PSY 219 – Academic Writing in Psychology

2015-2016 Fall

Çağ UniversityFaculty of Arts and Sciences

Department of Psychology

Inst. Nilay Avcı

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What is psychology?

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Definition of "Psychology" The scientific study of the behavior of individuals and

their mental processes.

The study of the mind and how it affects behaviour.

The science concerned with behavior, in both human and nonhuman animals.

It is a diverse discipline, grounded in science, but with nearly boundless applications in everyday life. 

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Definition of "Psychology" Why people do the things they do is an age-old question.

However, psychology first appeared in the 1870s.

As scientists, psychologists follow scientific methods, using careful observation, experimentation and analysis. But psychologists also need to be creative in the way they apply scientific findings.

Some psychologists do basic research, developing theories and testing them through carefully honed research methods involving observation, experimentation and analysis. Other psychologists apply the discipline's scientific knowledge to help people, organizations and communities function better.

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What is APA

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About APA

APA: The American Psychological Association

It is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States, with more than 122,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students as its members.

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Introduction: Writing for PsychologyWriting in the field of psychology differs in several respects from the general academic writing style. Psychological writing is a form of scientific reporting that is based on American Psychological Association publication style, widely recognized as a standard for scientific writing. The format employed in psychological writing (APA style) reflects the principles of clarity, concise wording, and accuracy and facilitates the rapid and logical flow of information from author to reader. Scientific writing values prose that is more straightforward, objective, and less reflective. In the beginning, you may feel that APA style is dry and colorless, and that it stifles your creativity. However, after a bit of experience, you will find that the guidelines delineated by APA style will help you to write clear, informative, interesting papers. Creativity in psychology tends to come from the ideas behind the writing, not the writing itself.

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Introduction: Writing for PsychologySummary:

differs in several respects from the general academic writing style.

a form of scientific reporting based on APA style -- reflects clarity, concise wording (brief, short, to the

point) and accuracy (correctness)

-- facilitates the rapid and logical flow of information -- prose; more straightforward, objective, and less reflective -- help writing clear, informative, interesting papers

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The Challenges of Writing in Psychology

Psychology writing, like writing in the other sciences, is meant to inform the reader about a new idea, theory or experiment. Academic psychologists emphasize the importance of clarity and brevity (shortness) in writing while minimizing descriptive language and complex sentence structure. The best writers of psychology have the ability to make complex ideas understandable to people outside of their area of expertise. Psychology writing can be very dense, with many references to previous research. Writers of psychology almost never directly quote a source. Instead, they distill the essence of the idea or finding, and cite the appropriate source. In psychology, writers rarely repeat words and phrases, and when they do so it is only to aid in clarity.

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The Challenges of Writing in PsychologySummary:

inform the reader about a new idea, theory or experiment

clarity and brevity in writing dense (containing a lot of things), with many references to

previous research minimize descriptive language and complex

sentence structure almost never directly quote a source cite the appropriate source do not repeat words and phrases

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Psychology as a Discipline

Psychology is based on the study of human behaviors. As a social science, experimental psychology uses empirical inquiry to help understand human behavior. According to Thrass and Sanford (2000), psychology writing has three elements: describing, explaining, and understanding concepts from a standpoint of empirical investigation.

The field of psychology has its own rules and expectations for writing; not everything that you have learned in about writing in the past works for the field of psychology.

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Psychology as a Discipline

Summary:

scientific discipline fact based (NOT opinion based) arguments built on previous research strict formatting, style and referencing rules

Note: Different disciplines have different styles

Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work may have different conventions

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Types of Writing in Psychology

Essays Literature Review/Research Summary Experimental Reports/Lab Reports/Practical

Reports/Empirical Paper/Research Proposal

Reflective Writing Case Summaries Test Reviews

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Types of Writing in Psychology Empirical paper: a report of your own actual

or predicted data

Literature review: a summary of other people’s research

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Basics

Spelling Grammar

Punctuation Colons (:), semicolons (;) and apostrophes (‘)

APA Style and Referencing

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Writing in psychology includes the following principles: Using plain language: Psychology writing is formal scientific

writing that is plain and straightforward. Literary devices such as metaphors, alliteration, or anecdotes are not appropriate for writing in psychology.

Conciseness and clarity of language: The field of psychology stresses clear, concise prose. You should be able to make connections between empirical evidence, theories, and conclusions.

Evidence-based reasoning: Psychology bases its arguments on empirical evidence. Personal examples, narratives, or opinions are not appropriate for psychology.

Use of APA format: Psychologists use the American Psychological Association (APA) format for publications.

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Objective vs. Subjective

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Conventions of Writing in Psychology Avoiding surprises: Psychologists like to be led

through a paper without major surprises along the way. This means being very clear about what points you’re trying to make and always showing how new evidence or theories relate to the bigger point of a paper. One easy way to remember this is to think that your reader wants to know where you’re going in the intro, where you are during your presentation of evidence and where you’ve been in your discussion.

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Conventions of Writing in Psychology Avoiding direct quotations: Psychologists seldom

use direct quotes. Rather, they distill the essence (not paraphrase, in the sense of just re-arranging the words) the statements of other researchers and cite those researchers’ work.

For example, Frank (1982) demonstrates that peer evaluations and performance in school are the main contributors to adolescent self-esteem is preferable to Frank wrote, “Our results indicate that adolescent self-esteem is directly attributable to peer evaluations and scholastic achievement.”

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Conventions of Writing in Psychology Using bias-free language: Psychologists

use bias-free language, which typically means that they refer to people as those people refer to themselves (using terms that treat people with respect).

For example;

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Conventions of Writing in Psychology Using bias-free language examples;

-- Do not use the male pronoun as a generic. Use he or she, his or hers, etc.

-- Use phrases such as “people with autism” rather than “autistics”.

-- Use the phrases “gay men and lesbians” rather than “homosexuals”.

-- Don’t define people by what they aren’t. For example, don’t say non-White. Instead, say what people are ,e.g., “Asian” or “African American.” Keep in mind that not all people of African heritage are Americans and thus African-American is not a

synonym for Black.

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Conventions of Writing in Psychology Avoid jargon or overly unusual words except when it

is absolutely necessary. Be succinct (short & clear) and avoid wordiness (full of

extra words).

Use headings and subheadings. Always include a title for your paper. The words “I” and “We” should always refer to the

authors of a paper and not to people in general.

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Conventions of Writing in Psychology

Use active rather than passive voice. Use the word “participants” rather than

“subjects”. The word data is a plural word (e.g., The data

were…). Datum is the singular form of data.

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Language

Past Tense 3rd Person

No contractions don’t, can’t, it’s – do not, cannot, it is

Clear and Simple Language Fact based – never bring in your opinion unless

specifically told to!! Avoid Non-emotive adjectives like: tragic, amazing etc.

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Language

Do not copy what you read. You will read articles that are difficult to understand – these are not ‘good’ articles

Your marker needs to understand your writing Your knowledge needs to come across. This is

easier to achieve with clear and simple language – not big fancy words

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Example:

Some perchance contend cyberbullying to stand intrinsically coupled with its physical counterpart via means of mechanism, representation and consequence.

What is wrong with this writing?

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Example:

Many researchers consider cyberbullying and offline bullying to share many similarities. These include the motive behind the bullying; the way the bullying occurs; and the effects on the victim.

What makes this writing ‘better’?

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Simple is better Be clear with your discussion. Keep your sentences between 12 and 30 words. A few

longer sentences are ok – but only if necessary. If the sentence runs over 3-4 lines, try to cut it into 2

separate sentences. If you do not understand the word – do not use it! Be short and sweet – go straight to the point. A 10th grade vocabulary will serve you better than trying

to be a philosopher. Minimize your use of first-person pronouns (“I think

that…”, “I believe that…”).

!! See Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Writing in Psychology Notes