Effective Writing in Psychology E-Book

Bernard C. Beins

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 402

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The second edition of Effective Writing in Psychology helps users produce crisp scientific communication, form concise unambiguous arguments, and render technical information clear and comprehensible. The new edition incorporates the latest guidelines contained within the 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual.

• Clear guidelines on effective writing illustrate how to generate strong and compelling prose, even when the writing is not aimed at a research audience
• Incorporates changes to the guidelines contained in the 6th edition of the APA publication manual
• Includes material on how to adapt APA style for poster presentations using PowerPoint, and for oral presentations
• Contains a new section on using the Internet to present research papers and a new chapter on conducting a literature search, to guide students through databases, keywords, sources, and connections between articles
• Highlights methods for selecting a research topic and organizing papers
• Features a sample manuscript showing common deviations from correct APA style and a version demonstrating appropriate use of APA style

Leseprobe

Contents

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the First Edition

Organization of the Book

Features

Acknowledgments

1 Writing in Psychology

Writing in Psychology

How Does Psychological Writing Differ from Other Kinds of Writing?

Using APA Style

Making a Credible Argument

Different Types of Communication

Effective Communication

How to Begin

Part I Organizing and Developing Your Ideas and Writing

2 Formulating Your Ideas

Identifying Your Focal Question

Locating Relevant Sources

Recognizing Multiple Viewpoints

Ethical Writing

3 Assessing Your Sources

The Difference between Primary and Secondary Literature

The Difference between Popular and Scholarly Sources

Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Internet Sources

4 How to Conduct a Literature Search

Understanding Library Resources

Using Article Databases

Using the Internet

Using Sources to Find Sources

5 How to Read and Summarize a Journal Article

An Overview of the Research—the Abstract

Identifying the Issues—the Introduction

Understanding What Was Done—the Method Section

What Happened—the Results Section

What It Means—the Discussion Section

Where the Ideas Originated—the References Section

Figuring Out What It Means

6 Organizing a Paper

Organization

Using the Work of Others to Support Your Argument

Editing and Revising

Mechanics

7 Elements of Style

Recognizing the Importance of Grammar and Style

Choosing Effective Wording

Using Inclusive and Appropriate Language

Deciding on the Use of Technical Language

Avoiding Common Problems

Verb Forms

Spelling

Specific Word Use

8 Communicating Statistics

Why Do We Use Statistics?

What Point Are You Trying to Make?

Understanding Your Numbers

Helping Readers Understand Your Statistics

Differentiating Results and Interpretations

Part II Preparing APA Format Papers

9 Writing a Thesis or a Term Paper

Developing Your Idea

Organizing Your Paper Around the Central Questions

Finding Different Perspectives About Your Idea

Developing the Logic of Your Argument

10 The Introduction Section

Introducing the Topic

Different Approaches to Starting the Introduction

How to Begin

Reviewing the Literature

Reasons for Reviewing the Literature

Clarifying Terms in the Research

Introducing Your Research: Generating a Hypothesis

11 The Method Section

Participants and Subjects

Materials and Apparatus

Procedure

Design

12 The Results Section

Your Hypotheses

Deciding What to Present

Reporting Significant and Nonsignificant Results

Marginally Significant Effects

APA Style and Presentation of Your Results

Creating Tables

Creating Figures

The Connection between the Text and the Tables and Figures

The Difference between Results and Discussion Sections

Some Final Points About Presenting Results

13 The Discussion Section

Summarizing Your Results

Connecting Different Aspects of Your Results

Dealing with Nonsignificant Results

Comparing Your Results with Those of Others

Stating the Importance and Implications of Your Results

Acknowledging the Limitations of Your Study

14 References Citations in the Text and the Reference List

Citing References in the Text

Citing Sources with Three to Five Authors

Citing Sources with Six or More Authors

Citing Personal Communications

Citing Multiple Sources within Parentheses

Order of Citations in the Reference List

Using Your Word Processing Program to Create the Citation

Examples of How Different Types of References Should Be Laid Out

15 Final Touches The Abstract and Formatting Details

The Abstract

Formatting Details

Part III Communicating Beyond the Research Paper

16 Creating Poster Presentations

Differentiating Visual and Written Communication

Reducing the Amount of Information

Visual Style

Your Behavior: The Ethic of a Poster Session

Creating Your Poster Using PowerPoint®

17 Giving Oral Presentations

The Difference between Oral and Written English

Adapting APA Style to Oral Presentations

Preparing for Your Talk

Creating Graphics for Your Presentation

Giving the Presentation

18 Presenting Your Work on the Internet

New Capabilities with Internet Publication

Using a Word Processor to Create Manuscripts for the Internet

Advantages of Internet Publishing Software

Publishing Your Poster on the Web

Uploading Your Manuscript to the Internet

19 Submitting Your Plan to an Ethics Committee

Ethical Standards in Research

Writing a Proposal for an Institutional Review Board for Research with Human Subjects

Writing a Proposal for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for Animal Research

Appendix A: Example of APA-Style Manuscript with Common Errors

Appendix B: Corrected APA-Style Manuscript

References

Author Index

Subject Index

This second edition first published 2012© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Edition History: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e, 2008)

Wiley-Blackwell is an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, formed by the merger of Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing.

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The right of Bernard C. Beins and Agatha M. Beins to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beins, Bernard.Effective writing in psychology : papers, posters, and presentations / Bernard C. Beins,Agatha M. Beins. – 2nd ed.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-67124-5 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-470-67244-0 (paperback)1. Psychology–Authorship. I. Beins, Agatha, 1976– II. Beins, Agatha M. III. Title.BF76.7.B45 2012808.06′615–dc232011046045

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

                                              Preface to the Second Edition

A writing project is never done. If you are thoughtful about your writing, you will always spot elements in your prose that you think could have been better. Thus writing a book like this one leads to a process, not a product. So, when we wrote the first edition of Effective Writing in Psychology, we recognized that it would be a helpful book with an interesting approach to writing. But there were also a few places where we wondered if we could have made our point more effectively or written more clearly.

So with this edition of Effective Writing we have had the opportunity to do it again, only better. Happily, we think that there were only a few instances in the first edition that needed clarification, expansion, or rewording. But we tried to take care of them to make the book even stronger. We hope you benefit from the changes we made.

In addition, as with any evolving domain, the technical aspects of writing in APA style have changed since the first edition of Effective Writing appeared. So we have adapted the sections on writing in APA style to conform to the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Many changes to the publication manual are minor, so you will be able to learn and implement them easily.

It has been as delightful working on this edition as it was on the first edition of Effective Writing. A father–daughter collaboration is a joy. Our work together constantly reminded us of our mutual respect at the personal and professional levels.

As always, though, a project like this does not happen by accident. It requires collaborative efforts on the part of many people. We are grateful to the professionals at Wiley-Blackwell for their help, in particular Matt Bennett, Nicole Benevenia, and Julia Kirk.

                                              Preface to the First Edition

Mark Twain recognized the importance of effective writing skills when he said, “The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug.” We wrote this book to help writers generate their own version of lightning when they write papers, create posters, or develop presentations in psychology.

As we have taught courses in writing and in psychology (one of us for over a third of a century), we have become very aware how important it is for students and researchers to develop solid communication skills. No matter what type of professional work you undertake, it will be critical for you to convey your ideas well.

As you write and communicate in psychology, you will face challenges that some other types of writers do not. Writing in psychology involves two separate components. One concerns the ability to create clear and crisp prose that people want to read. The second relates to the ability to convey a compelling message in technical and scientific language. All too often, scientific writers understand their concepts exceedingly well, but they fail to present a message that readers can understand, appreciate, or even want to read. Here this book enters the picture. We present suggestions and guidelines that will help you create interesting papers and cogently delivered oral presentations that will capture the attention of others.

This book will help writers at all levels of experience and skill. Some components of the book are oriented toward effective writing and give tips that are relevant for communicating with many different readerships. Other components provide direction for successful use of writing in American Psychological Association (APA) style. By using both of these aspects of the book, first-time and experienced writers can be comfortable knowing that their words will have an impact and that their work will be recognized as of professional quality.

We have worked to make this book both accessible and useful. At the same time, we have made it rigorous because writing should be as clear and precise as it is interesting.

Organization of the Book

The book begins with an overview of different kinds of writing and what makes writing for psychology different. In addition, we introduce some of the principles for developing credible arguments and effective communi­cation, whether you are writing or speaking, or creating graphic presentations. We also introduce APA style, which is common in many of the behavioral and social sciences.

The book details guidelines on developing your own ideas and conducting Internet and library research to integrate them with issues that others have already addressed. The next focus of the book involves organizing your thoughts and beginning the process of writing and revising.

Following the chapters on effective communication strategies, we offer guidance on the technical aspects of writing a paper in APA style. In chapters 10 through 15, you will learn how to use APA style accurately and effectively. If you have not already discovered that APA style involves detail after detail, you will learn it here. But we explain those details in ways that will permit you to follow them as you need to.

We also recognize that not all scientific communication occurs through papers. Consequently, in the last section of this book, we offer strategies for creating poster presentations, giving oral presentations, developing Internet presentations, and writing proposals for institutional review boards.

Finally, we have included a sample APA-style paper to help you write and format your own work. One of the unique features of the sample paper is that it contains annotated errors that writers frequently make. Seeing a paper that illustrates errors that you might make often helps your writing more than seeing flawless papers. If you don’t know that you made a mistake, it is hard to know that you need to correct it.

Features

We provide features in this book that we hope will make the process of writing more effective and efficient. First, we tell you not only what constitutes good writing, but why. As a result, you should be able to generalize the points beyond the specific examples we use. Furthermore, the examples in the book come from published research, which gives you a good sense of how effective writers convey their ideas.

Second, we use many tables and figures that illustrate specific guidance in many areas that pose problems for writers. Rather than simply listing formatting details, we have tried to bring them to life in ways that you will be using them.

Finally, as we noted above, we include examples of the types of errors students and researchers actually make. You can learn from the mistakes of others. The sample paper in the appendix includes stylistic and formatting errors that commonly occur so that you can see what to avoid.

Acknowledgments

A book is the product of its authors, but it also takes its final shape because of the contributions of others. For this book, we have benefited from the help of Linda Beins, a librarian extraordinaire with extensive insights into finding and developing information. We were also fortunate to have the keen eyes and intellect of Stephen F. Davis, Kenneth D. Keith, and Suzanne Baker, who provided us with feedback on early versions of the chapters. Finally, we are grateful for the consistent help of Chris Cardone, Executive Editor, and Sarah Coleman, Development Project Manager, two of ­Wiley-Blackwell’s astute staff who have made this project as seamless as it could have possibly been.

1

Writing in Psychology

Write what matters. If you don’t care about what you’re writing, neither will your readers.

Judy Reeves

I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.

James Michener

When you write about psychology or any of the other sciences, you are telling a story about people. Scientists are people, complete with individual personalities, likes and dislikes, and ordinary human qualities. The way they are affects what they do and how they do it. As such, “science writing is not so much about science, but about people—human problems and their solutions, curiosity and discovery” (Holland, 2007). In this book, you will learn how to convey your thoughts on the important problems and ­solutions in psychology.

It would be hard to overstate how important it is to write effectively. Writing constitutes one of the “3 Rs” of a basic education: reading, writing and ’rithmetic. In the world of business, success is dependent, in part, on effective writing. For high-­level positions, “writing is a ‘threshold skill’ for both employment and promotion” (College Board, 2004, p. 3). In one survey, many companies noted that writing was important in hiring. One respondent asserted that, “in most cases, writing ability could be your ticket in … or it could be your ticket out” (College Board, 2004, p. 3). Potential employees who do not write well are unlikely to be hired and, if they are, are unlikely to be promoted.

Graduate school admission may also depend on writing effectiveness. Graduate programs routinely request essays as part of the application process. This writing is “often used to make final selections of students with similar GPAs and standardized test scores. If you are on the borderline of being accepted and the admissions committee could go either way, a ­sterling essay can increase your chances of success considerably” (American Psychological Association, 2007, p. 132).