Psychology Research Writing Essentials

Essentials in Psychological Research Writing

• Psychology writing, like other scientific writing, aims to inform the reader about new ideas, theories, or experiments.
• Academic psychologists emphasize clarity and brevity, minimizing complex sentence structure and descriptive language.
• The primary goal of a research summary or literature review is to synthesize research on a topic, while also shedding new light on it.
• Writing a literature review involves significant research, both online and in libraries.
• The goal is to evaluate sources, not just find all relevant articles.
• Reliable sources are usually peer-reviewed by experts in the field prior to publication.
• Empirical papers present original data; literature reviews summarize others' research.

Types of Psychology Papers

• Research psychologists create varying papers, including grant proposals, applications, review articles, and textbooks.
• Most student papers are either empirical (presenting original data) or literature reviews (summarizing other research).
• These types of papers follow similar writing conventions, though their formats may differ slightly.

Elements of Literature Review/Summary Papers

• Avoid relying on research summaries; use original sources (empirical sources).
• Literature reviews don't have a fixed structure. Use subheadings to introduce new topic areas within a paper.
• Ensure your paper has a clear introduction, a body presenting the evidence, and a discussion.
• The introduction outlines the topic's importance, its history, and related theories. It should include your claim or thesis statement and examples.
• The body presents evidence supporting your claim, addressing contrary evidence, and explaining how it relates to your claim. It should also cover previous research on the topic and any controversies/alternate opinions.
• At every stage in the discussion relating evidence to the major conclusions you are trying to make.
• The discussion/conclusion synthesizes the findings from the body. It should address remaining questions and conclusions relevant to others’ theories and everyday life.

Avoiding Surprises in Writing

• Psychologists want smooth transitions, avoiding unexpected shifts in the paper's direction.
• Make arguments clear, showing how new evidence or theories fit into the overall point of the paper.
• Think of the reader's perspective, ensuring the introduction, evidence presentation, and discussion all maintain a clear logical flow.

Writing Conventions in Psychology Papers

• Avoid direct quotes. Summarize and cite other research directly.
• Use bias-free language. Avoid gendered pronouns as generic references, or phrases implying negativity towards certain groups.
• Avoid jargon or excessively unusual words unless essential.
• Be concise and avoid wordiness. Always use headings and subheadings and a title for each paper.
• The use of “I” and “We” refers to the authors of the paper, not general people.
• Use active voice, avoiding passive constructions. Use “participants” in place of “subjects”. Be aware that "data" is plural (data were), and not singular like datum (datum was).