Tips for writing an APA-style report

1. Tips for writing an APA-style report

2. Hourglass form of the Paper • Introduction • Start broadly • Gradually begin to focus in on research question by using research articles • Methods and Results • Narrowest part of whole paper (very specific) • Discussion • Start by interpreting specific study • Then begin to broaden out ending at the implications

3. Abstract

4. Abstract • This is where the reader decides if they will read your paper • Only include information essential to understanding your study • Ex: Is the mean age of your sample vital to understanding your study? • Summary of entire experiment • Summarize each major section with a sentence or two • Approximately 150-200 words • Important to be concise! • Good skill to have generally

5. Abstract • Questions that should be answered: • Why did you do the study? • How was the study done? • What did you find? • Why are these findings important? • Briefly touches on… • Rationale • Hypotheses/ Predictions • Method • Results • Discussion/ Conclusions

6. Abstract – Example Background • Among the Dark Triad of personality, both narcissism and psychopathy have been linked to impulsivity. What remains unclear is the pattern of associations that the Dark Triad have with functional and dysfunctional types of impulsivity. Using both student (N = 142) and adult samples (N = 329), we investigated the association of the Dark Triad variables with Dickman’s measures of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity. Based on regression analyses, psychopathy was most closely associated with dysfunctional impulsivity whereas narcissism was associated with functional impulsivity. It appears that narcissistic impulsivity involves venturesome social engagement whereas psychopathic impulsivity stems from poor self-regulation. As expected, Machiavellianism had no consistent association with either type of impulsivity. In short, the Dark Triad members show a coherent pattern of relations with impulsivity. Research focus Methods Results & Discussion Conclusion

7. Introduction

8. Introduction • What should the reader get out of your introduction? • Why is your study important? • How it adds to the literature • Flow logically from General  Specific • Reader should be able to follow logic of problem • Goal of the Introduction • Describe what you are researching and where hypothesis comes from

9. Introduction • Set the stage broadly • General overview of the issue at hand • Weave in background literature • What inspired your research question? • Introduce your study and hypothesis • Logically flow from studies you’ve reviewed

10. Introduction – First Paragraph • Broad introduction of the problem • Probably hardest paragraph to write • Get the reader’s attention • Identify basic concepts you’re studying • The general issue/problem and the implications

11. Introduction – Subsequent Paragraphs • Describe previous research, pertinent theories and concepts • Be selective! • "When summarizing earlier works, avoid nonessential details; instead emphasize pertinent findings, relevant methodological issues, and major conclusions." (APA, p. 28) • DO NOT talk about the whole article • Too much information can make your paper confusing and hard to follow.

12. Introduction – Subsequent Paragraphs • Make an outline! • Things to ask yourself… • What do I need to know about these articles to get the point? • Why was my study designed the way it was designed? • Where did my hypothesis come from? • Keep details short and to the point

13. Introduction – Example Outline • Exercise and stress management • Daily stress • Long term effects on health (citation) • Untreated high levels of stress impairs mental health (citation) • Exercise benefits • Positive effect on mental and physical health • Mitigates negative effects of stress (citation) • Introduce current study

14. Introduction – Subsequent Paragraphs • Each paragraph should flow logically to the next • Each individual paragraph should move from general to specific • Always be aware of where you are and where you are going • Your outline serves as an excellent map!

15. Introduction – Paragraph structure • Claim: Main idea of the paragraph • What point are you trying to make in this paragraph? • This should relate to the main point of your paper • Evidence: Research that supports your claim. • What findings from scientific studies support your claim? • Citations, citations, citations! • Discussion: How the evidence is relevant to the claim • Think: What should the reader be getting from this paragraph

16. Introduction – Subsequent Paragraphs • Open up with general statements. • Follow up general statement with more detail in second sentence. • The article: • Research with children has addressed the cognitive impact of bilingualism more directly. Bilingual advantages have been reported across a variety of domains, for example, creativity (Kessler & Quinn, 1987), problem solving (Bain, 1975; Kessler & Quinn, 1980), and perceptual disembedding (Duncan & De Avila, 1979). Positive effects for bilinguals, however, have not always been found; some studies reported negative effects (Macnamara, 1966), and others found no group differences (Rosenblum & Pinker, 1983).

17. Introduction – Last Paragraph • Finally get to talk about your study! • Serves as a transition/preview of your methods section • Give a BRIEF overview of your study and then specify your hypothesis • Save the details for your methods section, but give the reader a general idea of what your study is going to look at.

18. Introduction – Reviewing Research • Use SCIENTIFIC articles! • Keep the objective of the introduction in mind • What is the point of the introduction? • How does each paragraph move me closer to that goal? • How does each sentence in the paragraph contribute to this goal? • Make it crystal clear why you are describing a study • Interpret  Connect  Explain

19. Introduction – Things to Keep in Mind • You are writing for an intelligent layperson. • When discussing technical terms – use examples • Try to be as clear and concise as possible • Try to avoid jargon • Make use of examples

20. Introduction: Recap • Start broad • Review previous literature • Introduce key topics and terms • Use examples to clarify • Always keep your study in mind! • Talk about the parts of the article that are most relevant to your study. • Connect previous literature to your study • Hypothesis! • Think of the introduction as a roadmap to guide the reader to your current hypothesis.

21. Method Section

22. Purpose of a Method Section • Describe your study in enough detail so that the reader can: • Understand and evaluate your study • Was what you did appropriate? • Should we believe your findings? • Does your study accurately measure the phenomenon of interest? • REPLICATE YOUR STUDY! • Remember Type I and Type II errors – Are your results due to chance?...if so, they won’t replicate! • Think of this section like a cookbook – if you put these “ingredients” together, do you get the same results?

23. Subsections of the Method • Participants • Who participated in this study? • Design • What were your IV’s/DV’s and how did you define them? • Materials & Apparatus • What equipment was used? • What was used to collect data? Stimuli? Measures? • Procedure • What occurred during the study? What did the participant do?

24. Method Section: Participants • Goal to describe the characteristics of people that participated in your study. • Gets at how representative your sample is of your population. • Would you expect a college sample score differently on fear of mortality than older adults? • How representative of the population is the sample?

25. Method Section: Participants • What should be included in this section? • Any participant characteristics that you think might have an effect on the results of the study. • Think: For our online experiments, you are the participants. What characteristics of our participants (you!) might influence our data? • Example: Age and education

26. Method Section: Participants • What is always included? • How many participants were there? • If a between subjects design – how many in each group? • Where did your sample come from? • Were they recruited from Intro Psych classes? Were they recruited from Starbucks? • Why did they participate? • Were they paid? Did they get class credit? Was it out of the goodness of their heart? • Who was eligible to participate in the study? • Did you only examine males? Did they have to be a certain age? • Demographic Information • Mean Age, Gender (# female, # male), Ethnicity, etc.

27. Method Section: Participants • Example: • The participants were undergraduate Wesleyan University students (N=160) who received credit in an introductory psychology course or served as paid volunteers. • Another example • Participants were twenty-four undergraduates recruited for a web study (72% female; Mean age = 20.35, SD = 3.10; 40% East Asian, 43% Caucasian,17% other ethnicities).

28. Method Section: Materials • Describe any measures or stimuli that were used in the study. • What did the participant see or hear? • Did they complete a survey or questionnaire?

29. Method Section: Materials Additional surveys • Surveys to create groups • Maybe you’re interested if people high in a personality trait (e.g. extroverts) perform differently on a memory task compared to another personality group (e.g. introverts) • Studies often have participants fill out demographic surveys. • Gives you information about the participant • Example: Language History Questionnaire • How would I know about the bilingual status of my participant if I didn’t ask them if they were bilingual?!

30. Method Section: Materials • Example from paper examining Narcissism and Risk • In addition to the overconfidence task (described below) and a demographic questionnaire asking for sex, age, and racial/ethnic self-identification, we assessed narcissism with the NPI. The NPI is derived directly from the clinical criteria for NPD as contained in the DSM-III and has been validated in clinical settings (Prifitera & Ryan, 1984); however, it is intended for use as a measure of normal narcissism in normal populations.

31. Method Section: Materials • Other types of materials • Stimuli • Pictures • Words or numbers • Sounds • How were these presented? • Include information on number and type

32. Method Section: Apparatus • Goal to describe the equipment that was used in the study. • Was a computer used? Was a stimulus presentation device used? • Remember, we want enough information that someone could replicate our study.

33. Method Section: Apparatus • Example from an Eye-Tracking study • Materials were presented on a 39-cm ViewSonic 17PS screen. Eye movements were measured using an SMIEyeLink-HiSpeed 2D headband-mounted eye-tracking system(SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH, Teltow, Germany). The eye-tracker was controlled by a Pentium 90 MHz computer.

34. Method Section: Design • What was your independent variable? • What was your dependent variable? • If relevant, provide operational definitions. • Was your study within-subjects or between-subjects?

35. Method Section: Design • Between Subjects v. Within Subjects • Between – variability between people’s scores • Comparing education majors to psychology majors. • Within – variability within a person’s scores • Comparing effect of a drug before and after treatment. (Pretest compared to posttest) • OR all participants were exposed to all levels of the IV

36. Method Section: Procedure • Goal to include any important details for understanding/replicating the study. • Organize by describing procedure in step-by-step chronological order. • What happened first? Then what happened? And so on…

37. Method Section: Procedure • Procedure section should include: • Any instructions given to participants • How different groups were formed (if a between-subjects design) • Example: Students were grouped based on their major indicated by responses on the demographic survey. • Any manipulations performed on variables • Example: Words in the Stroop task were printed in colors that were either congruent or incongruent with the words meaning. • What the participants actually DID

38. Method Section: Procedure • Example (Excerpt) • The participants were told to read the instructions carefully prior to starting the study. These instructions told the participants exactly how the study would be performed, what types of prompts would appear on the screen, and which computer keys to use. The participants were randomly assigned to condition one or two, which were different only in the word lists they used. The participants will be presented with a fixation point to focus them in the right place for 1000 ms, followed by a prime for 700 ms, and finally a target 50 ms later…