As a system for advancing knowledge, science requires that investi.docx

As a system for advancing knowledge, science requires that
investigators share their findings with the rest of the scientific
community. Only if one’s findings are made public can
knowledge accumulate as researchers build on, extend, and
refine one another’s work. As we discussed in Chapter 1, a
defining characteristic of science is that, over the long haul, it
is self-correcting; and self-correction can occur only if research
findings are widely disseminated. To this end, informing others
of the outcome of one’s work is a critical part of the research
process.
In this chapter we will examine how researchers distribute
their work to other scientists, students, and the general public.
Because the effective communication of one’s research nearly
always involves writing, much of this chapter will be devoted to
scientific writing. We will discuss criteria for good scientific
writing and help you improve your own writing skills. We will
also examine the guidelines that behavioral researchers use to
prepare their research reports, a system of rules known as APA
style. To begin, however, we’ll take a look at the three main
routes by which behavioral scientists disseminate their research
to others.
HOW SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS ARE DISSEMINATED
Researchers disseminate the results of their investigations
among themselves in three ways: journal publications,
presentations at professional meetings, and personal contact.
Journal Publication
Journal publication is the primary route by which research
findings are disseminated to the scientific community.

Scientific journals serve not only as a means of communication
among researchers (most researchers subscribe to one or more
journals in their fields) but also as the basis for the permanent
storage of research findings in library collections. Traditionally,
journals were published only in printed form, but today many
journals are published in digital format as PDF files and on the
Internet.
Before most journals will publish a research paper, it must
undergo the process of peer review. In peer review, a paper is
evaluated by other scientists who have expertise in the topic
under investigation. Although various journals use slightly
different systems of peer review, the general process is as
follows.
1. The author submits copies of his or her paper to the editor of
a relevant journal. (The editor’s name and address typically
appear on the inside front cover of the journal and on the
journal’s Web site.) Although a few journals still ask authors to
submit paper copies of their manuscripts, most journals have
on-line systems by which authors submit their work by sending
word processing files. Authors are permitted to submit a
particular piece of work to only one journal at a time.
2. The editor (or an associate editor designated by the editor)
then sends a copy of the paper to two or more peer reviewers
who are known to be experts in the area of research covered in
the paper.
3. Each of the reviewers reads and critiques the paper,
evaluating its conceptualization, methodology, analyses, results,
interpretations, and contribution to the field. Each reviewer then
sends a written review, typically a page or two in length (and,
often, several pages), which provides the editor with feedback
regarding the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses.
Sometimes the reviewer makes a specific recommendation
regarding whether the paper ought to be published.
4. Having received the reviewers’ comments, suggestions, and
recommendations, the editor considers their input and reads the
paper him- or herself. The editor then makes one of four

editorial decisions. First, he or she may decide to publish the
paper as it is. Editors rarely make this decision, however; even
if the paper is exceptional, the reviewers virtually always
suggest ways in which it can be improved. Second, the editor
may accept the paper for publication contingent on the author
making certain minor revisions. Third, the editor may decide
not to accept the paper for publication in the journal but asks
the authors to revise the paper in line with the reviewers’
recommendations and to resubmit it for reconsideration. Editors
make this decision when they think the paper has potential merit
but see too many problems to warrant publication of the original
draft. The fourth decision an editor may make is to reject the
paper, with no opportunity for the authors to resubmit the paper
to that particular journal. However, once the manuscript is
rejected by one journal, the author may revise and submit it for
consideration at another journal.
The most common editorial decision is the fourth one—
rejection. In the leading journals in behavioral science, between
65% and 85% of the submitted manuscripts are rejected for
publication (Summary Report of Journal Operations, 2009).
Even if they are ultimately accepted for publication, most
submitted papers undergo one or more rounds of reviews and
revisions before they are published, so researchers must become
accustomed to receiving critical feedback about their work.
(The entire process, from submission to publication, usually
takes a year or two.) Although no one likes having their work
criticized or rejected, seasoned researchers realize that tight
quality control is essential in science. Critical feedback from
reviewers and editors helps to ensure that published articles
meet minimum standards of scientific acceptability. In addition,
critical feedback may actually help the researcher by ensuring
that his or her flawed studies and poorly written manuscripts are
not published, thereby preventing even greater criticism and
embarrassment in the long run.
Students are often surprised to learn that researchers are not
paid for the articles they publish. Conducting and publishing

research is part of many researchers’ jobs at colleges and
universities, hospitals, research institutes, government agencies,
and other research organizations. Thus, they are compensated
for the research they conduct as part of their normal salaries and
do not receive any extra pay when their articles are published.
Presentations at Professional Meetings
The second route by which scientific findings are distributed
is through presentations at professional meetings. Most
behavioral researchers belong to one or more professional
organizations, such as the American Psychological Association,
the Association for Psychological Science, the American
Educational Research Association, the Psychonomic Society,
regional organizations (such as the Southeastern, Midwestern,
and Western Psychological Associations), and a number of other
groups that cater to specific areas of behavioral science (such as
neuroscience, law and psychology, social psychology, health
psychology, developmental psychology, and so on). Most of
these organizations hold annual meetings at which researchers
present their latest work.
In most instances, researchers who wish to present their
research submit a short proposal (usually 200–500 words) that
is peer-reviewed by other researchers. The acceptance rate for
professional meetings is much higher than that for journal
publication; typically 50% to 80% of the submitted proposals
are accepted for presentation at the conference or convention.
Depending on the specific organization and on the
researcher’s preference, the presentation of a paper at a
professional meeting can take one of two forms. One mode of
presentation involves giving a talk to an audience. Typically,
papers on related topics are included in the same paper session
or symposium, in which each speaker has 15 or 20 minutes to
present his or her research and to answer questions from the
audience.
A second mode of presentation is the poster session. In a

poster session, researchers display summaries of their research
on poster boards, providing the essential details of its
background, methodology, results, and implications. The
researchers then stand with their posters to provide details,
answer questions, and discuss their work with interested
persons. They also have copies of a longer research report on
hand to distribute to interested parties. Many researchers prefer
poster sessions over verbal presentations because more people
typically attend a particular poster session than a paper session
(thus, the research gets wider exposure), and poster sessions
allow more one-on-one interactions between researchers. Poster
sessions not only give the researchers who are presenting their
studies an opportunity to meet others who are interested in their
topic, but they also often serve as a social hour in which
convention attendees gather to interact with one another.
Personal Contact
A great deal of communication among scientists occurs
through informal channels, such as personal contact. After
researchers have been actively involved in an area of
investigation for a few years, they get to know others around
the world who are interested in the same topic. They talk with
one another at professional meetings, sharing their latest ideas
and findings; and they often send prepublication drafts of their
latest papers to these individuals and may even collaborate on
research projects. Most researchers also stay in contact with one
another through e-mail.
This network of researchers from around the world, which
has been called the “hidden university,” is an important channel
of scientific communication that allows researchers to stay
informed about the latest advances in their fields. Researchers
who are linked to these informal networks often become aware
of advances in their fields a year or more before those advances

are published in scientific journals.
In Depth
Peer Review, the Media, and the Internet
As we have seen, the dissemination of research findings
among members of the scientific community occurs primarily
through journal publication, presentations at professional
meetings, and personal contact. However, information about
research is sometimes released in two additional ways—in the
popular media and on the World Wide Web.
Researchers are sometimes interviewed about their work by
reporters and writers. You have probably seen articles about
behavioral research in newspapers and magazines and heard
stories about research, if not interviews with the researchers
themselves, on television and radio. Although most scientists
believe that researchers are obligated to share their findings
with the public, the drawback of reporting research in the
general media is that the audience who reads, hears, or sees the
report has no way of judging the quality of the research or the
accuracy of the interpretations. Researchers can talk about their
research whether it meets minimum standards of scientific
acceptability or passes the test of peer review. For this reason,
researchers in some sciences, though not in psychology, are
discouraged from talking publicly about research that has not
been peer-reviewed.
Furthermore, even if research has the scientific stamp of
approval of peer review, popular reports of research are
notoriously inaccurate. News reporters and writers typically
focus on the study’s most interesting conclusion without
addressing the qualifications and limitations of the study that
one would find in a journal article.
The same problem of quality control arises when researchers
post reports of their research on the World Wide Web. Because
anyone can create a Web site and post whatever they wish on it,
we often have no way of knowing that research posted on the

Web was properly conducted, analyzed, and interpreted. (For
this reason, many teachers do not allow students to use the Web
to locate previous research on a topic except when the research
has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.) Sometimes
researchers post manuscripts after they have been peer-reviewed
and accepted for publication, which is a different matter. As
long as the research passed the critical process of peer review,
we have at least minimum assurance that other experts viewed it
as acceptable. However, if research posted on the Web has not
been peer-reviewed, you should be wary about using or citing it.
ELEMENTS OF GOOD SCIENTIFIC WRITING
Good writing skills are essential for researchers. No matter how
insightful, creative, or well-designed particular studies may be,
they are not likely to have an impact on behavioral science if
researchers do not convey their ideas and findings in a clear,
accurate, and engaging manner. In fact, research shows that
influential papers in psychology are more readable than less
influential ones. When they systematically compared 72
influential journal articles with matched control articles,
Hartley and Sotto (2001) found that the influential papers had
significantly shorter sentences that were easier to understand.
Unfortunately, good writing cannot be taught as easily as
experimental design or the calculation of a correlation
coefficient. It develops only through conscious attention to the
details of good writing, coupled with practice and feedback
from others. Very few people are good scientific writers without
working on it; most researchers continue to improve their
writing skills throughout their careers.
Although you will not suddenly learn to become an effective
writer from the material in the next few pages, I hope that I can
offer some suggestions that will help you to develop your own
scientific writing skills. Specifically, this section will focus on
the importance of organization, clarity, and conciseness, and
offer you hints on how to achieve them.

Organization
The first prerequisite for clear writing is organization—the
order in which one’s ideas are expressed. The general
organization of research reports in behavioral science is
dictated by guidelines established by the American
Psychological Association. Among other things, these
guidelines stipulate the order in which sections of a paper must
appear. In light of these guidelines (which we will examine in
detail later in this chapter), you will have few problems with the
general organization of a research paper.
Problems are more likely to arise in the organization of ideas
within sections of the paper. If the order in which ideas are
expressed is faulty, readers are likely to become confused.
Someone once said that good writing is like a road map; the
writer should take the reader from point A to point B—from
beginning to end—using the straightest possible route, without
backtracking, without detours, and without getting the reader
lost along the way. To do this, you must present your ideas in
an orderly and logical progression. One thought should follow
from and build on another in a manner that will be easily
grasped by the reader.
Before you start writing, make a rough outline of the major
points you wish to express. This doesn’t necessarily need to be
one of those detailed, multilevel outlines you learned to make in
high school; just a list of major points will usually suffice. Be
sure the major points in your outline progress in an orderly
fashion. Starting with an outline may alert you to the fact that
your ideas do not flow coherently or that you need to add
certain points to make them progress more smoothly.
As you write, be sure that the transitions between one idea
and another are clear. If you move from one idea to another too
abruptly, the reader may miss the connection between them and
lose your train of thought. Pay particular attention to the
transitions from one paragraph to another. Often, you’ll need to

write transition sentences that explicitly lead the reader from
one paragraph to the next.
Clarity
Perhaps the fundamental requirement of scientific writing is
clarity. Unlike some forms of fiction in which vagueness
enhances the reader’s experience, the goal of scientific writing
is to communicate information. It is essential, then, that the
information is conveyed in a clear, articulate, and unclouded
manner.
This is a very difficult task, however. You don’t have to read
many articles published in scientific journals to know that not
all scientific writers express themselves clearly. Often writers
find it difficult to step outside themselves and imagine how
readers will interpret their words. Even so, clarity must be a
writer’s first and foremost goal.
Two primary factors contribute to the clarity of one’s
writing: sentence construction and word choice.
SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION.
The best way to enhance the clarity of your writing is to pay
close attention to how you construct your sentences; awkwardly
constructed sentences distract and confuse the reader. First,
state your ideas in the most explicit and straightforward manner
possible. One way to do this is to avoid the passive voice. For
example, compare the following sentences:
The participants were told by the experimenter to press
the button when they were finished (passive voice).
The experimenter told the participants to press the button

when they finished (active voice).
I think you can see that the second sentence, which is
written in the active voice, is the better of the two.
Second, avoid overly complicated sentences. Be economical
in the phrases you use. For example, the sentence, “There were
several different participants who had not previously been told
what their IQ scores were,” is terribly convoluted. It can be
streamlined to, “Several participants did not know their IQ
scores.” (In a moment, I’ll share with you one method I use to
identify wordy and awkwardly constructed sentences in my own
writing.)
WORD CHOICE.
A second way to enhance the clarity of one’s writing is to
choose one’s words carefully. Choose words that convey
precisely the idea you wish to express. “Say what you mean and
mean what you say” is the scientific writer’s dictum.
In everyday language, we often use words in ways that are
discrepant from their dictionary definition. For example, we
tend to use theory and hypothesis interchangeably in everyday
language, but they mean different things to researchers.
Similarly, people talk informally about seeing a therapist or
counselor, but psychologists draw a distinction between
therapists and counselors. Can you identify the problem in this
sentence?
Many psychologists feel that the conflict between psychology
and psychiatry is based on fundamental differences in their
theoretical assumptions.
In everyday language, we loosely interchange feel for think; in

this sentence, feel is the wrong choice.
Use specific terms. When expressing quantity, avoid loose
approximations such as most and very few. Be careful with
words, such as significant, that can be interpreted in two ways
(that is, important vs. statistically significant). Use verbs that
convey precisely what you mean. The sentence, “Smith argued
that earlier experiments were flawed” connotes greater
animosity on Smith’s part than does the sentence, “Smith
suggested that earlier experiments were flawed.” Use the most
accurate word. It would be impossible to identify all of the
pitfalls of poor word choice; just remember to consider your
words carefully to be sure you “say what you mean.”
Finally, avoid excessive jargon. As in every discipline,
psychology has a specialized vocabulary for the constructs it
studies—such as operant conditioning, cognitive dissonance,
and preoperational stage—constructs without which behavioral
scientists would find communication difficult. However, refrain
from using jargon when a more common word exists that
conveys the desired meaning. In other words, don’t be like
Calvin in the accompanying cartoon; don’t use jargon when
everyday language will do the job.
Conciseness
A third important consideration in scientific writing is
conciseness. Say what you are going to say as economically as
possible. Like you, readers are busy people. Think how you feel
when you must read a 26-page journal article that could have
conveyed all of its points in only 15 pages. Have mercy on your
readers! Conciseness is also important for practical reasons.
Scientific journals are able to publish only a limited number of
pages each year, so papers that are unnecessarily long rob the
field of badly needed journal space.
However, do not use conciseness as an excuse for skimpy
writing. Research papers must contain all necessary

information. Ideas must be fully developed, methods described
in detail, results examined carefully, and so on. The advice to
be concise should be interpreted as an admonition to include
only the necessary information and to express it as succinctly
(yet clearly) as possible.
Proofreading and Rewriting
Good writers are rewriters. Writers whose first draft is ready
for public distribution are extremely rare, if they exist at all.
Most researchers revise their papers many times before they
allow anyone else to see them (unlike the students I’ve known
who hand in their first draft!).
When you reread your own writing, do so with a critical eye.
Have you included everything necessary to make your points
effectively? Is the paper organized? Are ideas presented in a
logical and orderly progression, and are the transitions between
them clear? Is the writing clear and concise? Have you used
precise vocabulary throughout?
When you proofread your paper, read it aloud. I often
imagine that I am a television newscaster and that my paper is
the script of a documentary I am narrating. If you feel silly
pretending to be a newscaster, just read your paper aloud slowly
as if you were reading a speech that was written by someone
else and listen to how it sounds. Reading a paper aloud is the
best way I know to spot awkward constructions. Sentences that
look fine on paper often sound stilted or convoluted when they
are spoken.
Allow yourself enough time to write and revise your paper
and then set it aside for a few days. After a period away from a
paper, I am always able to see weaknesses that I had missed
earlier. Many researchers also seek feedback from colleagues
and students. They ask others to critique a polished draft of the
paper. Typically, other people will find areas of confusion,
awkwardness, poor logic, and other problems. If you ask for
others’ feedback, be prepared to accept their criticisms and

suggestions graciously. After all, that’s what you asked them to
give you! Whatever tactics you use, proofread and revise your
writing not once but several times, until it reads smoothly from
beginning to end.
AVOIDING BIASED LANGUAGE
Gender-Neutral Language
Consider the following sentence: “The therapist who owns
his own practice is as much a businessman as a psychologist.”
Many people regard such writing as unacceptable because it
involves sexist language—language that reinforces sexism by
treating men and women differently. In the preceding sentence,
the use of he and businessman seems to imply that all therapists
are men.
In the 1970s, the American Psychological Association was
one of several organizations and publishers to adopt guidelines
for the use of gender-neutral (or nonsexist) language. Using
gender-neutral language is important for two reasons. First,
careless use of gender-related language may promote sexism.
For example, consider the sentence, “Fifty fraternity men and
50 sorority girls were recruited to serve in the study.” The use
of the nonparallel words men and girls reinforces stereotypes
about and status differences between men and women. Second,
sexist language can create ambiguity. For example, does the
sentence, “Policemen experience a great deal of job-related
stress,” refer only to policemen or to both male and female
police officers?
The APA Publication Manual (2009) discusses many
variations of sexist language and offers suggestions on how to
use gender-neutral substitutes in your writing. I’ll discuss three

common cases of sexist language.
GENERIC PRONOUNS.
Historically, writers have used generic pronouns such as he,
him, and his to refer to both men and women, as in the sentence,
“Every citizen should exercise his right to vote.” However, the
use of generic masculine pronouns to refer to people of both
sexes is problematic on two counts.
First, using masculine pronouns can create ambiguity and
confusion. Consider the sentence, “After each participant
completed his questionnaire, he was debriefed.” Are the
participants described here both men and women, or men only?
Second, many writers have argued that the use of generic
masculine pronouns is inherently male centered and sexist (see
Pearson, 1985). What is the possible justification, they ask, for
using masculine pronouns to refer to women?
Writers deal with gender-relevant pronouns in one of two
ways. On one hand, phrases that include both he or she or his or
her can be used: “After each participant completed his or her
questionnaire, he or she was debriefed.” However, the endless
repetition of he or she in a paper can become very tiresome. A
better way to avoid sexist language is to use plural nouns and
pronouns; the plural form of generic pronouns, such as they,
them, and theirs are gender free: “After participants completed
their questionnaires, they were debriefed.” Incidentally, APA
style discourages use of the forms he/she and s/he to refer to
both sexes.
THE WORD MAN.
Similar problems arise when the word man and its variations
(e.g., mankind, the average man, manpower, businessman,
policeman, mailman) are used to refer to both men and women.
Man-linked words not only foster confusion but also maintain a
system of language that has become outmoded. Modern

awareness of and sensitivity to sexism force us to ask ourselves
why words such as policeman were traditionally used to refer to
female police officers.
In most instances, gender-neutral words can be substituted
for man-linked words. For example, terms such as police
officer, letter carrier, chairperson, fire fighter, and supervisor
are preferable to policeman, mailman, chairman, fireman, and
foreman. Such gender-neutral terms are not only sometimes
more descriptive than the man-linked version (the term fire
fighter more clearly expresses the nature of the job than does
fireman) but also avoid the absurdity of reading about firemen
who take time off from work each day to breast-feed their
babies.
NONEQUIVALENT FORMS.
Other instances of sexist language involve using words that
are not equivalent for women and men. The earlier example
involving “fraternity men and sorority girls” is an example of
this inequity. Furthermore, some words that seem structurally
equivalent for men and women have different connotations. For
example, a person who mothered a child did something quite
different from the person who fathered a child. If caretaking
behavior is meant, gender-neutral words such as parenting or
nurturing are preferred over mothering. Other words, such as
coed, that do not have an equivalent form for the other gender
(that is, what is a male coed called?) should be avoided.
In Depth
Sexist Language: Does It Really Matter?
Some writers object to being asked to use gender-neutral
language. Some argue that so-called non-exist language is really

unnecessary because everyone knows that he refers to both men
and women and that mankind includes everybody. Others point
out that nonsexist language leads to awkwardly constructed
sentences and distorts the English language.
At one level, the arguments for and against gender-neutral
language are philosophical or political: Should we write in ways
that discourage sexism and promote egalitarianism? At another
level, however, the debate regarding nonsexist language can be
examined empirically. Several researchers have investigated the
effects of sexist and nonsexist language on readers’
comprehension.
Kidd (1971) examined the question whether readers interpret
the word man to refer to everyone as opponents of gender-
neutral language maintain. In her study, participants read
sentences that used the word man or a variation and then
answered questions in which they identified the gender of the
person referred to in each sentence. Although the word man was
used in the generic sense, participants interpreted it to refer
specifically to men 86% of the time. If you want to demonstrate
this effect on your own, ask 10 people to draw a picture of a
caveman and see how many opt to draw a cavewoman. People
do not naturally assume that man refers to everybody (see also
McConnell & Gavanski, 1994).
In another study, Stericker (1981) studied the effects of
gender-relevant pronouns on students’ attitudes toward jobs.
Participants read descriptions of several jobs (such as lawyer,
interior decorator, high school teacher). In these descriptions,
Stericker experimentally manipulated the words he, he or she,
or they in job descriptions. Her results showed that female
participants were more interested in jobs when he or she was
used in the description than when only he was used, but that
male participants’ preferences were unaffected by the pronouns
being used. More recently, McConnell and Fazio (1996) showed
that using man-suffix words (such as chairman of the board) led
readers to draw different inferences about the person being
described than did gender-neutral words (such as chair of the

board).
In brief, studies have shown that using sexist or gender-
neutral language does make a difference in the inferences
readers draw (see Adams & Ware, 1989; McConnell & Fazio,
1996; Pearson, 1985). In the eyes of most readers, man, he, and
other masculine pronouns are not generic, gender-neutral
designations that refer to men and women equally.
Other Language Pitfalls
AVOID LABELS.
Writers should avoid labeling people when possible and
particularly when the label implies that the person is
characterized in terms of a single defining attribute. For
example, writing about “depressives” or “depressed people”
seems to define the individuals solely in terms of their
depression. To avoid the implication that a person as a whole is
depressed (or disabled in some other way), APA style suggests
using phrases that put people first, followed by a descriptive
phrase about them. Thus, rather than writing about “depressed
people,” write about “people who are depressed.” Similarly,
“individuals with epilepsy” is preferred over “epileptics,” “a
person who has a disability” is preferred over “disabled
person,” “people with a mental illness” is preferred over
“mentally ill people” (or, worse, “the mentally ill”), and so on.
RACIAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY.
When describing people in terms of their racial or ethnic
identity, writers must use the most accurate and specific terms
and should be sensitive to any biases that their terms contain.

Preferences for nouns that refer to racial and ethnic groups
change frequently, and writers should use the words that the
groups in question prefer (assuming, of course, that they are
accurate). The APA Publication Manual includes guidelines
regarding the most appropriate designations for various racial,
ethnic, and cultural groups.
PARTS OF A MANUSCRIPT
In 1929, the American Psychological Association adopted a
set of guidelines regarding the preparation of research reports.
This first set of guidelines, which was only 7 pages long, was
subsequently revised and expanded several times. The most
recent edition of these guidelines—the Publication Manual of
the American Psychological Association (6th edition)—was
published in 2009 and runs more than 240 pages.
Most journals that publish behavioral research—not only in
psychology but in other areas as well, such as education and
communication—require that manuscripts conform to APA
style. In addition, most colleges and universities insist that
students use APA style as they write theses and dissertations,
and many professors ask that their students write class papers in
APA style. Thus, a basic knowledge of APA style is an essential
part of the behavioral researcher’s toolbox.
The guidelines in the APA Publication Manual serve three
purposes. First, many of the guidelines are intended to help
authors write more effectively. Thus, the manual includes
discussions of grammar, clarity, word usage, punctuation, and
so on. Second, some of the guidelines are designed to make
published research articles uniform in certain respects. For
example, the manual specifies the sections that every paper
must include, the style of reference citations, and the
composition of tables and figures. When writers conform to a

single style, readers are spared from a variety of idiosyncratic
styles that may distract them from the content of the paper
itself. Third, some of the guidelines are designed to facilitate
the conversion of manuscripts typed using word processing
software into printed journal articles. Certain style conventions
assist the editors, proofreaders, and typesetters who prepare
manuscripts for publication.
The APA Publication Manual specifies the parts that every
research report must have, as well as the order in which they
appear. Generally speaking, a research paper should have a
minimum of seven major sections:
• title page
• abstract
• introduction
• method
• results
• discussion
• references
In addition, papers may have sections for footnotes, tables,
figures, and/or appendixes, all of which appear at the end of the
typed manuscript. Each of these sections is briefly discussed
next.
Title Page
The title page of a research paper should include the title, the
authors’ names, the authors’ affiliations, and a running head.
The title should state the central topic of the paper clearly
yet concisely. As much as possible, it should mention the major
variables under investigation. Titles should generally be no
more than 12 words. The title is centered in the upper half of
the first page of the manuscript.

Good Titles:
Effects of Caffeine on the Acoustic Startle Response
Parenting Styles and Children’s Ability to Delay
Gratification
Probability of Relapse after Recovery from an Episode of
Depression
Poor Titles:
A Study of Memory
Effects of Feedback, Anxiety, Cuing, and Gender on
Semantic and Episodic Memory under Two Conditions of
Threat: A Test of Competing Theories
In the examples of poor titles, the first one is not sufficiently
descriptive, and the phrase “A study of” is unnecessary. The
second title is way too long and involved.
One double-spaced line beneath the title are the author’s name
and affiliation. Most authors use their first name, middle initial,
and last name. The affiliation identifies the institution where
the researcher is employed or is a student.
The Author Note is located at the bottom of the title page. In
the Author Note, the authors provide their complete
departmental affiliation at the time of the study and any changes
in affiliation that may have occurred after the study was
completed. They can also thank those who helped with the
study, acknowledge grants and other financial support for the
research, and discuss any special circumstances that may be
relevant. The note also provides the mailing address and e-mail
address for the contact author.
In the header of the title page is the running head, an
abbreviated form of the title. For example, the title “Effects of
Social Exclusion on Dysphoric Emotions” could be reduced to
the running head, “Effects of Exclusion.” The running head is
typed flush left at the top of the page in uppercase letters. When

an article is typeset for publication in a journal, the running
head appears at the top of every other page of the printed
article.
Abstract
The second page of a manuscript consists of the abstract, a
brief summary of the content of the paper. The abstract should
be 150–250 words depending on the policy of a particular
journal. The abstract for the report of an empirical study should
describe the following items:
• the problem under investigation
• the participants used in the study
• the research procedures
• the findings
• the conclusions or implications of the study
Because this is a great deal of information to convey in so few
words, many researchers find it difficult to write an accurate
and concise abstract that is coherent and readable. However, in
some ways, the abstract is the single most important part of a
journal article because most readers decide whether to read an
article on the basis of its abstract. Furthermore, the abstract is
retrieved by computerized literature search services such as
PsycINFO. Although the abstract is usually the last part of a
paper to be written, it is by no means the least important
section.
Introduction
The body of a research report begins on page 3 of the
manuscript. The title of the paper is repeated at the top of page
3, followed by the introduction itself. (The heading Introduction
does not appear, however.)

The Introduction section describes for the reader the problem
under investigation and presents a background context in which
the problem can be understood. The author discusses aspects of
the existing research literature that pertain to the study—not an
exhaustive review of all research that has been conducted on the
topic but rather a selective review of previous work that deals
specifically with the topic under investigation.
When reviewing previous research, write in the past tense. Not
only does it make sense to use past tense to write about research
that has already been conducted (“Smith’s findings showed the
same pattern”) but also writing in the present tense often leads
to awkward sentences in which deceased persons seem to speak
from the grave to make claims in the present (“Freud suggests
that childhood memories may be repressed”). Throughout the
paper, but particularly in the introduction, you will cite
previous research conducted by others. We’ll return later to how
to cite previous studies using APA style.
After addressing the problem and presenting previous
research, discuss the purpose and rationale of your research.
Typically, this is done by explicitly stating the goals of the
study or describing the hypotheses that were tested.
In stating their hypotheses, researchers must be wary of
HARKing—Hypothesizing After the Results are Known (Kerr,
1998). Occasionally, researchers will present a “hypothesis” in
the introduction that they developed after seeing the results of
the study as if it was derived a priori. In essence, they imply
that the research was designed to test a particular hypothesis
when, in fact, the so-called hypothesis did not occur to them
until after the study was conducted and they saw the results.
HARKing creates a number of problems for science. Among
other things, presenting post hoc hypotheses as if they were a
priori can transmute flukes into theories. A true a priori
hypothesis is based on an existing theoretical foundation that is
independent of the results of the study, whereas HARKing gives
us a hypothesis that may be based on an anomalous finding

(such as a Type I error). In addition, HARKed hypotheses are
not subject to disconfirmation because they came after rather
than before the study. Given that scientific theories must be
disconfirmable (Chapter 1), HARKing violates a basic tenet of
scientific investigation. Furthermore, HARKing hides ideas and
hypotheses that did not work, leaving other researchers open to
the risk of committing the same mistakes. For these and other
reasons, HARKing in the introduction of a paper is typically
discouraged, although it is certainly appropriate for researchers
to offer ideas and “hypotheses” that dawned on them later as
long as they are identified as post hoc.
The introduction should proceed in an organized and orderly
fashion. You are presenting, systematically and logically, the
conceptual background that provides a rationale for your
particular study. In essence, you are building a case for why
your study was conducted and what you expected to find. After
writing the introduction, ask yourself:
• Did I adequately orient the reader to the purpose of the study
and explain why it is important?
• Did I review the literature adequately, using appropriate,
accurate, and complete citations?
• Did I deal with both theoretical and empirical issues relevant
to the topic?
• Did I clearly state the research question or hypothesis?
Method
The Method section describes precisely how the study was
conducted. A well-written method allows readers to judge the
adequacy of the procedures that were used and provides a
context for them to interpret the findings. A complete
description of the method is essential so that readers may assess
what a study does and does not demonstrate. The method
section also allows other researchers to replicate the study if
they wish. Thus, the method should describe, as precisely,
concisely, and clearly as possible how the study was conducted.

The method section is typically subdivided into three sections,
labeled Participants, Apparatus (or Materials), and Procedure.
The participants and procedure sections are nearly always
included, but the apparatus or materials section is optional.
PARTICIPANTS.
The Participants section describes the participants and how
they were selected. (As you will notice when you read older
journal articles, until 1994, this section was labeled Subjects.
Today, participants is the preferred term for the people or
animals that were studied.) When human participants are used,
researchers typically report the number, sex, and age of the
participants, along with their general demographic
characteristics. In many cases, the manner in which the
participants were obtained is also described. When nonhuman
animals are used, researchers report the number, genus, species,
and strain, as well as their sex and age. Often relevant
information regarding housing, nutrition, and other treatment of
the animals is included as well.
APPARATUS OR MATERIALS.
If special equipment or materials were used in the study,
they are described in a section labeled Apparatus or Materials.
For example, sophisticated equipment for presenting stimuli or
measuring responses should be described, as well as special
instruments or inventories. This section is optional, however,
and is included only when special apparatus or materials were
used. If an apparatus or measure can be described very briefly—
in a sentence or two—many authors simply describe it at the
appropriate place in the Procedure.

PROCEDURE.
The procedure section describes in a step-by-step fashion
precisely how the study was conducted. Included here is
information regarding instructions to the participants,
experimental manipulations, all research procedures, and even
the debriefing. The procedure must be presented in sufficient
detail that another researcher could replicate the study in its
essential details.
After writing the method section, ask yourself:
• Did I describe the method adequately and clearly, including
all information that would be needed for another investigator to
replicate the study?
• Did I fully identify the people or animals who participated?
• Did I describe the apparatus and materials fully?
• Did I report the research procedure fully in a step-by-step
fashion?
Results
The Results section reports the statistical analyses of the data
collected in the study. Generally, writers begin by reporting the
most important results and then work their way to secondary
findings. Researchers are obligated to describe all relevant
results, even those that are contrary to their predictions.
However, you should not feel compelled to include every piece
of data obtained in the study. Most researchers collect and
analyze more data than needed to make their points. However,
you are not permitted to present only those data selected to
support your hypothesis!
When reporting the results of statistical tests, such as t-tests
or F-tests, include information about the kind of analysis that
was conducted, the degrees of freedom for the test, the
calculated value of the statistic, its statistical significance, and

the effect size. If an experimental design was involved, also
include the means and standard deviations for each condition.
(Because it is difficult to type the conventional symbol for the
mean, on many word processors, the symbol M is used for the
mean.) The results of statistical analyses are typically separated
from the rest of the sentence by commas, as in the following
sentence:
A t-test revealed that participants exposed to uncontrollable
noise made more errors (M = 7.5, SD = .67) than participants
who were exposed to controllable noise (M = 4.3, SD = .56),
t(39) = 4.77, p = .012, eta = .29.
Note that this sentence includes the name of the analysis, the
condition means and standard deviations, the degrees of
freedom (39), the calculated value of t (4.77), the p value for
the test (.012), and the effect size (.29). Specific p values
should be reported whenever possible (to the second or third
decimal place); however, if a p value is less than .001, it should
be reported as p < .001. (You may notice that older journal
articles often report all p values as less than a particular value,
such as “p < .05.” However, the most recent edition of APA
style recommends that precise p values be reported, such as “p
= .043” or “p = .075”.)
When the results of an analysis are not significant, the APA
Publication Manual recommends that researchers report a power
analysis. As discussed in Chapter 10, a power analysis tells us
the likelihood of making a Type II error—of failing to detect an
effect that was actually present (or failing to reject the null
hypothesis when it was false). When power is low, the failure to
obtain a significant effect may be due to insufficient power.
Thus, the nonsignificant effect may reflect a Type II error.
However, when power is high, it is unlikely that a
nonsignificant finding reflects a Type II error, and it is more
likely that the effect truly did not occur. Readers are better able
to interpret the meaning of a nonsignificant result when they
know whether statistical power was low or high.

When you need to report a large amount of data—many
correlations or means, for example—consider putting some of
the data in tables or in figures (graphs). APA style requires that
tables and figures be appended to the end of the manuscript,
with a reference to the table or figure at an appropriate place in
the text. Tables and figures are often helpful in presenting data,
but they should be used only when the results are too complex
to describe in the text itself. Furthermore, avoid repeating the
same data in both the text and in a table or figure. Remember to
be economical.
The results should be reported as objectively as possible with
minimal interpretation, elaboration, or discussion. The material
included in the results section should involve what your data
showed but not your interpretation of the data. After writing the
results section, ask yourself:
• Did I clearly describe how the data were analyzed?
• Did I include all results that bear on the original purpose of
the study?
• Did I include all necessary information when reporting
statistical tests?
• Did I describe the findings objectively, with minimal
interpretation and discussion?
Discussion
Having described the results, you are free in the Discussion
to interpret, evaluate, and discuss your findings. As a first step,
discuss the results in terms of the original purpose or hypothesis
of the study. Most researchers begin the discussion with a
statement of the central findings and how they relate to the
goals or hypotheses of the study. They then move on to discuss
other findings.
In your discussion, integrate your results with existing theory
and previous findings, referencing others’ work where
appropriate. Note inconsistencies between your results and

those of other researchers, and discuss alternative explanations
of your findings, not just the one you prefer. Also mention
qualifications and limitations of your study; however, do not
feel compelled to dwell on every possible weakness or flaw in
your research. All studies have shortcomings; it is usually
sufficient simply to note yours in passing. Often, researchers
conclude the Discussion with ideas for future research—the next
steps that need to be taken to pursue the topic further. After
writing the discussion section, ask yourself:
• Did I state clearly what I believe are the major contributions
of my research?
• Did I integrate my findings with both theory and previous
research, citing others’ work where appropriate?
• Did I discuss alternative explanations or interpretations of my
findings?
• Did I note possible qualifications and limitations of my study?
CITING AND REFERENCING PREVIOUS RESEARCH
Citations in the Text
Throughout the text of the paper, you will cite previous
work that is relevant to your study. APA guidelines specify the
form that such citations must take. APA style uses the author–
date system in which others’ work is cited by inserting the last
name of the author and the year of publication at the appropriate
point in the text. The book you are reading uses the author–date
system.
The author–date system allows you to cite a reference in
one of two ways. The first way is to include the author’s last
name, followed by the date of publication in parentheses, as
part of the sentence, as shown in the following examples:
Jones (2009) showed that participants …

In a recent review of the literature, Jones (2009)
concluded …
This finding was replicated by Jones (2009).
If the work being cited has two authors, cite both names each
time:
Jones and Williams (2010) showed …
After reviewing the literature, Jones and Williams (2010)
concluded …
If the work has more than two authors but fewer than six, cite
all authors the first time you use the reference. Then, if the
reference is cited again, include only the first author, followed
by et al. (an abbreviation of Latin for “and others”) and the
year:
Jones, Williams, Isner, Cutlip, and Bell (2007) showed that
participants …
Jones et al. (2007) revealed … [subsequent citations]
The second way of citing references in the text is to place the
authors’ last names, along with the year of publication, within
parentheses at the appropriate point:
Other studies have obtained similar results (Jones & Smith,
2005).
If several works are cited in this fashion, alphabetize them by
the last name of the first author and separate them by
semicolons:
The effects of stress on decision making have been investigated
in several studies (Anderson, 1997; Cohen & Bourne, 1988;
Smith, Havert, & Menken, 2004; Williams, 2008).
The Reference List

All references cited in the text must appear in a reference list
that begins on a new page labeled References immediately after
the discussion section. References are listed in alphabetical
order by the first author’s last name. The APA Publication
Manual presents 95 variations of reference style, depending on
whether the work being referenced is a book, journal article,
newspaper article, dissertation, film, abstract on a CD-ROM,
government report, or whatever. However, the vast majority of
citations involve five types of sources—journal articles, books,
book chapters, papers presented at professional meetings, and
Internet sources—so I’ll limit my examples to these five types
of references.
JOURNAL ARTICLE.
The reference to a journal article includes the following
items, in the order listed:
1. last name(s) and initials of author(s)
2. year of publication (in parentheses), followed by a period
3. title of the article, with only the first word of the title
capitalized (with the exception of words that follow colons,
which are also capitalized), followed by a period
4. name of the journal, followed by a comma (All important
words in the title are capitalized, and the title is italicized.)
5. volume number of the journal (italicized), followed by a
comma
6. page numbers of the article, followed by a period

7. direct object identifier (doi) number, if available (I will
explain the doi in a moment)
Here are two examples of references to articles. Note that
the second and subsequent lines of each reference are indented.
(This is called hanging indentation.)
Smith, M. B. (2010). The effects of research methods
courses on student depression. Journal of Cruelty to Students,
15, 67–78. doi: 10.1267/0568-6354.23.1.564
Smith, M. B., Jones, H. H., & Long, I. M. (2007). The
relative impact of t-tests and F-tests on student mental health.
American Journal of Unfair Teaching, 7, 235–240. doi:
10.4532/9856-3424.56.3.234.
BOOKS.
References to books include the following items, in the order
listed:
3. title of the book (only the first word of the title is
capitalized, and the title is italicized), followed by a period
4. city and state in which the book was published, followed by a
colon
5. name of the publisher, period
Leary, M. R. (1995). Self-presentation: Impression
management and interpersonal behavior. Boulder, CO:

Westview Press.
BOOK CHAPTER.
References to a book chapter in an edited volume include the
following, in the order listed:
3. title of the chapter, followed by a period
4. the word “In,” followed by the first initial(s) and last name(s)
of the editor(s) of the book, with “Eds.” in parentheses,
followed by a comma
5. title of the book (only the first word of the title is
capitalized, and the title is italicized)
6. page numbers of the chapter in parentheses, followed by a
period
7. city and state in which the book was published (followed by a
colon)
8. name of the publisher, period
Smith, K. L. (2009). Techniques for inducing statistical terror.
In J. Jones & V. Smith (Eds.), A manual for the sadistic teacher
(pp. 45–67). Baltimore, MD: Neurosis Press.
PAPER PRESENTED AT A PROFESSIONAL MEETING.

References to a paper or poster that was presented at a
professional meeting include the following, in the order listed:
2. year and month in which the paper was presented (in
parentheses), followed by a comma
3. title of the paper (italicized), followed by a period
4. phrase “Paper presented at the meeting of …” followed by the
name of the organization, comma
5. city and state in which the meeting occurred, period
Wilson, H. K., & Miller, F. M. (1988, April). Research
methods, existential philosophy, schizophrenia, and the fear of
death. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for
Undergraduate Teaching, Dallas, TX.
INTERNET SOURCES.
References to material obtained on the Internet vary
depending on the specific nature of the source. In general,
references to Internet sources should provide as much
information as possible regarding the following items:
1. the author or organization responsible for the document
2. a date (either the date of publication of the document or, if
no publication date is shown, the date you retrieved it from the
Internet)
3. a title or description of the document
4. the Internet address (the URL or uniform resource locator). If
the URL extends to another line, break it after a slash or period
and do not hyphenate it at the break (shown later).

In many cases, some of this information will be unknown
(such as when a Web page lists no author or sponsor). In all
cases, however, provide enough information to allow others to
access the document if desired.
Internet journal or archive:
Blaha, S. (2002, Feb. 9) A classical probabilistic computer
model of consciousness. Cogprints, No. 2077. Retrieved from
http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00002077/
Newspaper article—electronic version:
Squires, S. (2002, Oct. 9). Study finds that in U.S., 1 in 3 is
obese. Washington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62930–
2002Oct8.html
Stand-alone document (no author listed):
Brain anticipates events to learn routines (2002). Retrieved
October 16, 2002 from
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002–10/bcom-
bae100802.php
The APA Publication Manual contains examples of how to cite
other types of Internet sources, including government reports,
messages posted to newsgroups, e-mail messages, and data files
obtained via the Internet.
In Depth
Electronic Sources and Locator Information: URL and DOI
In the latest version of the APA Publication Manual, new
attention was given to electronic publishing and to referencing

material that was obtained online. Publishing in the online,
digital environment has led to easier and faster access to
research findings, space for storing supplemental files that are
relevant to an article (such as appendices containing
supplemental data), and the possibility of making corrections to
an article after it is published. As a result of these changes,
some styles of referencing have become outdated, and new
methods have become necessary. In particular, locator
information is now necessary for any article found on the
Internet or in a digital database. Providing locator information
helps readers locate references and differentiate between
articles that might have different versions on the Internet and in
print.
For sources that are published online, providing a Uniform
Resource Locator or URL allows readers to locate the material
and ensures that they are directed to the same version of the
article that you are citing in the paper. A URL is an Internet
address that allows readers to locate the article on the Web and
should be included in the references whenever possible.
Before the digital revolution, researchers obtained virtually
all of the scientific articles that they read from printed journals.
Today, however, they can obtain articles from printed journals,
a variety of digital databases (such as PsycINFO and Medline),
and from Web sites. For that reason, scholarly publishers
developed a direct object identifier (DOI) system that provides
a unique number for every article. With this number in hand,
readers can locate a particular article without knowing the
specific method of accessing the article used by the authors.
Authors should include the DOI in reference citations whenever
it is available.
The Web site Crossref.org offers resources to assist
researchers in finding DOI numbers for specific articles as well
as using DOI numbers to locate articles. DOI numbers are
typically found on the first page of a print or PDF version of all
new articles.
SECONDARY SOURCES.

By and large, you should cite only sources that you have
personally read. Citing someone else’s work implies that you
have read it and attest that it is relevant and accurate with
regard to the point that you are making in your paper. Trusting
that you understand another author’s work by reading someone
else’s brief description of it is risky. All seasoned researchers
have had the experience of looking up a reference cited in a
paper only to find that the reference does not actually draw the
conclusion that the author of the paper suggested. Clearly, the
author had not actually read the original paper but rather relied
on a secondary source that had cited it.
Even so, situations occasionally arise in which a writer
wishes to cite an article or book that he or she found in a
secondary source but is unable to locate the original. In such
cases, this fact should be reflected in both the citation in the
text and the entry in the reference list. For example, if you
wished to mention Amsterdam’s (1972) study of children’s
reactions to their self-reflections that you saw in Courage and
Howe’s (2002) article about infant cognition but were unable to
locate Amsterdam’s original article, you would cite it in the text
of your paper as:
Amsterdam (as cited in Courage & Howe, 2002)…
Note that you do not include the year of Amsterdam’s study
because you are citing Courage and Howe as your source rather
than Amsterdam.
Then in the reference list you would enter not the Amsterdam
study (because you didn’t really read or cite it directly) but
rather the Courage and Howe article, which you would cite like
any other journal article:
Courage, M. L., & Howe, M. L. (2002). From infant to child:
The dynamics of cognitive change in the second year of life.

Psychological Bulletin, 128, 250–277. doi:10.1037/0033-
2909.128.2.250
A reader who was interested in the Amsterdam study would
know that you found it in the Courage and Howe article and
that’s where the original reference citation is located. Use
secondary citations sparingly, if at all.
OTHER ASPECTS OF APA STYLE
Optional Sections
In addition to the title page, abstract, introduction, method,
results, discussion, and references, all of which are required in
research reports, many research papers include one or more of
the following sections.
FOOTNOTES.
In APA style, footnotes are rarely used. They are used to
present ancillary information and are typed at the end of the
paper. In the published article, however, they appear at the
bottom of the page on which the footnote superscript appears.
TABLES AND FIGURES.
As noted earlier, tables and figures are often used to
present results. A table is an arrangement of words or numbers
in columns and rows; a figure is any type of illustration, such as
a graph, photograph, or drawing. The APA Publication Manual
provides extensive instructions regarding how tables and figures

should be prepared. In the typed manuscript they appear at the
end of the paper, but in the published article they are inserted at
the appropriate places in the text.
APPENDICES.
Occasionally, authors wish to include detailed information
in a manuscript that does not easily fit into the text itself. In
this case, the information can be contained either in an appendix
(in the printed version of the article) or in a supplemental file
that is maintained online by the publisher of the article.
Appendices are useful when the additional information is
relatively brief, such as a list of stimuli used in the study or a
detailed description of materials. In the case of multiple
appendices, each appendix is labeled with a letter—Appendix A,
Appendix B, and so on. In some cases, the additional material is
too long for a printed article, not easily conveyed in print
format, or is more helpful in downloaded form (such as a piece
of software used in the study). In these cases, authors may
decide to present the additional information as a supplemental
file that is accessible on the Web.
Both appendices and supplemental materials are
considered part of the published article and cannot be changed
or deleted. As such, most journals require that these materials
also go through the peer review process. Appendices and
supplemental files have the potential to help readers understand
or replicate the study design; however, they should be included
only if they are essential to the manuscript.
Headings, Spacing, Pagination, and Numbers

HEADINGS.
With the exception of the introduction, each section we
have discussed is labeled. For the other major sections of the
paper—abstract, method, results, discussion, and references—
the section heading is centered in the middle of the page and
bolded, with only the first letter of the word capitalized. For
subsections of these major sections (such as the subsections for
participants, apparatus, and procedure), a side heading is used.
A side heading is typed flush with the left margin and bolded. If
a third-level heading is needed, a paragraph heading is used. A
paragraph heading is indented and bolded, with the first word
capitalized and ending in a period; the text of the paragraph
then begins on the same line. For example, the headings for the
method section typically look like this:
INSERT PICTURE
The title and abstract appear on the first two pages of every
manuscript. The introduction then begins on page 3. The method
section does not start on a new page but rather begins directly
wherever the introduction ends. Similarly, the results and
discussion sections begin immediately after the method and
results sections, respectively. Thus, the text begins with the
introduction on page 3, but the next three sections do not start
on new pages. However, the references, footnotes, tables,
figures, and appendixes each begin on a new page.
SPACING.
The main text of research reports written in APA style are
double-spaced from start to finish. Set your word processor on
double spacing and leave it there.

PAGINATION.
Pages are numbered in the upper right corner, starting with
the title page as page 1. In APA style, the running head is typed
in the upper left corner of each page, with the page number in
the upper right corner. The running head also appears on the
title page following the label Running head; however, on
subsequent pages the label is removed.
NUMBERS.
In APA style, whole numbers less than 10 are generally
expressed in words (“the data for two participants were omitted
from the analysis”), whereas numbers 10 and above are
expressed in numerals (“Of the 20 participants who agreed to
participate, 10 were women”). However, numbers that begin a
sentence must be expressed in words (“Twenty rats were
tested”). Furthermore, numbers that precede units of
measurement should be expressed in numerals (the temperature
was 8 degrees), as should numbers that represent time, dates,
ages, and sample sizes (2 weeks; November 29, 1954; 5-year-
olds; n = 7).
In Depth
Who Deserves the Credit?
As researchers prepare papers for publication or
presentation, they often face the potentially thorny question of
who deserves to be listed as an author of the paper. Many
people contribute to the success of a research project—the
principal investigator (P.I.) who initiates and oversees the

project, research assistants who help the P.I. design the study,
other researchers not directly involved in the research who
nonetheless offer suggestions, the clerical staff who types
questionnaires and manuscripts, the individuals who collect the
data, statistical consultants who help with analyses, technicians
who maintain equipment and computers, and so on. Which of
these individuals should be named as an author of the final
paper?
According to the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (2009), authorship is reserved for
those individuals who have made substantial scientific
contributions to a study. Substantial scientific contributions
include formulating the research problem and hypotheses,
designing the study, conducting statistical analyses, interpreting
results, and writing major parts of the research report—
activities that require scientific knowledge about the project.
Generally, supportive functions—such as maintaining
equipment, writing computer programs, recruiting participants,
typing materials, or simply collecting data—do not by
themselves constitute a “substantial scientific contribution”
because they do not involve specialized knowledge about the
research. However, individuals who contribute in these ways are
often acknowledged in the author note that appears on the title
page.
In psychology, the authors’ names are usually listed on the
paper in order of decreasing contribution. (The norms about the
order of authorship are different across sciences.) Thus, the
principal investigator—typically the faculty member or senior
scientist who supervised the project—is listed first, followed by
the other contributors. However, when an article is substantially
based on a student’s thesis or dissertation, the student is usually
listed as first author. If two or more authors have had equal
roles in the research, they sometimes list their names in a
randomly chosen order and then state that they contributed
equally in the author’s note.
The order in which authors are listed is based on the

magnitude of their scientific and professional contributions to
the project and not on the sheer amount of time that each person
devoted to the project. Thus, although the P.I. may spend less
time on the project than assistants who collect data, the P.I. will
probably be listed as first author because his or her
contributions—designing the study, conducting statistical
analyses, writing the manuscript, and overseeing the entire
project—are more crucial to the scientific merit of the research.
To the new researcher, APA style is complex and confusing;
indeed, veteran researchers are not familiar with every detail in
the APA Publication Manual. Even so, these guidelines are
designed to enhance effective communication among
researchers, and behavioral researchers are expected to be
familiar with the basics of APA style. When preparing a
manuscript for submission, researchers often refer to the
Publication Manual when they are uncertain of how the
manuscript should look.
WRITING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL
In some cases, researchers write about their research before
rather than after it is conducted. For example, students who are
designing a research project for a course, investigators applying
for a research grant, and student researchers writing proposals
for honors, thesis, or dissertation research must describe their
plans in advance in a research proposal. In most cases, a
proposal is written to convince other people of the importance,
feasibility, and methodological quality of the planned research.
The goal of a proposal is to demonstrate that the research idea
is a good one, that the study is well conceived, and that the
design and analyses will adequately address the question under
investigation.
In most regards, a research proposal follows the same format
as a research report. For example, all proposals include an
introduction that reviews the existing literature and provides a

rationale for the study, and, like research reports, they are
usually written in APA style. However, proposals involving
future research differ from reports of completed research in a
few important ways.
First, parts of a research proposal are written in future tense.
Unlike a research report, which describes a completed study
using the past tense, the abstract and method of a research
proposal are written in future tense because they describe a
study that may be conducted in the future. The elements of a
proposal’s method section are the same as those of a research
report, but the participants, materials, and procedure are
described in future tense.
Second, a research proposal does not include a results or
discussion section because there are no results to describe or
discuss. Instead, proposals often include a Planned Analyses
section that describes how the data will be analyzed and a
Predicted Results section that describes the predictions in
detail. (Sometimes these two sections are combined into a
single Planned Analyses and Predicted Results section.) The
author’s goals are to convey that he or she knows how to
analyze the data that will be collected and has thought carefully
about his or her predictions of what the results will reveal.
In brief, in addition to a title page (and often an abstract), a
typical research proposal consists of the following sections:
• An introduction that presents the rationale for the study,
including an overview of the topic, a review of other relevant
research, and a description of how the study will add to our
knowledge. Typically the Introduction ends with a statement of
the research goals or major hypotheses.
• A method section that provides clear and specific descriptions
of the participants, materials or apparatus (if any), and
procedure. Enough detail should be provided so that another
researcher could run the study according to your specifications
simply from reading the method. The method section of a
proposal is written in future tense.
• A brief section labeled Planned Analyses should describe how

the data will be analyzed.
• A Predicted Results section describes the specific patterns of
findings that the author expects. In addition, alternative patterns
that might reasonably be obtained are sometimes noted.
• The references section lists all sources that were cited.
USING PSYCINFO
An important part of scientific writing—whether one is
writing a manuscript for publication, a research proposal, or a
paper for a course—involves becoming familiar with the
published literature on the paper’s topic. Thus, researchers and
students must be able to locate articles, books, chapters, and
other documents that are relevant to whatever they are writing.
Not too many years ago, researchers and students who wanted to
locate published articles on a particular topic had to engage in a
laborious and time-consuming search through years and years of
Psychological Abstracts—a set of volumes that listed all of the
articles that were published in psychology journals each year.
Today, however, they rely on PsycINFO, a computerized
database for finding journal articles, books, book chapters,
dissertations, and other scholarly documents in the behavioral
sciences. PsycINFO includes not only material in psychology
per se but also publications involving psychological aspects of
other fields such as communication, marketing, nursing,
education, physiology, public health, psychiatry, sociology,
law, and management. The database contains citations and
summaries for over 2 million sources published since 1887.
Most universities and colleges have subscriptions to
PsycINFO that allow students and faculty members to use the
database. Typically, access to PsycINFO is managed by the
college or university library, and many public libraries have
access as well. Sometimes, students and faculty members can
log on to PsycINFO from their own computer over the Internet,
but often users must use a computer terminal in the library. The

specific way that users access PsycINFO differs depending on
the institution, so you should check on your library’s Web site
or contact a reference librarian for details.
Once users are logged on to PsycINFO, they can search for
publications by entering search terms such as the topic (perhaps
you are looking for articles about moral development), the
author’s name (maybe you want to see every publication by a
particular researcher), the year of publication (if you want only
recent publications), or a particular journal’s name (because it
publishes articles on the topic that you are writing about). As
when doing any kind of computerized search, the trick is to
select exactly the right terms that will give you the number and
kinds of citations that you want. Thus, you must think carefully
about the terms that authors tend to use when they write about
your topic of interest. If you don’t use the right terms, you may
miss many important citations or perhaps find none at all.
On the other hand, if you use terms that are too broad, you
may be overwhelmed by too many citations. For example,
imagine that you are interested in finding publications that deal
with the relationship between depression and eating disorders.
What terms would you use? If you search for articles about
depression, you will get more than 90,000 hits, so that doesn’t
seem to be a useful approach. If you narrow your search for
articles that are about both depression and eating disorders, you
get about 700 citations, which is more manageable but,
depending on how deeply you want to delve into the topic, may
still be too many to wade through. So, you could search for
articles that have both depression and eating disorders in the
title of the article. That search will yield about 100 citations,
which might be a reasonable number for starters. But before you
start looking at the summaries of those articles, chapters, and
books, consider the possibility that a search that looked for
citations with depression and eating disorder in their titles
would miss an article with a title such as “The relationship
between depression, anorexia, and bulimia,” which is obviously
relevant to your interests. So, you would want to also conduct

searches for articles with depression and anorexia and with
depression and bulimia in their titles as well.
When PsycINFO gives you too many potentially relevant
references but you cannot think of terms that allow you to
narrow the scope, you have a number of other ways to limit
your search. For example, you can choose the kinds of
publications you wish to consider (do you want books and
dissertations to be included, or just articles and chapters?), the
age of the participants used in the study, the language in which
the article was published (there’s not much sense getting things
you can’t read), and the year of publication (perhaps you want
to focus only on research conducted in the last 20 years).
Once you have a reasonable number of citations to examine,
read through the summaries of the publications that PsycINFO
provides, looking for those that are most closely aligned with
your interests. Although all of the citations contain your search
terms, many of them will nonetheless be irrelevant to your
specific concerns. When you find one that you want to explore
further, you can mark it. When you are finished reading all of
the summaries, you can instruct PsycINFO to print the citations
and summaries of all papers that you marked, save the citations
and summaries to your computer, or e-mail them to you. Then
it’s time to start reading the sources.
Conducting a useful search on PsycINFO requires a good deal
of thought and patience, and usually involves conducting many
searches that try different combinations of terms. You can find
many good guides to PsycINFO on the Internet, and your library
may have instructions as well. And, if you ever get frustrated
using PsycINFO, just remember how researchers and students
used to look for articles in the days before computerized
searching.
SAMPLE MANUSCRIPT

What follows is an example of a research report that has been
prepared according to APA style.1 This is a manuscript that an
author might submit for publication; the published article
would, of course, look very different. I’ve annotated this
manuscript to point out some of the basic guidelines that we
have discussed in this chapter.
1 The sample manuscript is a shortened and edited version
of a longer article by Ashley Batts Allen and Mark Leary
entitled “Reactions to others’ selfish actions in the absence of
tangible consequences” that was published in Basic and Applied
Social Psychology (2010).
INSERT PICTURE

1. Please read chapter 16 on Scientific Writing and in 500+
words (minimum) answer the following questions from the back
of the chapter in your own words (DO NOT copy and paste from
the book), in full sentences, and thoroughly, by copying and
pasting your reply into the dropbox under unit 6 –Chapter 16.
Please also bring a hard copy to class with you.
1. What are the three primary ways in which scientists share
their work with the scientific community?
2. Why is peer review so important to science?
3. When an author submits a manuscript to a journal, what is the
general process by which the decision is made whether or not to
publish the paper?
4. Distinguish between a paper session and a poster session.
5. Why should we be cautious about reports of research that are
published in the popular media and posted on the World Wide
Web?
6. What are the three central characteristics of good writing?
7. Why should authors avoid using gender-biased language?
8. List in order the major sections that all research papers must
have.
9. What is the purpose of the introduction of a paper?
10. What information should be included in the method section
of a paper? What subsections does the method
section typically have?
11. When presenting the results of statistical analyses, what
information should be presented?
12. Write each of the following references in APA style:
Article: Depression: self care and prevention
Authors: K. Smith, L. Brown, and T Jones
Year: 2011
Journal: Clinical Psychology
Pages: 112-121
Volume: 7

Article: Diet and Nutrition: the key to a happy mood and
healthy life.
Author: B. Green and M. DeBaun
Year: 2005
Journal: Science of Nutrition
Pages: 26-38
Volume: 4
Number: 5
Textbook used:
Leary, M. (2012). Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods.
6th edition. Pearson (ISBN: 9780205203987)

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