Ch. 11 Flashcards
APA style
A set of guidelines for writing in psychology and related fields.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
The primary purpose of APA style is to facilitate scientific communication by promoting clarity of expression and by standardizing the organization and content of research articles and book chapters. It is easier to write about research when you know what information to present, the order in which to present it, and even the style in which to present it. Likewise, it is easier to read about research when it is presented in familiar and expected ways.
The Levels of APA Style
1st
useful to think about it in terms of three basic levels.
The first is the overall organization of an article
Title page. Presents the article title and author names and affiliations.
Abstract. Summarizes the research.
Introduction. Describes previous research and the rationale for the current study.
Method. Describes how the study was conducted.
Results. Describes the results of the study.
Discussion. Summarizes the study and discusses its implications.
References. Lists the references cited throughout the article.
The Levels of APA Style
2nd
referred to as high-level style.
Guidelines in the APA Publication Manual for the clear expression of ideas, including writing that is formal, straightforward, and avoids biased language.
There are two important themes here.
One is that APA-style writing is formal rather than informal.
It adopts a tone that is appropriate for communicating with professional colleagues—other researchers and practitioners—who share an interest in the topic.
The second theme of high-level APA style is that it is straightforward.
This means that it communicates ideas as simply and clearly as possible, putting the focus on the ideas themselves and not on how they are communicated.
Thus APA-style writing minimizes literary devices such as metaphor, imagery, irony, suspense, and so on.
Another important element of high-level APA style is the avoidance of language that is biased against particular groups.
general principles for avoiding biased language
First, be sensitive to labels by avoiding terms that are offensive or have negative connotations.
This includes avoiding terms that identify people with a disorder or other problem they happen to have.
Second, use more specific terms rather than more general ones.
Third, avoid objectifying research participants.
The Levels of APA Style
3rd
referred to as low-level style
Is covered in Chapter 4 “The Mechanics of Style” through Chapter 7 “Reference Examples” of the Publication Manual, which includes all the specific guidelines pertaining to spelling, grammar, references and reference citations, numbers and statistics, figures and tables, and so on.
APA-Style References and Citations
At the end of an APA-style article or book chapter is a list that contains references to all the works cited in the text (and only the works cited in the text).
The reference list begins on its own page, with the heading “References,” centered in upper and lower case.
The references themselves are then listed alphabetically according to the last names of the first named author for each citation.
When you refer to another researcher’s idea, you must include a reference citation (in the text) to the work in which that idea originally appeared and a full reference to that work in the reference list.
APA-Style References
Journal Articles
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume(issue), pp–pp. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx
Adair, J. G., & Vohra, N. (2003). The explosion of knowledge, references, and citations: Psychology’s unique response to a crisis. American Psychologist, 58(1), 15–23. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.15
The reference includes a hanging indent.
That is, the first line of the reference is not indented but all subsequent lines are.
The authors’ names appear in the same order as on the article, which reflects the authors’ relative contributions to the research.
Only the authors’ last names and initials appear, and the names are separated by commas with an ampersand (&) between the last two.
This is true even when there are only two authors.
Only the first word of the article title is capitalized.
The only exceptions are for words that are proper nouns or adjectives (e.g., “Freudian”) or if there is a subtitle, in which case the first word of the subtitle is also capitalized.
In the journal title, however, all the important words are capitalized.
The journal title and volume number are italicized; however, the issue number (listed within parentheses) is not.
At the very end of the reference is the digital object identifier (DOI), which provides a permanent link to the location of the article on the Internet. Include this if it is available.
It can generally be found in the record for the item on an electronic database (e.g., PsycINFO) and is usually displayed on the first page of the published article.
APA-Style References
Books
Author, A. A. (year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
Kashdan, T., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2014). The upside of your dark side. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press.
APA-Style References
Book chapters
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor, B. B. Editor, & C. C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx–xxx). Location: Publisher.
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Lynn, S. J. (2003). Dissociative identity disorder: Multiple personalities, multiple controversies. In S. O. Lilienfeld, S. J. Lynn, & J. M. Lohr (Eds.), Science and pseudoscience in clinical psychology (pp. 109–142). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
What counts as an idea that must be cited?
In general, this includes phenomena discovered by other researchers, theories they have developed, hypotheses they have derived, and specific methods they have used (e.g., specific questionnaires or stimulus materials).
Citations should also appear for factual information that is not common knowledge so that other researchers can check that information for themselves.
When you cite a work in the text of your manuscript, there are two ways to do it.
Both include only the last names of the authors and the year of publication.
The first method is to use the authors’ last names in the sentence (with no first names or initials) followed immediately by the year of publication in parentheses.
Ex: Burger (2008) conducted a replication of Milgram’s (1963) original obedience study.
Ex: Although many people believe that women are more talkative than men, Mehl, Vazire, Ramirez-Esparza, Slatcher, and Pennebaker (2007) found essentially no difference in the number of words spoken by male and female college students.
First, the authors’ names are treated grammatically as names of people, not as things.
Second, when there are two authors the names are not separated by commas, but when there are three or more authors they are.
Third, the word and (rather than an ampersand) is used to join the authors’ names.
Fourth, the year follows immediately after the final author’s name.
The second way to cite an article or a book chapter is parenthetically—including the authors’ last names and the year of publication in parentheses following the idea that is being credited.
Ex: People can be surprisingly obedient to authority figures (Burger, 2008; Milgram, 1963).
Ex: Recent evidence suggests that men and women are similarly talkative (Mehl, Vazire, Ramirez-Esparza, Slatcher, & Pennebaker, 2007).
One thing to notice about such parenthetical citations is that they are often placed at the end of the sentence, which minimizes their disruption to the flow of that sentence.
In contrast to the first way of citing a work, this way always includes the year—even when the citation is given multiple times in the same paragraph.
Notice also that when there are multiple citations in the same set of parentheses, they are organized alphabetically by the name of the first author and separated by semicolons.
There are no strict rules for deciding which of the two citation styles to use.
Most articles and book chapters contain a mixture of the two.
In general, however, the first approach works well when you want to emphasize the person who conducted the research—for example, if you were comparing the theories of two prominent researchers.
It also works well when you are describing a particular study in detail.
The second approach works well when you are discussing a general idea and especially when you want to include multiple citations for the same idea.
The third most common error in Table 11.2 has to do with the use of et al.
This is an abbreviation for the Latin term et alia, which means “and others.”
In APA style, if an article or a book chapter has more than two authors but fewer than six, you should include all their names when you first cite that work.
After that, however, you should use the first author’s name followed by “et al.”
If the article has only two authors then both should be included in every citation.
If an article has six or more authors then you should only list the name of the first author followed by et al. each and every time you cite that work (even the first time).
empirical research report
An article that presents the results of one or more new studies.
Sections of a Research Report
Title Page and Abstract
The title is centered in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized.
Below the title are the authors’ names and, on the next line, their institutional affiliation—the university or other institution where the authors worked when they conducted the research.
Abstract: A brief summary of the study’s research question, methods, results and conclusions.
Sections of a Research Report
Introduction
The introduction begins on the third page of the manuscript.
The heading at the top of this page is the full title of the manuscript, with each important word capitalized as on the title page.
The introduction includes three distinct subsections, although these are typically not identified by separate headings.
The opening introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting, the literature review discusses relevant previous research, and the closing restates the research question and comments on the method used to answer it.
Sections of a Research Report
Introduction
The opening
The opening, which is usually a paragraph or two in length, introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting.
To capture the reader’s attention, researcher Daryl Bem recommends starting with general observations about the topic under study, expressed in ordinary language (not technical jargon)—observations that are about people and their behavior.
After capturing the reader’s attention, the opening should go on to introduce the research question and explain why it is interesting.
Will the answer fill a gap in the literature?
Will it provide a test of an important theory?
Does it have practical implications?
Giving readers a clear sense of what the research is about and why they should care about it will motivate them to continue reading the literature review—and will help them make sense of it.
Sections of a Research Report
Introduction
The Literature Review
Describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length.
However, the literature review is not simply a list of past studies.
Instead, it constitutes a kind of argument for why the research question is worth addressing.
By the end of the literature review, readers should be convinced that the research question makes sense and that the present study is a logical next step in the ongoing research process.
Sections of a Research Report
Introduction
The Closing
The closing of the introduction—typically the final paragraph or two—usually includes two important elements.
The first is a clear statement of the main research question and hypothesis.
This statement tends to be more formal and precise than in the opening and is often expressed in terms of operational definitions of the key variables.
The second is a brief overview of the method and some comment on its appropriateness.
Sections of a Research Report
Method section
The method section is where you describe how you conducted your study.
An important principle for writing a method section is that it should be clear and detailed enough that other researchers could replicate the study by following your “recipe.”
This means that it must describe all the important elements of the study—basic demographic characteristics of the participants, how they were recruited, whether they were randomly assigned to conditions, how the variables were manipulated or measured, how counterbalancing was accomplished, and so on.
At the same time, it should avoid irrelevant details such as the fact that the study was conducted in Classroom 37B of the Industrial Technology Building or that the questionnaire was double-sided and completed using pencils.
The method section begins immediately after the introduction ends with the heading “Method” (not “Methods”) centered on the page.
Immediately after this is the subheading “Participants,” left justified and in italics.
Sections of a Research Report
Method section
After the participants section
After the participants section, the structure can vary a bit.
In the first, the participants section is followed by a design and procedure subsection, which describes the rest of the method.
This works well for methods that are relatively simple and can be described adequately in a few paragraphs.
In the second approach, the participants section is followed by separate design and procedure subsections.
This works well when both the design and the procedure are relatively complicated and each requires multiple paragraphs.
What is the difference between design and procedure? The design of a study is its overall structure. What were the independent and dependent variables? Etc.
The procedure is how the study was carried out. It often works well to describe the procedure in terms of what the participants did rather than what the researchers did.
In the third basic way to organize a method section, the participants subsection is followed by a materials subsection before the design and procedure subsections. This works well when there are complicated materials to describe.
Sections of a Research Report
Results
Where you present the main results of the study, including the results of the statistical analyses.
Although it does not include the raw data—individual participants’ responses or scores—researchers should save their raw data and make them available to other researchers who request them.
Although there are no standard subsections, it is still important for the results section to be logically organized.
Typically it begins with certain preliminary issues.
One is whether any participants or responses were excluded from the analyses and why.
The rationale for excluding data should be described clearly so that other researchers can decide whether it is appropriate.
A second preliminary issue is how multiple responses were combined to produce the primary variables in the analyses.
A final preliminary issue is whether the manipulation was successful. This is where you would report the results of any manipulation checks.
The results section should then tackle the primary research questions, one at a time.
Again, there should be a clear organization.
One approach would be to answer the most general questions and then proceed to answer more specific ones.
Another would be to answer the main question first and then to answer secondary ones.
suggests the following basic structure for discussing each new result:
Remind the reader of the research question.
Give the answer to the research question in words.
Present the relevant statistics.
Qualify the answer if necessary.
Summarize the result.
Sections of a Research Report
Discussion
The discussion is the last major section of the research report.
Discussions usually consist of some combination of the following elements:
Summary of the research
Theoretical implications
Practical implications
Limitations
Suggestions for future research
The discussion typically begins with a summary of the study that provides a clear answer to the research question.
The summary is often followed by a discussion of the theoretical implications of the research.
The theoretical and practical implications are often followed by a discussion of the study’s limitations.
Now is the time to discuss these issues and how they might have affected the results. But do not overdo it.
Most discussions end with some suggestions for future research.
If the study did not satisfactorily answer the original research question, what will it take to do so? What new research questions has the study raised?
This part of the discussion, however, is not just a list of new questions.
It is a discussion of two or three of the most important unresolved issues.
This means identifying and clarifying each question, suggesting some alternative answers, and even suggesting ways they could be studied.
Finally, some researchers are quite good at ending their articles with a sweeping or thought-provoking conclusion.
However, this kind of ending can be difficult to pull off. It can sound overreaching or just banal and end up detracting from the overall impact of the article.
It is often better simply to end by returning to the problem or issue introduced in your opening paragraph and clearly stating how your research has addressed that issue or problem.
Sections of a Research Report
References
The references section begins on a new page with the heading “References” centered at the top of the page.
All references cited in the text are then listed in the format presented earlier.
Sections of a Research Report
Appendices, Tables, and Figures
An appendix is appropriate for supplemental material that would interrupt the flow of the research report if it were presented within any of the major sections.
An appendix could be used to present lists of stimulus words, questionnaire items, detailed descriptions of special equipment or unusual statistical analyses, or references to the studies that are included in a meta-analysis.
Each appendix begins on a new page.
If there is only one, the heading is “Appendix,” centered at the top of the page.
If there is more than one, the headings are “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on, and they appear in the order they were first mentioned in the text of the report.
After any appendices come tables and then figures.
Tables and figures are both used to present results.
Figures can also be used to display graphs, illustrate theories (e.g., in the form of a flowchart), display stimuli, outline procedures, and present many other kinds of information.
Each table and figure appears on its own page.
Tables are numbered in the order that they are first mentioned in the text (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on).
Figures are numbered the same way (“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” and so on).
A brief explanatory title, with the important words capitalized, appears above each table. Each figure is given a brief explanatory caption, where (aside from proper nouns or names) only the first word of each sentence is capitalized.
Review and Theoretical Articles
Review: Articles that summarize previously published research on a topic and usually present new ways to organize or explain the results.
Theoretical: A review article that is devoted primarily to presenting a new theory.
Review and theoretical articles are structured much like empirical research reports, with a title page, an abstract, references, appendixes, tables, and figures, and they are written in the same high-level and low-level style.
Because they do not report the results of new empirical research, however, there is no method or results section.
In a theoretical article, of course, much of the body of the manuscript is devoted to presenting the new theory.
Theoretical and review articles are usually divided into sections, each with a heading that is appropriate to that section.
The sections and headings can vary considerably from article to article (unlike in an empirical research report).
But whatever they are, they should help organize the manuscript and make the argument clear.
Final Manuscripts
Manuscripts that are prepared by the author in their final form and submitted for publication.
include dissertations, theses, and other student papers.
Conference Presentations
A conference that ranges from small- to large-scale events where researchers in psychology share their research with each other through presentations.
Oral Presentations
The presenter stands in front of an audience of other researchers and tells them about their research—usually with the help of a slide show.
Talks usually last from 10 to 20 minutes, with the last few minutes reserved for questions from the audience.
At larger conferences, talks are typically grouped into sessions lasting an hour or two in which all the talks are on the same general topic.
In preparing a talk, presenters should keep several general principles in mind.
The first is that the number of slides should be no more than about one per minute of the talk.
The second is that talks are generally structured like an APA-style research report.
There is a slide with the title and authors, a few slides to help provide the background, a few more to help describe the method, a few for the results, and a few for the conclusions.
The third is that the presenter should look at the audience members and speak to them in a conversational tone that is less formal than APA-style writing but more formal than a conversation with a friend.
The slides should not be the focus of the presentation; they should act as visual aids.
As such, they should present the main points in bulleted lists or simple tables and figures.
Posters
Another way to present research at a conference by using a large size board which demonstrates and summarizes the researchers study.
Poster session: A one- to two-hour session that takes place in a large room at an professional conference site where dozens of research posters are presented.
The poster’s information is organized into distinct sections, including a title, author names and affiliations, an introduction, a method section, a results section, a discussion or conclusions section, references, and acknowledgments.
Although posters can include an abstract, this may not be necessary because the poster itself is already a brief summary of the research.
It is also better for it to be organized in columns and flow from top to bottom rather than to be organized in rows that flow across the poster.
This makes it easier for multiple people to read at the same time without bumping into each other.
Posters often include elements that add visual interest.
a primary reason that posters are becoming such a popular way to present research is that they facilitate interaction among researchers.
Many presenters immediately offer to describe their research to visitors and use the poster as a visual aid.
At the very least, it is important for presenters to stand by their posters, greet visitors, offer to answer questions, and be prepared for questions and even the occasional critical comment.
It is generally a good idea to have a more detailed write-up of the research available for visitors who want more information, to offer to send them a detailed write-up, or to provide contact information so that they can request more information later.
