DISCUSSION 4 PSYCHOLOGY RM

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APA Style: 7th Edition

Writing and Assembling an

APA-Format Research Report

Welcome!

I’m not going to lie – this chapter is long, a bit repetitive in places, and isn’t the most interesting material we will cover (Sorry!)

Yet it is VERY important, as you will learn the mechanics of writing a paper in APA format. You’ll use the tips here as you write your first individual class assignment in this course (the Article Critique Paper) as well as later papers in Research Methods and Design II and in other psychology courses you take!

Overview of This Chapter

The final good news is that I will give you most of the information you need within this presentation, where we will focus on …

Part One: What is APA Format?

Part Two: Sections of the APA-Formatted Paper

Part Three: Writing in APA Style

Part Four: Plagiarism

Part Five: Your Article Critique Paper

Part Six: Working with Microsoft Word

Part Seven: An Eye Toward The Future

Part One

What is APA Format?

APA Format is the accepted American Psychological Association format for preparing reports describing psychological research

It relies extensively on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (now in the 7th Edition). I strongly recommend you purchase this manual.

There are different guidelines for student papers and professional papers (for publication).

In this class, and in Methods II next semester, you will use the professional guidelines (they’re not really that different, so don’t worry too much about the differences).

Part Two

Sections of the APA-Format Paper

What is the Purpose?

Essentially, the purpose behind an empirical research report is to inform the reader about

What you did

Why you did it

What you found out

What your findings mean

What you have concluded

Think about an hourglass

The Article Critique Paper

Your Paper This Semester

Your paper will critique a psychology research article. It will adhere to APA formatting rules, so make sure to learn them well (use the APA formatting I will talk about in this chapter)

Your paper will start with a title page, which we will get to soon. You will then summarize the main points of the article, including what the authors did, how they did it, what they found, and what they concluded. You will then assess the credibility of the study as you critique it. See the instructions, example papers, and grade rubrics available on blackboard for more paper info!

Sections of the APA-Format Paper

For now, I want to show you the various sections of an APA format paper, including:

The title page

The abstract

The literature review

The methods section

The results section

The discussion section

The references

The appendices

Check out Part Six if you want some help setting up Microsoft word to accommodate APA formatting!

Part 2: The Title Page

The Title Page

Title Page: The first page of an APA-Format Paper. It starts on page 1 and includes …

The header

This is often a shortened version of your title, written in ALL CAPS

It is left justified (that is, it is flush left at the top of the page)

It is 50 characters or less (including spaces / punctuation)

Page number (present in the header)

Right justified (flush right at the top of the page)

The Title Page, Continued

Article Title: The full title of your paper

Capitalize the first letter of all words that are four or more letters long. It should be midway down the page

Author Names:

All authors are listed (this is YOUR NAME for this course)

Author Institution:

Florida International University

Example Title Page

Page Number

Title. Capitalized, bold, centered

4 lines down from the top of the page (double space, then hit “enter” 4 times)

Your name!

One extra space here (hit “enter” once)

*note: everything is double spaced! Even the ”extra spaces” are measured by double spaced format.

Header. A shorter version of your title in ALL CAPS that is 50 characters or less! Include this “header” in your document.

Part 3: The Abstract

The Abstract

Abstract: This is a brief description of the research in APA format

Information about the problem

Information about the participants

Information about the experimental method

Information about the findings

Information about the conclusions

The Abstract starts on its own page, and the word is centered and in bold

The Abstract is 150-200 words

Abstract: Fitting a lot of information into an itsy-bitsy space

How do you take a whole research paper and narrow it down to around 150-200 words?

That is, how do you get the gist of your paper across to readers who may only read the abstract when deciding to read the rest of your paper?

This is tougher than it looks!

Consider the following abstract …

The Abstract – Example

Terror Management Theory (TMT) contends that thinking about mortality can cause debilitating fears in people, which may interfere with their daily lives. However, this “terror” is avoidable: people can buffer death-related thoughts by increasing their reliance on safe, stable, and context-relevant attitudes (Cultural Worldviews). Using 130 undergraduates, we examined the influence of TMT on sexual harassment decisions, focusing on hostile sexist attitudes as our CWV. We predicted that mortality salience would increase hostile sexist attitudes, leading participant’s to find less Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment. Although mortality salience did not interact with hostile sexism, mortality salient participants did find more harassment than control participants. These results suggest that hostile sexism may not be an adequate sexual harassment Cultural Worldview.

On the next 6 slides, I will demonstrate where each part of the abstract is in this example.

The Abstract – The Research Problem

The research “problem” is in blue and bolded above

The Abstract – Participants

The participants are in blue and bolded above

The Abstract – Methods

The experimental method and predictions are in blue and bolded above

The Abstract – Findings

The findings are in blue and bolded above

The Abstract – Conclusions

The conclusions are in blue above

119 words!

The Abstract – Sample

119 words!

The Introduction (or Literature Review)

Introduction

Introduction: The first major section of the APA-format paper

The introduction contains a review of the literature, providing examples of prior studies that support your hypotheses

An introduction contains the thesis statement (that is, the hypothesis): A statement of the general research topic of interest and the perceived relation of relevant variables in that area

The hypothesis can come anywhere in your literature review, but you often see it at the end after the author has talked about several prior research studies.

Introduction: The Setup and Formatting

Introduction: The setup

The introduction starts on its own page, just after the Abstract.

If there is no abstract, it begins on page 2.

For your article critique paper, the first section of your paper will be the summary. The format for the summary will be the same as it would be for an introduction section.

Example Title Page Formatting

You repeat the title of your paper here. Centered & bold

The body of your paper begins here on the next line. Indent all paragraphs.

Page # (it will be page 3 if you have an abstract, page 2 if you do not)

This header goes on every page

Citations vs. References

Introduction: Some information about citations

Citations are often difficult for students, so pay close attention!

We’ll spend several minutes on citations here, but there is something I want to make really clear

Citations and references are different things

Citations are used in the main body of the paper and refer to the work of another person, and include ONLY author last names and the publication date

References come at the end of the paper, and include names, dates, journal names, article titles, etc. We’ll get to references later. For now …

When should I use citations?

When you refer to something that sounds like a factual claim in your literature review, you need to provide a citation for it.

Research articles are not opinion-based. They use prior research and make “educated assumptions” about potential study outcomes, but they must have a good empirical foundation for those educated guesses

ANY time you relay information that you got from another source, you MUST cite that source.

You cite when you need to give proper credit for the ideas presented by someone else.

Two Ways to Cite

There are two ways to cite a source:

1). Within the text of a sentence

2). In parentheses at the end of the sentence (often called parenthetical references)

Citing In A Sentence

1). Within the text of a sentence:

Here, you can mention the author by name in the sentence

Smith (2018) conducted a study….

If there are two authors, write the word “and” between the author names (Never write & in the body of a sentence)

Parker and Smith (2008) found that….

The year goes in parentheses after the name(s)

Gonzales et al. (2015) agree that…

Parenthetical Citations

2). In parentheses at the end of a sentence:

Mention author by name at the end of a sentence.

Anxious adolescents tend to experience social distress (Parker, 2008).

With more than one author, use & between the names

Anxious adolescents tend to experience social distress (Parker & Smith, 2008).

With three or more authors, use the phrase et al.

Anxious adolescents tend to experience social distress (Parker et al., 2008).

No First Names in Citaitons!

We don’t use the first names of authors we cite in the introduction, just their last names (Smith & Jones, 2005).

Occasionally you will see a literature review that includes the first name of an author in a citation, but I recommend against this. Stick with JUST last names

Just as an example, think about the sentence “Research by Ivan Pavlov (1903) shows just how classical condition impacts dog salivation”. This is okay, but I REALLY prefer “Research by Pavlov (1903) shows …”

No First Initials In Citations!

While you might occasionally see a first name mentioned in a sentence, you will NEVER use it within parentheses

That is, (Smith & Jones, 2005) is perfect, but (Brandon Smith & Bridget Jones, 2005) is NOT okay

Likewise, initials should never be used in citations. That is, (B. R. Smith & B. C. Jones, 2015) is NOT okay either

WRONG: A study by (Smith and Jones, 2010) found that

What is wrong with this citation? What’s the right way to do it?

Incorrect Citation Example

CORRECT: Smith and Jones (2010) found that …

CORRECT: Blah blah interesting research finding blah blah (Smith & Jones, 2010).

Okay, on the next slide is a tough one. Why is it wrong? …

Correct Citation Example

WRONG: A study by (Smith & Jones, 2010) found that 2 + 2 = 4.

Notice the parentheses above, and how the names are inside the parentheses. In scientific writing, items within parentheses “supplement” the sentence content.

Read the citation from Smith and Jones, but this time ignore everything inside the parentheses. Does the sentence “A study by found that 2 + 2 = 4.” make any sense? Nope!

“A study by Smith and Jones (2010) found that 2 + 2 = 4.” is better. Reading it without the date, you still have, “A study by Smith and Jones found that 2 + 2 = 4.”

Incorrect Citation Example 2

The moral here is that you need to read your sentence. If the author(s) name is a part of the sentence, the name goes outside of the parentheses (only the date goes within). If the name is needed for the sentence to make sense, then put it inside the parentheses

More about Citations

And vs. &

The parentheses also alter how you use the word “and”. In text, we use the ampersand symbol &, but ONLY if author names appears within ( ). Otherwise, use the word “and”

For example:

GOOD: Smith and Jones (2005) found that …

GOOD: Other researchers refute these findings (Smith & Jones, 2005).

BAD: Smith & Jones (2005) found that …

BAD: Others refute these (Smith and Jones, 2005).

Do Not Include The Title in your Citation

Do NOT include the title of an article you read in the body of a paper. Titles are only present in the reference section

GOOD: “Research by Smith and Davis (2005) says …”

BAD: “In the article, “The implications of research” by Smith and Davis (2005), the authors say …

How Many Authors Should I List?

What if the article has a bunch of authors--do I have to list all the authors every time I cite the paper?

“According to McMaster, Paulson, Ashton, Corben, and Richards (2015), research involves …”

Nope! Let’s look at the rules for this…

Rules for Three or More Authors

When there are one or two authors:

List the author(s) every time you cite the study.

One author: Velez (2012) found that …

Two authors: Smith and Parker (2013) found that …

When there are three or more authors:

List only the first author, followed by et al.

Parker et al. (2014) also found that…

OR Blah blah blah blah interesting sentence about research (Parker et al., 2014).

Example Citations for 3+ Authors

When there are one or two authors:

List the author(s) every time you cite the study.

One author: Velez (2012) found that …

Two authors: Smith and Parker (2013) found that …

When there are three or more authors:

List only the first author, followed by et al.

Parker et al. (2014) also found that…

OR Blah blah blah blah interesting sentence about research (Parker et al., 2014).

Note: there is always a period after the “al.”

When citing in parentheses, use a comma after the “al.” as well

Citations and References

The citations in your literature review and the references in the References section MUST match

If you cite a source, then that source MUST be included in the Reference section. If it is in the References pages, it MUST be cited somewhere in the main paper!

This will be easy in your article critique paper, as you will simply cite the article that you actually read. There is only one citation/reference, so make sure it is correct!

Quotes

Last thing in this section. Let’s talk quotes!

First, I have to admit that I am not a fan of quotes. You should quote ONLY as a last resort (when an author says something that you simply cannot say any better!)

My preference is always on paraphrasing, something we will discuss a lot more in in Part 7 of this presentation

However, if you must quote, then you MUST do it properly. So here are the rules …

Rules for Direct Quotes

1. Direct quotations: If you directly quote, then your citation must include the author, year, and page number

“It was a masterful quote!” (Devlin, 2004, p. 18).

Notice I used quote marks around the quoted phrase

2. Block quotations: If you are quoting more than 40 words from a source, give the quote its own paragraph and indent (no quotation marks needed). That is …

Example Block Quotation

In his paper, Miele (1993) found the following:

The “placebo effect,” which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again [italics added], even when reel [sic] drugs were administered. (p. 276)

In other words, Miele was interested in …

Notice the quote is “full justified”

Use Quotes Sparingly

3. Sparing use of quotations: You know when I said I hated quotes. Well, I do! Try to paraphrase rather than directly quote. Few published papers use a lot of direct quotes

In this class, you may only use one direct quote per page without being penalized. I actually prefer no more than two quotes for the entire paper.

The Methods Section

Methods Section: Second major section of the APA-format paper

Contains information about the participants in the study

Includes the number of participants, the age range and the mean / standard deviation for age, as well as number of men and women and a breakdown of ethnicity

Notes the apparatus, materials, and/or testing instruments you used in the study

Any special equipment, scales, slides, videos, etc. must be thoroughly described. It must be written as if the reader is encountering the study for the first time but they want to replicate it. They need enough details to do so!

The Methods Section: Procedure

The methods section also contains a section on the exact procedure used in the study

Includes how the authors manipulated their IV, what DVs they measured, and any randomization, balancing, constancy, etc. issues

Again, readers unfamiliar with the study should have enough information to replicate the design if they wanted

The Methods Section: IVs & DVs

For your article critique paper, make sure you can spot the independent and dependent variables in the design. They are usually easy to spot in the methods section of a paper

The Results Section

Results Section: Third major section of the APA-format paper

Will usually include descriptive statistics, including the mean and standard deviations for relevant analyses

Will often include inferential statistics, like ANOVAs and t-Tests, with degrees of freedom, p values, and the like

Might report complimentary information

Figures: A pictorial representation of a set of results

Tables: A chart containing an array of descriptive statistics

Reading the Results Section

For your article critique paper, I am not too concerned about you fully understanding the statistics in the results paper of the article you are critiquing. We’ll cover statistics later this term

However, I want you to read it all the same. See if you can figure out why the ran the tests they ran. See if you can spot what the independent variable(s) is in the analysis as well as the dependent variable(s)

Look at HOW they wrote the statistics out. It is a standardized writing style: “Group one, (M = 2.34, SD = 2.11) scored lower than group two, (M = 5.67, SD = 1.14), t(23) = 5.43, p < .01).”

The Discussion Section

Discussion Section: Fourth major section – APA-format paper

In the discussion section, the authors talk about their findings, but DO NOT use statistical language

They don’t simply regurgitate what they wrote in the results

They summarize and restate the results, but rarely do they state the numbers again

They talk about the implications of their findings: What do the findings suggest about the nature of the topic?

They might compare their research to previous research

They can interpret their results with a bit more speculation

Reading The Discussion Section

Discussion Section: Fourth major section – APA-format paper

For your article critique paper, this will be a good place to better understand the study results.

However, I want you to look at their discussion section and then go back to the results section again. Can you see how and why they concluded what they did given the statistical results?

The References Section

References: The Rules

The Reference Section: Rules

1). References start on their own page

2). Use a hanging indent for each reference (the first line of each reference is not indented, subsequent lines are)

3). References are in alphabetical order (listed by the last name of the first author listed on the paper).

4). Author last names and first and middle initials are included.

5). The references need to be double spaced throughout.

Example Reference Page

Bold & centered

Hanging indent

Listed in alphabetical order by last name of first author

Page number and running head continue onto the References page

Note: The whole page is double spaced. No extra spaces between references.

Notice all authors are listed in the reference (up to 20 authors). Whereas the in-text citation for this would simply be “Allen et al. (2013)” because there are more than 2 authors

References – Periodical / Journals

Journal Article Example: The following is the most common type of APA reference for an article by two or more authors.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (date). Title of article. Title of the Periodical or Journal, vol, ppp-ppp. https://doi.org/...

Wiener, R. L., Winter, R., Rogers, M., & Arnot, L. (2004). The effects of prior workplace behavior on subsequent sexual harassment judgments. Law and Human Behavior, 28, 47-67. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:LAHU.0000015003.72223.63

References – Hanging Indent

The first line is NOT indented, but all others are. To do this in your word processor, simply highlight the citation and choose “hanging indent” in the paragraph formatting options.

References – Authors

Note that only author last names and their initials are present. NO full first names. Just first and middle initial, separated by periods. If your name is: First Middle Last, it would be:

Last, F. M.

References – List up to 20 authors

You will list all authors (up to 20 people) in the references, even if there are more than two.

References Vs. Citation Formatting

The in-text citation for this would be Wiener et al. (2004) OR (Weiner et al., 2004) because only the first author is listed for the citation if there are more than 2.

References - &

Note that there is an “&” before the name of the last author

References – Author Initials

Each initial is followed by a period and a space. Some people have more than one middle name. List them all. For example, if the name is Julia Marie Humphrey Parker, you reference this as: Parker, J. M. H.

References – More Author Formatting

And authors are separated by a comma (after the period)

References – Publication Date

The publication date is in parentheses, followed by a period.

References – The Article Title

The title only has the first word capitalized. However, proper nouns (names of people or places) and words after punctuation (such as a : or !) are also capitalized

References – Journal Name

The journal name is italicized, with the first letter of major words capitalized

References – Journal Volume

The volume comes next, and is also italicized (with commas on both sides)

References – Journal Issue Number

Some journals also list an issue number. If an issue is printed in the article, then you include it in the citation. It goes after the volume in parentheses (not italicized).

References – Page Numbers

Page numbers follow the volume

References – DOI

Finally, the DOI comes at the end. DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) are a way of “tagging” the article so that it can be retrieved from anywhere. The string of seemingly random numbers and letters are unique to that article.

References – More About The DOI

It must be written as a weblink with https://doi.org/ followed by the string of numbers and letters. You can simply copy and paste the string of numbers from the journal article.

Sometimes you can find the DOI at the top of the first page of the journal article (near the authors, title, and other journal information)

Where To Find The DOI

Where To Find The DOI? (2)

Occasionally, you can find the DOI at the bottom of the first page of the publication.

References – More Article Examples

Poser, S., Bornstein, B. H., & McGorty, K. E. (2003). Measuring damages for lost enjoyment of life: The view from the bench and the jury box. Law and Human Behavior. 27(1), 53-68. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021626928063

Berkowitz, L. & Lepage, A. (1967). Weapons as aggression-eliciting stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7(2), 202-207.

This older reference doesn’t have a DOI, though most articles written in the last 10 years do

References - Books

Book Example: The following is the most common type of APA reference for a book by two or more authors.

Books differ a bit from article. Can you spot the differences?

Let’s find out …

Example References – Books

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2002). Title of book. Publisher.

Wrightsman, L. S., Greene, E., Nietzel, M. T., & Fortune, W. H. (2002). Psychology and the legal system (5th ed.). Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

Greene, E. & Bornstein, B. (2003). Law and public policy. American Psychological Association.

Example References - Books

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2002). Title of book. Publisher.

The author format is still the same – last names and initials, with an “&” between the author names

Example References – Book Year

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2002). Title of book. Publisher.

The date is the same as in articles

References – Book Title

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2002). Title of book. Publisher.

The title of the book is italicized, though, and only the first word is capitalized (but capitalize proper nouns)

Also notice that you do not need page numbers for this general book (though you may need them if you cite an edited book). I recommend looking at the APA manual for more details on page numbers in book citations.

Part Three

Writing in APA Style

The remainder of this presentation looks at some other things you can do to improve your writing style (and might give you some good ideas to use for the prior Pause-Problem slide!)

Some of these will be applicable to your article critique paper and some less so. However, I hope all are helpful as you begin writing

General Guidelines for Writing

General Guidelines: A few guidelines about APA style (this are in Chapter 14, and I recommend reading them closely there)

1. Orderly presentation of ideas: Maintain continuity

2. Smoothness of expression: You are writing a scientific paper, so there is no need to keep the reader in suspense!

3. Economy of expression: Avoid prolonged speeches and run-on sentences

4. Precision and clarity: Do not use words carelessly.

Write from an outline, and know where your paper is headed. Recall the hourglass format …

The Hourglass Approach

Title & Abstract

Identify problem & state importance

Review relevant research literature

Identify a gap or “research space”

State research aim – fill in the gap

Indicate choice of approach/method

Empirical & original part – your study

Results and Interpretation

Match results to research questions

Implications for specific knowledge

Broader implications for your field

Recommendations for the future

Conclusion & References

General

Specific

General

Avoid the Passive Voice

Avoid using a passive voice: Which is better …

“It was found by the authors …” is bad

“The authors found …” is much better

The second sentence above uses an active voice, and thus the “actors” in the sentence are doing something (rather than having something done to them, as is the case in passive sentences)

This is a tough skill to develop, so use the spell-check and grammar-check options on your computer for help

Part Four

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a big problem among students in research methods, so I want to spend some time showing you how to avoid it. That is why I have a whole section on this topic alone

Plagiarism is considered cheating, and is derived from a Latin word that literally means “kidnapping”.

The general rules:

Do your own writing – if you write poorly, there are writing centers on campus that can help you

Give people the credit they deserve – cite any and all work that you are referencing, even if you do not use a direct quote.

Plagiarism: Important Points

Follow APA writing styles for this course (APA Publication Manual). There are several APA manuals in the library, though I would encourage anyone interested in continuing in psychology to buy their own copy.

Do NOT use the internet to buy your papers. The university has access to a website called “turnitin.com” that can compare your paper to all of the papers already written before yours. It can spot plagiarism easily, and we use it to grade methods papers. All papers should be under 30% overlap with other sources (above 40% and your paper will receive an F)

Plagiarism: What if there is no author?

How do you know when it is plagiarized?

1. Is copying from the internet if there is no author plagiarism?

YES. The APA publication manual has explicit guidelines for citing internet research, with and without known authors

Paraphrasing

2. What about paraphrasing?

A paraphrase takes the original work and expresses it in a new way, but you still need to credit the original author

Do not use a thesaurus to alter words in sentences and think this is paraphrasing. Altering one or two words is still plagiarism (and turnitin.com picks up on it!).

Do not paraphrase sentence by sentence. Paraphrase a whole paragraph after only reading it ONCE

Use direct quotes if you simply cannot paraphrase it better

If directly quoting, don’t change a word of it!

Plagiarism: Themes and Ideas

3. Is organizing a paper around the similar themes as another paper plagiarism?

YES, and you still need to cite the original author. My hope, though, is that your article critique paper will differ enough from published papers that you develop your own themes

Plagiarism: Using Examples

4. If you use the same examples as another, is it plagiarism?

YES, so again cite the original source of the examples

Plagiarism: Replacing Words

5. Is taking a sentence from another source and using a thesaurus to change all the words still plagiarism?

YES!

And your paper won’t make any sense!

Let’s consider this as an example…

Original paragraph: Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group, which received 2 weeks of cognitive behavioral treatments, and a control group, which did not get treatment. All participants were recruited form a local public university in the southwestern united states.

Thesaurus paragraph: Members were arbitrarily allocated to an action group, which received 2 weeks of mental interactive managements, and a regulator group, which did not get management. All contestants were drafted from a indigenous community campus in the southwestern united states.

In addition to being plagiarism, this second paragraph doesn’t make any sense!

Examples of Plagiarism: Replacing Words

100

Avoiding Plagiarism

How can you avoid plagiarism?

Say it in your OWN WORDS.

Pretend that you want to explain the concept or idea to your mom, brother, boyfriend, roommate after you read something.

You wouldn’t read the article to them verbatim. You would explain what they did.

Try to paraphrase whole ideas, not just one sentence at a time.

You do not need to cite “common knowledge” or your own “private opinions”, and some technical terms don’t need to be cited. Otherwise, the safe bet is “give credit” even if you use just a little bit of the original work (Talub, 2000, p. 7).

Plagiarism Video

Here is a funny video, which I encourage you to watch though it is not required (copy and paste the link).

http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/

Part Five

Your Article Critique Paper

Now that you know a little about research (and a lot about APA formatting), it is time for you to show me what you learned!

Your major paper this semester is an article critique paper. In this paper, you will be …

Part 1. Read an Article

1. Reading a research article of my choosing – don’t worry, I chose some good ones for you to review!

Reading Research Articles: Tips

I suggest you take the following steps as you read the article:

1) read the abstract

2) read the introduction. Highlight the IV, DV, and hypotheses.

3) skip to the discussion. Read very carefully.

4) go back and skim the methods and results

Do it all over again!

106

Part 2. Summarize the Paper

2. Summarizing the research report, focusing on

A. The type of study used (experimental vs. correlational)

B. Variables (independent versus dependent variables and any possible extraneous variables you can think of)

C. The methodology (did they use random assignment or some other method of assigning people to groups?)

D. Summary of the findings (what did they find?)

Part 3. Critique the Paper

3. Critiquing that research report, focusing on …

A. Reliability of the findings

B. Author interpretations

C. Ethics

D. Follow-up designs

E. Alternative interpretations / Argument strength

F. Theoretical / Applied implications

G. Theory problems

H. Was the method used the best method to use?

Part 4. Brief Summary

4. Summarizing all of points 1 through 3 in a short paragraph

Next semester in Research Methods and Design II, you will write your own literature review paper, where you summarize prior research as you support your hypothesis.

However, when writing a literature review, researchers often summarize other papers, and they must do so succinctly as they try to support their own thinking.

You’ll do the same here! In steps 1 through 3, I want to see your thorough analysis of the article you are critiquing. In 4., I want to see if you can do it in one short paragraph!

Tips for the Article Critique

Your Article Critique Paper

Keep in mind that Chapters 5, 6 and 7 in Smith & Davis will be very important in helping you assess the article, so make sure to review those chapters as you work on the methodological aspects of your article critique

This paper is nearly 15% of your final grade, so give it the attention it deserves!

Part Six

An Easy Guide To Working With Microsoft Word

Using Microsoft Word

I know most students are familiar with Microsoft word, but I wanted to provide a brief powerpoint presentation that might help you use Microsoft word to format your APA style paper. In this presentation I will cover the following:

1). Inserting headers and page numbers

2). Using double spacing and page breaks

3). Making sure references are using a hanging indent.

4). Using grammar and spell checks

5). Video help – Link to a helpful video that walks you through all of the above! I highly encourage you to watch

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Headers and Page Numbers in Word

1). Inserting headers and page numbers

Sometimes students try to insert their running head on the wrong line of their title page. They type it on the top line of every page in their document

However, this gets problematic because if you go back and add in new information to a prior page, some new text gets added to the next page, and that nice header you just typed is no longer at the top of the page but midway down!

Here’s how to do it better …

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Inserting a header

A. Double click anywhere along the top of the page. This will open up the header

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Inserting a header (2)

Next, click on page numbers and choose the one that puts the # on the right

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Inserting a header (3)

Then, just type in the needed information (your “Running head” and SHORT TITLE) and it will insert itself to the left of the page number. (Also, make sure it is 12 point Times New Roman font)

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Inserting a header (4)

Click the “Tab” button a couple times to get the header into the appropriate position. Click below the header to exit the header

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Double Spacing

A. Double spacing is simple! Below is single-spacing. To switch it, click here and select “2.0”

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Page Breaks

B. Page breaks are very useful for APA formatting. If you change one section of your paper, you don’t want it to screw up spacing three, four (or fifteen!) pages later. Insert a page break at the bottom of your title page, and whatever you type will start on page two. Insert a page break before your references, too

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Hanging Indents

3). Making sure your references are using a hanging indent

First, highlight a reference

Then right click (on a mac, click and hit “command”)

Select “paragraph”

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Hanging indents (2)

Select “hanging” under the “special” options for indentation.

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Grammar and Spell Check

Grading in this course gets tougher as the semester goes on, so make sure to spell check and use grammar check on all papers before submitting them.

First, make sure your spell and grammar check is on. Click the “Review” tab and then click “Spelling & Grammar”

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Grammar and Spell Check (2)

It may highlight information already in your paper, giving you several options. It may not recognize names, so you may see them pop up a lot. You can choose to ignore or change the items that do pop up

But others need attention

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Grammar and Spell Check (3)

You might have to choose the options you want to use

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Grammar and Spell Check (4)

Make sure to look at spelling errors

Also look at grammar

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Using Other Word Processors

I recommend using Microsoft Word, but if you are using a different word processor (such as Pages), you could simply google “how to insert a hanging indent in Pages” and you should be able to find some help.

Note that we cannot read “pages” documents in Canvas, so you’ll need to convert it to a word document or a pdf file if you want us to grade your paper!

Part Seven

An Eye Toward The Future

Be forewarned: we will start discussing some nitty-gritty statistical calculations next. We’ll start relatively easy with Chapter 2 (Means to an End) in Salkind, looking at the mean, median, and mode.

It is important that you have a calculator with you for all remaining lectures this semester, and make sure it can do the following:

DISCUSSION 4 PSYCHOLOGY RM

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