Psychology Department

Writing Academic Papers for Psychology
Department of Psychology
Colorado College

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The following information was compiled by the Psychology Department faculty to address the most common questions asked by students writing papers for Psychology courses and the common mistakes encountered by faculty when grading Psychology papers. Please see the additional links to WWW Resources helpful in writing papers in Psychology and check out the information and links provided to help you avoid Plagiarism. Are you working on an PY 451 ART project or other research project requiring approval from the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board? Click on this link to go to the Colorado College IRB website.

See the Guidelines for Final Project papers at the Research page for specific information regarding papers for PY 451 Final Project.

The "ultimate authority" on issues of writing in APA style is the latest edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The library has a few copies at the Reference Desk for use on the premises and you may purchase a copy from the CC Bookstore. Although the information at the websites below is helpful, the information is rarely comprehensive and some style guidelines can only be found in the Publication Manual.

| References | Word Choice | Writing Style | Paper Type | WWW Resources |

References

References should be to academic journal articles. These are peer-reviewed (other researchers read and critique every paper before it is accepted for publication), and so high standards for scientific research (especially replicability) are adhered to in each journal.

The internet may provide an appetizer for your library research for a paper. However, the net is unlikely to be sufficient as the main course for your paper (unless you want a very low or failing grade). The reason that the internet is not a reliable source is because there are very few peer-reviewed or "evaluated" journals or materials on the net. Material can be put there anonymously and, therefore, may be filled with errors or just opinions with no experimental testing of the ideas. If you use any internet references, only papers with an identifiable author will be considered sufficient for inclusion in your research paper. You would be wise to include a line indicating that the material may be suspect because of its source. This warning does not apply to full-text articles available from some databases that are originally drawn from peer-reviewed journals.

Some Useful Strategies for library research about a psychology topic.

1. Use a database like FirstSearch or Medline to locate a few starting references in the academic literature.

a. FirstSearch presents short abstracts describing the articles, which will help you decide if they are relevant to your topic.
b. Find articles in our library (click on Libraries with item option).
c. Go to the stacks on the second floor of Tutt Library to read the full references.

[Hint: If the references are to Psychological Bulletin, Psychological Review, Annual Review of Psychology, American Psychologist, or American Scientist, be sure to choose these. These journals present reviews of topics rather than individual experiments and will probably be a rich source of references for your work. Be sure to note the volume number and page number of the article.]

d. Using the references listed at the end of the starter references (part 1 above), select additional references for your paper.

2. Use a current issue of a relevant journal for starter references. For instance look at the last few issues of Journal of Experimental Psychology for a cognition, learning, or perception paper.
Using the references listed at the end of the starter references, select additional references for your paper.

[Hint (same as in the strategy 1): If the references are to Psychological Bulletin, Psychological Review, Annual Review of Psychology, American Psychologist or American Scientist, be sure to look at these. These journals present reviews of topics rather than individual experiments, and will probably be a rich source of references for your work. Note the volume and page numbers so you can find the article when you get the journal.]

Choose each word carefully

Use Formal English:

-- avoid contractions (such as, "don't" and "we're"; instead, "do not" and "we are"),
-- avoid slang words (such as, "a lot of" and "cool"; instead, "numerous" and "popular")

Commonly Misused Words:

In Psychology, the word "correlated" almost always refers to a statistical quantity (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient), and does NOT mean, "related to." In Rastall CC-ese, correlated has a different meaning. It would be surprising if the informal language used in the dorms is appropriate in all academic papers.

A second example is that the noun, "research," refers to experiments that are reported in academic journals. In CC-ese, the verb, "research," which means going to the library and looking for information (of all sorts) about a topic is not commonly employed in scientific writing (e.g., The phrase, "Bozot (1998) researched the age differences in...," would be better stated, ""Bozot (1998) studied the age differences in....").

Another example is that the word "prove" is used very sparingly, because proof implies very rigorous experimental and logical implications. In general, psychologists prefer to say, "the evidence supported the prediction," "the evidence was consistent with the prediction," or "the evidence confirmed the prediction." Using caution in the conclusions you draw from one experiment or series of experiments is a good rule-of-thumb.

Remember that a study is inanimate, and thus the following is incorrect: "The study looked at the importance of dopamine for Parkinson's patients." This is like saying that "the hamburger ate the dog". We know it is nonsense for inanimate subjects to take animate verbs (like ate or looked at). Instead, use the authors of the experiment as the subject of the sentence (they are animate!): "Erdal and Jacobs (1999) examined the importance of dopamine for Parkinson's patients."

Avoid superlatives, such as: "Operational definitions are extremely consequential in psychology because...." Instead say, "Operational definitions are important in psychology because...."

Avoid unsupported quantitative statements, such as: "There are many viewpoints on the topic." It is better not to say anything about the number of viewpoints. For instance, "Two viewpoints about aging are the wear-and-tear theory and the genetically-programmed aging theory."

Writing Style

Quotations are NOT used in psychology papers. Instead, learn to paraphrase the information to fit into the space requirements of your paper. See the Psychology Major's Handbook on Plagiarism, Quotations, and Paraphrasing or the American Psychological Association Publication Manual for further detail.

Footnotes are NOT used in psychology papers. Instead, refer to the authors of the articles you read and indicate the date of the publication. The APA Publication Manual indicates how references should be given in text and in the References list at the end of the paper.

Use past tense when describing the results of experiments. This indicates that you understand the findings of the experiment occurred in the one study you are describing. If you use present tense, it implies that the findings will be the same at any time. We do not know that the experiment will come out the same every time it is repeated (replicated). Unfortunately, sometimes when an experiment is replicated, it comes out quite differently. Because of this, psychologists are rather humble. They do not want to claim that any one finding is immutable.

Paper Type
(text for this section was drawn from the sources listed below)

In Psychology courses, you will encounter one or more of different types of writing requirements. Most will be a variation of these common paper types: an empirical paper/report, a critical literature review, a literature summary, or a thought paper. This list is offered in the order of most scientific to least scientific.

The two types listed first are the papers published in the journals in the field of Psychology: the empirical paper/report and the (critical) literature review. The style guide for these two types of papers is the 2001 APA Publication Manual, 5th Edition (available at the CC Bookstore). Although there are online sources for APA style, they only provide partial information (see below). The official Manual is your best source for APA style.

The empirical paper is a scientific paper used to present the results of an experiment (or laboratory experience). Researchers attempt to persuade others to accept or reject their hypotheses by presenting data and their interpretations. When it is published, it is available to other scientists for review. If the results stand up to criticism, they become part of the accepted body of scientific knowledge unless later modified or replaced by more explanatory results. A lab report follows the model of an empirical paper, but may be briefer. You may hear someone refer to this paper more informally as an experimental "write-up" or an "experiment paper." A small class project where one gathers data and "writes up" the results would most likely be in lab report form. A student completing a large-scale thesis project where data is collected from subjects would "write up" their results in the form of the longer form empirical paper. A primary goal of PY 201 or PY 202 Research Design is to teach students to critically evaluate empirical papers and the experimental methods described in these papers and how to design a research project and write the results in the form of an empirical paper.

The critical literature review is used to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and their strengths and weaknesses. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., the problem or issue you are discussing or your argumentative thesis*). A literature review is a piece of discursive** prose, not endless paragraphs describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another. Instead, the literature review is organized into sections that present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory. Your goal is to synthesize and evaluate an area or topic according to the guiding concept of your thesis. Do not confuse the type of paper called a literature review with the Introduction section of an empirical paper (sometimes labeled, the literature review). The literature review or Introduction of an empirical paper is a concise presentation of articles that build to your experimental hypothesis. A (critical) literature review is typically more comprehensive than an empirical paper's Introduction, referencing theoretical and experimental articles.
*thesis-a proposition to be proved or maintained by argument
**discursive-marked by analytical reasoning

To further draw a distinction between these two type of scientific papers, one can look at the role of evidence in the two paper types. A critical literature review uses published research to make an argument. In contrast, an empirical paper where one "writes up" an experiment uses published research to build a case (or the need) for a particular hypothesis to be tested. In an empirical paper, the data (and subsequent analysis) are your evidence. In a critical literature review, the research you cite (and your critique of it) is your evidence.

The literature summary is similar to a literature review, but with an important distinction. The description and critique of each research study does not form the basis of support or refutation of a central thesis. The goal of this paper is to describe and critique the content (e.g., methodology, statistics, conclusions, etc.) of a set of studies and conclude what is known in a particular area of research and, in some cases, to offer directions for future research in the area. You are not attempting to make a broad or theoretical point from the set of studies, but merely to describe what is or is not known. This paper will also be written following the guidelines of the APA Publication Manual mentioned above.

The thought paper is most often assigned as a way to encourage you to read and think about course readings. A thought paper assignment may focus on a single reading or ask you to integrate your reactions across several readings. Rather than providing a summary of the reading(s), you should discuss your personal reactions, opinions, or experiences in light of the reading material. The degree of critical analysis of the readings you present in the paper will be determined by the preference of the individual faculty member. Some faculty may request that reaction papers compare and contrast points in the readings in the context of your reactions, whereas, other assignments may be focus solely on your view of an author's arguments or points. The style guidelines for this paper is variable and will described by your professor.

Sources for this section:
The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It (http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html)

Writing a Review Article for Psychological Bulletin [Bem, D. (1990). Psychological Bulletin, 118(2), 172-177.]

First Thoughts to Finished Writing: Literature Review (http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/phdwriting/fr_phinf.html)

Selected Links...Literature Review (http://web.pdx.edu/~dbls/HowtoWriteLiteratureReview.htm)

WWW Resources

The "ultimate authority" on issues of writing in APA style is the latest edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The library has a few copies at the Reference Desk for use on the premises and you may purchase a copy from the CC Bookstore. Although the information at the websites below is helpful, the information is rarely comprehensive and some style guidelines can only be found in the Publication Manual. Also, please note whether the page summarizes the current edition of the APA style manual - the 5th edition.

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Send Questions or Comments to: Ann DeStefano adestefano@ColoradoCollege.edu
Department of Psychology | Colorado College | 14 E. Cache La Poudre | Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 389-6593