Reading and Writing with APA Style

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Reading and Writing with APA Style

• Psych 231 Research Methods in Psychology

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Lab Announcements

• This weeks labs
• Download and read the Assefi Garry (2003)
  article before labs
• Bring the article to labs

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Types of research designs

• Case studies
• Intensive study of a small set of individuals and
  their behaviors
• Correlational
• Looking for a co-occurrence relationship between
  two (or more) variables
• Experimental
• Investigating the cause-and-effect relationship
  between two (or more) variables through the
  manipulation of variables
• Quasi-experimental
• Experimental designs with one or more non-random
  variables

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Descriptive Case Histories

• Intensive study of a single person, a very
  traditional method
• Fts well with clinical work
• Typically an interesting (and often rare) case

• Phineas Gage
• Sept 13, 1848 Explosion propelled a railroad
  tamping rod through his brain
• Changed personality

• This view has a number of disadvantages
• There may be poor generalizabilty
• There are typically a number of possible
  confounds and alternative explanations

See Oliver Sacks
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Correlational Methods

• Measure two (or more) variables for each
  individual and see if the variables co-occur
  (suggesting that they are related)
• Used for
• Predictions
• Reliability and Validity
• Evaluating theories
• Problems Cant make casual claims

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Causal claims

• Wed like to say
• variable X --causes--gt variable Y
• To be able to do this
• There must be co-variation between the two
  variables
• The causal variable must come first
• Directionality problem
• Happy people sleep well
• Or is it that sleeping well when youre happy?
• Need to eliminate plausible alternative
  explanations
• Third variable problem

• Do Storks bring babies?
• Neyman (1952) reported a strong positive
  correlation between number of babies and stork
  sightings

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Storks and babies
Source Kronmal (1993)
r 0.63

• Do Storks bring babies?
• Neyman (1952) reported a strong positive
  correlation between number of babies and stork
  sightings

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Theory 1 Storks deliver babies

• Is killing storks and effective method of
  controlling birth rates?

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Theory 2 Underlying third variable
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The experimental method

• Manipulating and controlling variables in
  laboratory experiments
• Must have a comparison
• At least two groups (often more) that get
  compared
• One groups serves as a control for the other
  group
• Variables
• Independent variable - the variable that is
  manipulated
• Dependent variable - the variable that is
  measured
• Control variables - held constant for all
  participants in the experiment

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The experimental method

• Advantages
• Precise control possible
• Precise measurement possible
• Theory testing possible
• Can make causal claims

• Disadvantages
• Artificial situations may restrict generalization
  to real world
• Complex behaviors may be difficult to measure

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Reading and writing with style (APA)
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Why review the literature

• What are the underlying motivations for doing a
  review of the literature?
• Getting ideas.
• What has been done, what hasnt been done?
• Understanding the relevant theories.
• What variables are important?
• Avoid past mistakes.

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What is the literature?

• Primary Sources - essentially reading the
  original report
• Journal articles
• Edited books (sometimes)
• Professional meetings
• Electronic publishing (fairly new, pluses and
  minuses)
• Faculty members other personal communications
• Secondary Sources - reading a report of the
  report
• Literature Reviews
• Psychological Bulletin, Annual Review of
  Psychology
• Text books
• Citations in books and articles

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What is the literature?

• Secondary Sources
• Advantages
• Good starting place
• Often reviews a lot of relevant literature
• Relatively brief descriptions
• Disadvantages
• Somebody elses description
• May be incorrect
• May be biased
• Not enough detail

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Reading a research article

• What's the goal of a research article?
• The reader to
• Know about the research
• Understand what was done
• Allow further testing replication
• Be convinced by the research (hopefully)
• Standardization of research report format
• APA style
• Organization and content reflects the logical
  thinking in scientific investigation
• Standardization helps with clarity
• Read with a critical eye
• Write with clarity in mind

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Misconceptions about Scientific writing

• Writing the paper is the routine part of the
  research process
• Forces you to commit to your evidence and
  conclusions
• Just the facts
• The facts are just part of the argument that the
  author is making
• What you say is all that is important, how you
  say it isnt important
• Good writing leads to higher chance of
  accomplishing your goals

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Writing style

• Psychological writing tends to differ from other
  academic writings
• Not a creative writing exercise
• Presenting an argument based on data and logical
  reasoning
• Try to avoid using direct quotes, restate things
  in your own words.
• Avoid digression
• Footnotes are rare, theyre used to
  elaborate/clarify a point. Try to do so in the
  text.
• If long digressions, use the appendix

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Writing resources

• The ultimate resource for APA style is the APA
  Publication manual

New 6th ed.

• Chapter 8 of your textbook is good too.
• Also websites to help too.

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Writing resources

• A great book for Psychological writing

Sternberg, R. J. (2003). The psychologists
companion A guide to scientific writing for
students and researchers. Cambridge University
Press, NY.
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Why a structured format?

• To ease communication of what was done
• Forces a minimal amount of information
• Provides a logical framework (for argument)
• Provides consistent format within a discipline
• People know what to expect
• Where to find the information in the article
• Allows readers to cross-reference your sources
  easily

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Major goal Clarity

• Communicate with clarity

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Major goal Clarity

• Communicate with clarity

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Major goal Clarity

• Communicate with clarity

• Write for the reader
• Think about your audience, what do they already
  know, what dont they know
• Avoid overstatements
• Be conservative in your claims
• Emphasize the positive
• Focus on how the data supports a theory not just
  on how it refutes another theory

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Major goal Clarity

• Communicate with clarity

• Avoid
• Jargon when possible
• Slang and colloquialisms
• Sexist and biased language
• Try to be concise
• Dont use a whole paragraph when two sentences
  will do
• Longer papers dont mean better papers
• Eliminate unnecessary redundancy
• Use simple words (sentences) rather than
  complicated words (sentences)

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Major goal Clarity

• Communicate with clarity

• Use concrete words and examples
• Check your work!
• Read it over, make sure that you say what you
  mean to say
• Use a consistent format (APA style)
• It helps your reader understand your arguments
  and the sources theyre built on.
• It also helps you keep track of your sources as
  you build arguments

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APA style Parts of a research report

Adolescent Depression
1 Running Head ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION
Adolescent Depression and Attachment Ima
G. Student and Soyam Eye Purdue
University

• Title Page

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The anatomy of a research article

• The basic parts of a research article
• Title and authors - gives you a general idea of
  the topic and specifically who did it
• Abstract - short summary of the article

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Title Page


Adolescent Depression 1
Running Head ADOLESCENT
DEPRESSION Adolescent
Depression and Attachment Ima G. Student and
Soyam Eye Purdue University
Title should be maximally informative while
short (10 to 12 words recommended)
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Title Page


Adolescent Depression 1
Running Head ADOLESCENT
DEPRESSION Adolescent
Depression and Attachment Ima G. Student and
Soyam Eye Purdue University
Order of Authorship sometimes carries meaning
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Title Page


Adolescent Depression 1
Running Head ADOLESCENT
DEPRESSION Adolescent
Depression and Attachment Ima G. Student and
Soyam Eye Purdue University
Affiliation where the bulk of the research was
done
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Title Page


Adolescent Depression 1
Running Head ADOLESCENT
DEPRESSION Adolescent
Depression and Attachment Ima G. Student and
Soyam Eye Purdue University
Running head will go on each page of published
article, no more than 50 characters
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Title Page
Short title goes in header (with page number)
on each page of the manuscript


Adolescent Depression 1
Running Head ADOLESCENT
DEPRESSION Adolescent
Depression and Attachment Ima G. Student and
Soyam Eye Purdue University
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Title Page
Running Head ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION
1

Adolescent
Depression and Attachment
Ima G. Student and Soyam Eye
Purdue
University
New APA style guidelines appear to have done
away with the Short title

• Published title pages will look a bit different,
  but youll find these pieces of information.
  Typically the body of the article will begin as
  well.

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Abstract

• Abstract Short summary of entire paper
• 100 to 120 words
• The problem/issue
• The method
• The results
• The major conclusions
• Recommendation write this after youve finished
  the rest of the paper
• Good first contact, but remember that it is short
  on detail
• Shows up in PsycInfo
• Gets skimmed before reading the article

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Body

• Hourglass shape

Background Literature Review
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Body

• Hourglass shape

Statement of purpose Specific hypotheses (at
least at conceptual level)
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Body

• Hourglass shape

- Methods - Results
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Body

• Hourglass shape

Discussion Conclusions Implications
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Body

• Introduction - gives you the background that you
  need
• Issue and Background
• What is it? Why is it interesting/important?
• Literature Review
• What has been done? What theories are out there?
• Statement of purpose
• What are you going to do and why?
• Specific hypotheses (at least at conceptual
  level)
• What do you predict will happen in your research?

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Body

• Introduction - gives you the background that you
  need

• Reading checklist
• 1) What is the author's goal?
• 2) What are the hypotheses?
• 3) If you had designed the study, how would YOU
  have done it?

• Writing checklist
• Be cohesive
• Be relevant (why are the reviewed studies
  relevant?)
• Work on the transitions (make the flow logical)

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Body

• The basic parts of a research article

• Method - tells the reader exactly what was done
• Enough detail that the reader could actually
  replicate the study.
• Subsections
• Participants - who were the data collected from
• How many, where they were selected from, any
  special selection requirements, details about
  those who didnt complete the experiment
• Apparatus/ Materials - what was used to conduct
  the study
• Design
• Suggested if you have a complex experimental
  design, often combined with Materials section
• Procedure
• What did each participant do? Other details,
  including the operational levels of your IV(s)
  and DV(s), counterbalancing, etc.

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Body

• The basic parts of a research article

• Method - tells the reader exactly what was done
• Reading checklist
• 1 a) Is your method better than theirs?
• b) Does the authors method actually test the
  hypotheses?
• c) What are the independent, dependent, and
  control variables?
• 2) Based on what the authors did, what results do
  YOU expect?
• Writing checklist
• Is it clear why the procedures were selected?
• Are any assumptions explicit and defended?
• Is the level of detail sufficient for
  replication?

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Body

• Results (state the results but dont interpret
  them here)
• Verbal statement of results
• Tables and figures
• These get referred to in the text, but actually
  get put into their own sections at the end of the
  manuscript
• Statistical Outcomes
• Means, standard deviations, t-tests, ANOVAs,
  correlations, etc.

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Body

• Results (state the results but dont interpret
  them here)

• Reading checklist
• 1) Did the author get unexpected results?
• 2 a) How does the author interpret the results?
• b) How would YOU interpret the results?
• c) What implications would YOU draw from these
  results?
• Writing checklist
• Is it clear how the hypotheses are tested by the
  analyses?
• Would a graph or table help clarify the results?
• What questions might the reader still have, and
  how could I answer them in this section?

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Body

• Discussion (interpret the results)
• Relationship between purpose and results
• Theoretical (or methodological) contribution
• Implications
• Future directions (optional)

• Reading checklist
• 1 a) Does YOUR interpretation or the authors'
  interpretation best represent the data?
• b) Do you or the author draw the most sensible
  implications and conclusions?
• Writing checklist
• Have you stated your most convincing argument?
• Do the conclusions follow straightforwardly from
  the results?

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The rest

• References
• Authors name
• Year
• Title of work
• Publication information
• Journal
• Issue
• Pages

Adolescent Depression 29
References Barnett, P. A.,
Gotlib, I. H. (1988). Psychosocial
functioning and depression Distinguishing among
antecedents, concomitants, and
consequences. Psychological Bulletin,
104. Beck, A. T. (1978). Beck Depression
Inventory. San Antonio, TX
Psychological Corporation. Benoit, D.,
Vidovic, D., Roman, J. (1991, April).
Transmission of attachment across three
generations. Paper presented at the
Biennial Meeting of the Society for
Research in Child Development. Benoit, D.,
Zeanah, C. H., Barton, M. L. (1989).
Maternal attachment disturbances in failure to
thrive. Infant Mental Health Journal,
3, 185-202. Benoit, D., Zeanah, C. H.,
Boucher, C., Minde, K. (1989). Sleep
disorders in early childhood Association
with insecure maternal attachment. Journal of
the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 86-93.
When something odd comes up, dont guess. Look
it up!
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The rest

• References

• Authors Notes (new guidelines put these on title
  page)
• Footnotes
• Tables
• Figure Captions
• Figures

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Figures and tables

• These are used to supplement the text.
• To make a point clearer for the reader.
• Typically used for
• The design
• Examples of stimuli
• Patterns of results

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Checklist - things to watch for

• Clarity
• Acknowledge the work of others (avoid plagiarism)
• Active vs. passive voice
• Active Summers and Jordan (2009) hypothesized
  that speakers use to much passive voice
• Passive It was hypothesized by Summers and
  Jordan (2009) that speakers use to much passive
  voice

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Checklist - things to watch for

• Avoid biased language
• APA guidelines
• Accurate descriptions of individuals (e.g., Asian
  vs. Korean)
• Be sensitive to labels (e.g., Oriental)
• Appropriate use of headings
• Correct citing and references
• Good grammar
• APA style checklist