Reaction Time

Title of Study

Name

Institution

Abstract

The abstract is a summary of the study: include a minimum of one sentence from each section. Try not to copy and paste from the sections: summarize the content. Do not report statistics in the abstract, but a sentence that summarizes the findings. (Note that the first sentence of this section is not indented.) If you use this template for your report, please be mindful of deleting the template information and renaming the document. Also, an abstract is not needed for the mini lab report, only the final project report.

Introduction

The introduction section is where you introduce the problem: why is it important to study? Include relevant research in this section, as well as the hypothesis for your study. Why did you conduct the study? Why should the reader care?

Be sure to use two spaces between sentences, and keep the entire document (include the reference page) double-spaced. If you directly quote a source, include a page or paragraph number with the citation, and make sure you include the source on your reference page. This template is set up according to APA guidelines.

Method

You don’t want to have back-to-back headings, so include a few sentences under the Method heading to introduce the next two subheadings. Notice that I used a contraction in the first sentence of this paragraph: that’s actually an APA no-no. I also just used slang. Be straight-forward in your writing, and keep the use of slang or “cute” sayings to a minimum (ideally do not include them at all!). You want to ensure that readers from various backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, languages, etc. can accurately interpret your writing and the message being conveyed.

Participants

Include full detail on your participants. How many were in the study? How many males, females, Caucasians, Asian-Americans, etc.? How old were they? How did you solicit their participation? Remember that you want to include full details of your study so that another researcher could replicate it. Because you are using data that was given to you, you can fabricate the information in this section.

Materials and Procedure

Think of this section as a recipe. What ingredients were needed for your study? What steps did you follow to conduct the study? Pull information from the OPL website to use in this section regarding the materials used and procedures conducted. Just like the Participants section, it is OK to fabricate information here.

You may notice there is an extra line of space on the previous page. It is OK to move the heading onto this page so it is with its content and not “hanging” on the previous page by itself. You might also notice there are no extra lines of space between sections, headings, and paragraphs.

Results

Include only results in this section: do not include recommendations or interpretations. Report descriptive statistics (means, etc.) and test statistics (t test results, correlation results, etc.), in that order. The idea is to describe the demographics of your participants (who were they?) then present their results as related to your hypothesis. See APA resources for how to report this type of information (or ask!).

Discussion

This is the section for interpretation! What do you make of your results? Did your results support similar research on the topic? Connect your results to studies you reviewed in the introduction. Also include discussion on future research. What would you change about how you conducted the study? What do you recommend to future researchers?

A final note: it is typically easy to rewrite sentences without using I or we or some other pronoun. Instead of stating “The results of my study suggest…”, rephrase to “The results suggest…” A pet peeve of mine is using “prove”: this is because someone could replicate your study and have different results. Use terms such as “supported”: the results support your hypothesis.

References

Make sure your references are APA-formatted; the first line is not indented, but the second line should be (as shown here – a hanging indent).

Appendix A: Title

This is the page where the actual appendix is found. The title of the appendix is on the previous page, by itself. Do not include the title on this page. Make sure you refer to the appendix somewhere in your report. For example, if this appendix were an IRB form, you would most likely state something in the Method or Procedure section: An Institutional Review Board (IRB) form was completed at the University prior to conducting the study (see Appendix A). Search for “IRB” on the UMUC website. You do not have to fill out the entire IRB, but at least complete the few sections you can regarding your study. This is only for the final project report – you will not include an IRB for the mini lab report (unless you want to practice).

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