cups cut-up dates

¼ cup sugar
1½ cups water
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 10

min.). Cool.
PRUNE-ORANGE BARS
Follow recipe above using
PRUNE-ORANGE FILLING
3 cups cut-up cooked prunes (drained)

½ cup sugar
½ cup orange juice
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. grated orange rind
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 10

min.). Cool.
DATE-APRICOT BARS
Follow recipe above using
DATE-APRICOT FILLING
1 cup cut-up dates

2 cups mashed, cooked, dried apricots (drained)
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp. of the apricot juice
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 5 min.).
Cool.
★ HAZELNUT BARS
Crusty, macaroony.
Old-time German party cookies that keep beautifully.
Beat in top of double boiler until stiff ...
2 large egg whites
Beat in gradually ...
1 cup sugar
Fold in ...

Cook over boiling water 3 min., stirring constantly. Remove from over
hot water.
Blend in ...
1 tsp. vanilla
1½ cups coarsely ground unblanched filberts (hazelnuts)
Spread dough smoothly ¼″ thick in ungreased paper-lined oblong

pan (9 × 13 × 2″). With fingers, pat top gently with warm water. Bake
until top looks dull. While warm, cut into bars 1½″ × 2″. Cool slightly,
then turn paper over (bars and all). Dampen entire surface with cold
water. When water penetrates paper, bars are easily removed. If
desired, place two bars together with a butter icing between (see
Burnt Butter Icing, p. 18).
temperature: 350° (mod. oven).
amount: 32 single bars, 1½″ × 2″.
ROLLED COOKIES Pat ’em, and roll ’em
and sugar for tea.
HOW TO MAKE ROLLED COOKIES ( preliminary steps on pp. 14-

15)
1 To prevent
2 Roll lightly, small 3 Cut as many cookies
“sticking,” slip a
amount dough at a time ... from each rolling as
canvas cover over
keeping the rest chilled. possible. Dip cooky cutter
board, and stockinet
Roll very thin for crisp in flour, then shake it and
over rolling pin. Rub
cookies. cut.
flour into the covers.
Short cut: instead of rolling it, drop dough and flatten with glass.
See page 40.
★ SUGAR COOKIES ( Recipe)

Crispy, thin, flavorful.
1½ cup soft shortening (half butter)

¾ cup sugar
1 egg
Stir in ...
1 tbsp. milk or cream
1 tsp. flavoring (vanilla or lemon or a combination of the two)
1¼ cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
Chill dough. Roll very thin (¹⁄₁₆″). Cut into desired shapes. Place on
lightly greased baking sheet, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until
delicately browned.
temperature: 425° (hot oven).
amount: About 5 doz. 2½″ cookies.
LEMON SUGAR COOKIES

Follow recipe above—except in place of vanilla, use 2 tsp. grated
lemon rind and 1 tsp. lemon juice.
NUT SUGAR COOKIES

Follow recipe above—and mix into the dough 1 cup finely
chopped nuts.
★ RICH SUGAR COOKIES

Extra tender ... a flavor favorite!
Follow recipe above—except use ½ cup sugar in place of ¾ cup.
Use 1 tsp. cream of tartar and ½ tsp. soda in place of the baking
powder.
CARAWAY COOKIES
Follow recipe above—except omit vanilla, sift ½ tsp. nutmeg with
the dry ingredients, and mix 1 tsp. caraway seeds into the dough.
CHOCOLATE PINWHEELS
Fascinating whirls of dark and light ... an unusual taste delight.
Follow recipe above or recipe for Rich Sugar Cookies. Divide
dough into 2 equal parts. Into 1 part, blend 1 sq. unsweetened
chocolate (1 oz.), melted and cooled. Chill. Roll out white dough 9″ ×
12″. Roll out chocolate dough same size and lay on top of white
dough. Roll the double layer of dough gently until ³⁄₁₆″ thick. Roll up
tightly, beginning at wide side, into a roll 12″ long and 2″ in diameter.
Chill. Slice ⅛″ thick. Place slices a little apart on lightly greased
baking sheet. Bake.
temperature: 350° (mod. oven).
amount: About 5 doz. 2″ cookies.
Merrily we roll the dough ... for parties.
BUTTER COOKIES ( Recipe) Crisp, with the true buttery flavor,

but not sweet.
1 cup soft butter

½ cup sugar
1 egg
Stir in ...
3 tsp. flavoring (vanilla, lemon, etc.)
3 cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

½ tsp. baking powder
almond or pecan halves
Chill dough. Roll very thin (¹⁄₁₆″). Cut into desired shapes. Place on
ungreased baking sheet. Press blanched almond or pecan half into
top of each cooky. If glazed cooky is desired, brush mixture of 1 egg
yolk and 2 tbsp. water over top of cookies before baking. Bake until
they are delicately browned.
temperature: 425° (hot oven).
COOKIES FOR PARTIES Delightful for all sorts of special

occasions.
Follow recipe for Sugar Cookies above, or recipe for Butter Cookies above.
Cut and decorate cookies for special occasions as follows:
HEART COOKIES
For special Valentines.
Cut with heart-shaped cutter. Brush lightly
with a little beaten egg white. Then sprinkle
with red sugar. Bake.
Cut round cookies. Place a tiny red candy
heart in center of each. Bake.
Cut dough with two heart-shaped cutters, one smaller than the other.
Lay a smaller heart on each of the larger ones and bake each pair as
one cooky. When baked, ice the smaller heart with red or pink icing.
CHERRY AND HATCHET

COOKIES
For George Washington’s
Birthday.
Cut small round cherries from
red candied cherries and stick them on baked cookies in sprays of
three, with little stems and leaves of green citron.
Cut cookies with hatchet-shaped cooky cutter. Or stick little candy
hatchets on cookies.
PLACE CARDS OR FAVORS

For children’s parties.
Roll dough ⅛″ thick. Cut into 2″ × 3″ oblong shapes. Bake. When
cookies are cool, write names on them with melted chocolate or
colored icing.
FLOWER COOKIES
For Easter, spring and summer
parties.
Color dough pink or yellow. Cut
cookies with little scalloped
cutters, for petal effect. Brush
with egg white and sprinkle with pink or yellow sugar before baking.
Bits of candied orange peel or yellow gum drops may be used for
yellow centers.
Make flower and rosette shapes by forcing the dough through a
cooky press.
DECORATING ICING
Into 1 cup sifted confectioners’
sugar, stir just enough water
(about 1 tbsp.) to make icing
easy to force through pastry
tube—yet hold its shape. Tint if desired with a few drops of food
coloring. (Pile into pastry tube and squeeze.)
COOKIES WITH FACES

For Hallowe’en.
Follow recipe for soft molasses cookies such as Gingies on page 34.
Tint the Decorating Icing (above) orange. Then force it through a
pastry tube or paper cornucopia to make faces with
eyes, nose, mouth, and hair.
Little taste-tempters in fascinating shapes.
FILLED COOKIES ( Recipe) Tender, creamy white turnovers hold

luscious fillings.
½ cup soft shortening

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Stir in ...
2 tbsp. thick cream

1 tsp. vanilla
2½ cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

¼ tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt
Chill dough. Roll very thin (¹⁄₁₆″). Cut 3″ rounds or squares. Place on
lightly greased baking sheet. Place a rounded teaspoonful of desired
cooled filling (below) on each. Fold over like a turnover, pressing
edges together with floured tines of a fork or tip of finger. Bake until
delicately browned.
temperature: 400° (mod. hot oven).
FILLED COOKIES IN FANCY SHAPES
Follow recipe above—but cut
dough with scalloped round
cooky cutter or with heart,
diamond, or 2½″ cutter of any
desired shape, cutting 2 alike
for each filled cooky. To give a
decorative effect, cut the center
out of the top cooky with a tiny
cutter of heart, star, or
scalloped round shape. Place
the bottom pieces on lightly
greased baking sheet. Spread Spread filling almost to the edges ... when
desired filling (see below) on making filled cookies. To keep the filling in,
press edges of filled cookies together with the
each ... covering up to edge. fingers or with floured tines of a fork.
Place on the top pieces. Press
edges together.
amount: 4 doz. 2½″ filled cookies.
POINSETTIAS
A smart new favorite for the
holidays.
Follow recipe above—and
roll chilled dough ⅛″ thick. Cut in 3″ squares. Place on lightly
greased baking sheet. Cut with sharp knife from corners of each
square almost to center (making 4 triangular sections in each
square). In center, place 1 teaspoonful cooled Prune Filling (above).
Pick up corresponding corner of each triangular section, and fold
over center filling. Press gently in center to hold 4 points together.
(See diagrams below.)
amount: About 5 doz. poinsettia cookies.
FIG BARS
Plump with fruity filling.
Follow recipe above—and roll one half of dough ⅛″ thick. Cut into
4 long strips (3½″ × 12″). Spread ⅓ to ½ cup Fig Filling (below) on
each strip lengthwise, covering only ½ of strip except for a ¼″ edge.
Lift this edge up and stick it to filling. Quickly flop the uncovered half
of strip over the filling, folding it under at edge. Seal the 2 edges
together securely. With sharp knife, cut into bars 2″ long. Place 1″
apart on lightly greased baking sheet.
amount: 2 doz. 2″ bars.
Luscious fruity fillings ... to suit every taste.
RAISIN, FIG, AND DATE

FILLING
½ cup raisins, finely cut up

½ cup figs, finely cut up
½ cup dates, finely cut up
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Cook slowly, stirring constantly, Filled cooky favorites.

until thickened (about 5 min.).
Cool.
amount: Filling for 4 doz. filled cookies.
RAISIN, FIG, OR DATE FILLING

In recipe above for Raisin, Fig, and Date Filling, use 1½ cups raisins,
or figs, or dates ... in place of the combination of the three.
PINEAPPLE FILLING
1 cup sugar
Stir in ...
1½ cups well drained crushed pineapple (no. 2 can)

4 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. butter
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¾ cup pineapple juice
Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until thickened (5 to 10 min.). Cool.

amount: Filling for 4 doz. filled cookies.
PRUNE FILLING
1⅓ cups mashed cooked prunes (2 cups

uncooked)
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Clean sticky fruits from

Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until
your food grinder quickly thickened (about 4 min.).
and easily by running a few
small pieces of dry bread amount: Fills 5 doz. Poinsettias (p. 32).
through it.
★ HIS MOTHER’S OATMEAL COOKIES

Crispy, nutty-flavored cookies ... sandwiched together with jelly or jam.
Nora M. Young of Cleveland, Ohio, won a prize in the “plain cooky class” on these.
Wonderful for lunch box and cooky jar.
Mix together ...
2 cups sifted GOLD

MEDAL Flour
½ tsp. salt
3 cups rolled oats
Cut in until mixture is well

blended ...
1 cup shortening (part butter)
Stir in ...
1 tsp. soda dissolved in ⅓ cup milk (sweet or sour)

1½ cups brown sugar
Chill dough. Roll out ⅛″ thick. Cut into desired shapes. Place on
ungreased baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned. When cool, and
just before serving, put together in pairs with jelly or jam between.
temperature: 375° (quick mod. oven).
amount: About 4 doz. 2½″ double cookies.
Old-time goodies every home should know.
★ GINGIES ( Recipe) Soft and puffy ... true old-fashioned ginger

cookies.
A happy tradition at the famous Girard College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The
boys hoard them ... old grads long for them.

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Writing for Psychology 7th Edition

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Cengage Learning Australia

Cengage Learning New Zealand

For learning solutions, visit cengage.com.au

Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Limited.

Chapter 2 Writing Research Reports 21

Chapter 3 Writing Essays 65

Chapter 4 Finding and Using References 83

Chapter 5 Thinking Critically and Developing Ideas 107

Chapter 6 Writing Correctly and With Style 126

Chapter 7 Writing for Other Forms of Assessment 148

To the Instructor xiii

About the Authors xvi

Guide to the text xvii

Guide to the online resources xix

Chapter 1 Read This First! 1

Chapter 2 Writing Research Reports 21

2.11 Finer Points of APA Style 46

Chapter 3 Writing Essays 65

Chapter 4 Finding and Using References 83

Chapter 5 Thinking Critically and Developing Ideas 107

5.4.3 Alternative Explanations for Non-Significant Findings 118

Chapter 6 Writing Correctly and With Style 126

6.6 Your Own Style 146

Chapter 7 Writing for Other Forms

Appendix A Flawed Research Report 157

Appendix B Flawed Essay 170

Appendix C Statistical Assumptions 182

Appendix D Common Measurement Abbreviations 183

Appendix E More Plurals 185

00_OShea_7e_sb_41124_pre.indd 12 08/09/21 5:09 PM

Structure of a Paper and Formatting

Structure and Formatting of Figures and Tables

Citation and Referencing

Guide to the text

chapter designed to enhance

and what makes

APA Example 2.9

from a list of low to medium frequency words (Corpus of Contemporary American

FEATURES WITHIN CHAPTERS

Self-Esteem and Ability 2 Running head: Are examinations unfair? 1

in normal prose as complete sentences. Hypotheses do not need to be presented

with explanations of what makes better writing indicate the direction of a

Relevance Exhibit 4.1

language for easy identification and understanding.

4.2.1 Active Reading

xviii 3.1.2 Marking Criteria

Cengage is pleased to provide you with a selection of resources

WORD-BASED TEST BANK

ARTWORK FROM THE TEXT

STUDENT DOWNLOADS: CHECKLISTS AND WRITING GUIDES

1.1 Writing for Psychology

chapters. Formal writing: The

1.2 Excellent Assignments

1.2.1 Relevant Literature

1.2.2 Original Ideas

Avoid Best practice

1.2.3 Logical and Empirical Defence

Usage Avoid Best practice

1.2.4 Academic Integrity

Avoid Best practice

1.2.5 Acknowledgements and Avoiding