Reporting Psychological Research

Welcome!

This blog will show you the basics of writing a research report in psychology.  I have written it from the perspective of a third-year BSc psychology student with the intention of helping other students, such as A-level students, who may be struggling with the basics.  Please be aware that what I intend on showing you is about writing the report rather than carrying out the research and analysing any data.  Ultimately, it is up to you to carry out the research and analyse your data as it is you who will be doing the research.  To help you with the write up, however, I have included a complete walk-through of every section within a standard psychology research report.  Additionally, I have also included a section at the end with some general tips that will help you achieve better grades.  I hope this blog helps you and thank you for taking the time to read through it.  Please be aware that there is quite a lot to this.  Sadly, it is not very colourful but it should help you.  Please read every section carefully, and please note that I have written both formally and informally.  

Your assignment

If you have been asked to carry out some research in psychology, it is highly likely that your tutor/lecturer will have given you a research topic at some point.  For the purpose of this blog, I have included an example research question.  The reason I have done this is so that I can exemplify and highlight particular points to help you when you write your own paper.  Try and not generalise the question I am using too much when you read this.  I am simply expecting you to acknowledge the standard approach for writing psychology research papers and how to write the report.

Lets assume that you have been asked to conduct some social psychological research, which was a task that I was given when I studied psychology at Higher level (A-level).  The following question is very similar to the one that I got:

Investigate the attitudes of the general public towards elderly people within society.

In order to successfully conduct research on the topic outlined above, you are going to have to study background material on the particular topic area.  Ask your tutor/lecturer to point you in the right direction of relevant resources for your topic.  Your research question could likely be on a completely different topic area, such as intelligence or memory, but the write up of the report will be the same. 

For the above question, for example, you would be expected to research the topic of prejudice. Then, you will have to find relevant research that specifically looks at prejudice towards elderly people.  It is likely that if you look in the correct places there will be numerous research on this. The first thing that comes to mind is probably either books or the internet.  However, you have to be careful with the internet when it comes to citing your sources and that you use the correct ones.  Simply Psychology is good to help us understand a topic, but I personally wouldn't recommend using it as a reference.  The reason being is that it is not academic enough.

In the write up of your report, you should only include academic references.  Generally speaking, the best two types of academic references that should be included in an A-level assignment are citations from books and journal articles.  I agree that it is more flexible at A-level than university to use other types of sources, such as random internet pages, newspapers or magazines, but please try and familiarise yourself with journal articles and be careful of what websites to use as your references.  By the time you complete your first year at university, I can assure you that journal articles will be bleeding from your eyes and ears, as will the term 'do not use Wikipedia as a reference'. 

So, assuming that you are confident with your topic area and you have done extensive reading about it, you are going to have to carry out some research.  At this point, I would like to encourage you to consult with your classmates and your tutor about how to go about this.  The way you conduct your research is ultimately based on your research topic and question.  For example, the research topic that I have used in this blog would be best approached using a simple questionnaire and Likert scale, which ultimately falls within the survey method. Then, I would try and obtain a varied sample of around 15-20 people in the population ranging from around 18-69 and ask them to complete the questions. 
Following this, I would then analyse participant's scores for each question.

Anyway, lets assume that you have designed your research and have gathered your data. You are now going to have to present your findings in the form of a research/lab report.  The next part will now look at writing the report. 

Writing the report

Depending on personal preference, you may prefer to begin writing your report as soon as you have been given the question.  If you have a clear mind and plan about what you should be doing then by no means wait around.  Like me, you may like to start at your introduction.  However, it is sometimes wiser to begin at your method section as you have just carried out your research.  Whichever way you decide to do this it is entirely up to you.  I do, however, wish to show you the following image of an inverted triangle.  The reason for this is because this is the shape that your report should take.

The top of this inverted triangle should resemble your introduction.  Your introduction, along with the discussion, is typically the largest part of a research report in psychology.  Simply speaking, tutors want to see that you have read a lot about your topic and that your background knowledge of the subject is very broad.   This is very important when it comes to your findings because in order to present them confidently, you have to be able to relate them to previous literature.   They call the beginnings of a psychology report the literature review.

On the flip side, the bottom of this inverted triangle should resemble your conclusion.  Your conclusion will be a very short part of your report in comparison with the previous sections and will simply summarise your entire findings.  This is also where you will have the opportunity to suggest some future research which may better address the topic that you have studied. 

Now that you hopefully follow my logic here, let me introduce you to the contents of a psychology lab report.   

The psychology research report structure

This structure is ordered correctly in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines and must be followed as below, unless your tutor has suggested otherwise which I highly doubt. 

- Title page
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methods (contains numerous subheadings: participants, design, materials and procedure)
- Results
- Discussion
- References
- Appendix

Once you are familiar with the above structure, have a look at the next part which shows you how to allocate words to each part.   Lets assume that your report has to be 3000 words.   Each section below has been given appropriate word limits, but this could vary somewhat depending on the nature of your research.  Please note that this is just a guide and also that the introduction and discussion are by far the largest parts.  The introduction and discussion will always be the largest parts of any given psychology report.

- Title (20-30 words)
- Abstract (250 words max)
- Introduction (1000 words max)
- Methods (600 words max)
- Results (300 words max)
- Discussion (800 words max)
- References (references at end not included: references in-text are)
- Appendix (normally not included)

Now that you are familiar with this, please allow me to walk you through each individual section of the report.  I will try and include as much detail as I can.

Abstract

When you write a research report in psychology, you are often expected to include what is known as an abstract but please check this with your tutor as sometimes it is not included.  Please also check whether the abstract is included in your word count because sometimes it is not.

What is the abstract? 

Simply speaking, the abstract is a very short paragraph which is normally between 150-200 words that summarises the entire report from start to finish and will most often than not be written at the end.   This can be tricky to write, but please note that only the most important things should be included in an abstract.  When I write my abstract, I will usually write about why I was initially interested in the research based on previous work, why I carried out the research, how I carried out the research, what my findings were and what my findings suggest or imply.  In your abstract, you should briefly mention your variables too, such as whether you used a questionnaire or not or whether your study used an experimental design.  Lastly, you should include the sample size (how many participated) and write it as n=20 if there were 20 participants.

Note: your abstract requires a main heading which will be the only one in the report that will sit central at the top of the page.  Your introduction, which is discussed next, will begin on the next page.  Furthermore, the American Psychological Association recommends that you include a sentence below the abstract which says Keywords, followed by five or six key words form your study.  Please have a look online about this to see how you should write it.  It should simply look like this: Keywords: prejudice, discrimination, elderly, attitudes, participants, and should be italicised.

Introduction

The introduction is where you will now introduce the reader to appropriate background research which should include at least three or four decent studies - try and aim for more than this, though.  Remember the triangle I presented earlier?  Keep this image in mind keep your introduction broad.  This is typically called a literature review and will act as the foundation of your entire report.  In order to obtain the appropriate research, you should consult books and journal articles.  As this report is on attitudes, we could simply look online for journal articles that have previously examined attitudes towards elderly people.  Google scholar is an example of a place to search for relevant journal articles. 

Once you have read this and have included some research in your paper, you must now present the aim of your research as the very last paragraph of your introduction.  Sometimes, the aim is called the rationale but it simply means the same thing.  The aim should simply state what the purpose of your research was and should briefly refer to your previous literature which you wrote about before.

Then, you will have to add a hypothesis to this, usually known as the alternative hypothesis.  You might have more than one of these and will have to let the reader know exactly what they are.  Simply speaking, an alternative hypothesis is simply a prediction and is built upon your previous research.  Lets assume in my example that previous research has shown that a particular age group within society, lets say 40-year-olds, are very judgmental towards the elderly.  The alternative hypothesis in my study would thus be that my findings will directly reflect this.  Contrary to this, you will also need to add the null hypothesis, which simply states that there will be no relationship between age and participant's attitude scores.  Furthermore, we must also briefly state in this paragraph how we are attempting to obtain our data (i.e. are we using a questionnaire or an interview).

To help you, below is an example of a generic rationale section which addresses the question included in this blog:

The aim of the current study was to investigate, with the use of a questionnaire and Likert scale, the attitudes of the general public towards the elderly.  Previous research by Jones (2016) has shown that within the UK, 40-year-old adults are very judgemental towards elderly people.  Similarly, other researchers have found that elderly people are regularly discriminated in numerous settings within society, predominantly by adults over 40-years-of-age (Jackson and Smith, 2010).  Thus, the alternative hypotheses for this study predicts that elderly people will be judged by society, particularly 40-year-old adults.  The null hypothesis predicts that there will be no difference between age and prejudice towards the elderly. 

Note: the introduction does not require a heading at all.  It must, however, begin on a separate page after the abstract.

Methods

When writing your method section you will have to break it down into appropriate sub-headings.  I have shown you what these are below.  These sub-headings have to be included in your report.  If they are not included then you will lose marks.  This section has to be ordered very accurately.

Participants:

Please try and include how many people took part (sample size should be written as n=followed by number), who participated (friends, family, public) what age, what gender, where from, ethnicity.   Please include as much information here as you can.   The reason is because in order to replicate your study we must know who participated so that a future researcher can obtain a similar sample.

Design:

Your design should either be within or between subjects.  For this type of research, it is going to be between as we are selecting numerous different participants for the research.  If it was a within subject design, we would use the same participants and perhaps present them to different conditions of the research (typically seen in an experimental design).  You should also state what your independent and dependent variables are (in psychology, the independent variable is what you are manipulating; the dependent variable is what you are measuring). 

In our example, we are measuring a range of participant's attitude scores towards the elderly (dependent variable). To do this, we are using particular questions within a questionnaire which have been created to try and exploit their attitudes (independent variable).

Materials/apparatus:

What was used to gather your data? What type of questionnaire was it? Did it have a Likert scale? Did you have a consent form? Did you have a debrief form?  You must show the reader all of the materials that you used.   A future researcher has to know this so that he/she can use the same materials for a future replication study.

Procedure:

You must describe in very vivid detail the exact procedure of the research.  For example, how did you obtain your data? Did you issue questionnaires to people within a college setting? Did you issue them to family or friends? Did you enable people to fill out questionnaires in a quiet location?  Your procedure should show the reader exactly how you obtained your data.

Note: the method section in your report should begin on a new page and will contain four main sub-sections (see above).  The title 'Methods' should be flush left at the top of your page followed by the first sub-section directly underneath.  These sub-sections should be in italics or underlined

Results:

The results section is a place where you will present either graphs or tables, sometimes both.  Please note that this section does not require a lot of text.  Do not discuss your findings in the result section.  Rather, simply illustrate what your graphs show.  Students also often make the mistake by including what is known as 'raw data' in this section.  Please do not do this. Raw data, if required, will go in your appendix section and will usually look like a page full of calculations.

When you come to the result section, you will be expected to analyse your data.  You are going to have to work out what to do with it all and how to obtain meaningful figures form it.  I assume that your tutor will keep your right with this and will show you what sort of analysis you should be using.  Typically, you will probably have to calculate means, medians, modes and standard deviation results.  Thankfully at A-level it is normally just the mean that you will be using.  When you reach first year at university, however, you will have to demonstrate how to add the variance into your graphs.  On this occasion, I have not done it.  I have simply used mean scores.  Not that you will have to know this I don't think, but the variance in a graph will be shown as error bars and is normally calculated by using the standard deviation or the standard error in your particular data.

Below is what a typical result section may look like in a psychology report.  Please forgive me for the slight mistake on the y-axis which is supposed to say 100 and not 90.  Once I realised I had done this, I couldn't change it as the graph is now saved as a Jpg.

Following a detailed analysis of each participants response to the questionnaire, mean attitude scores (0-100) were arranged in accordance with participant's ages in 5 individual groups ranging from age 18 - 69.  As shown in figure 1, mean attitude scores varied significantly between the age groups with 40-year-old adults holding the most negative attitude towards the elderly.

   
















Figure 1. Mean attitude scores for participants (100 = negative; 0 = positive) in a series of age groups (range = 18 - 69).

You could include other graphs in your report which show different findings.  For example, what about the differences between males and females?  Or even differences in ethnicity depending on what your sample is like?  You could also add a better heading than mine, but it is just an example.

Note: result section requires a main heading which simply says Results, flush left.  Contained within this section are usually graphs and/or tables, with a very short statement of the findings above the chart with a key below the chart.

Discussion  

Now that you have presented your results in the form of appropriate charts, you should now move on to the discussion.  This is now your chance to discuss what your results mean.  This is very important: you must now refer back to your graphs and also your introduction.  Are your results in line with previous research?  Can you support your predictions?  What do your results mean?  You must elaborate in depth in this section.

Your discussion should be almost as long as your introduction.   Actually, sometimes it will be the same length because it provides not only a chance to refer back to your literature review but also a chance to personally evaluate your research.  Were your participants interested? Did some of your participants not take part? What implications may this have had? What about your materials, were they good enough? What about your questions, were they clear enough?

Then, end your discussion with a conclusion.  Your conclusion does not have a title.  This is an area where many students get confused.  They say 'oh, we must need a heading for the conclusion surely?'.  The simple answer is no, you don't.   It simply flows from your discussion and will be found at the very end.   Importantly, your conclusion should be very short and concise.   You must tie up loose ends with this part of your paper and also recommend future research which may better answer your question.   Please remember to recommend a future area that could be further addressed.   You have to think outside the box a little here but it is important to show the reader that you have thought about future research and how another study could better analyse your topic area.

Note: your discussion requires a main heading saying Discussion, flush left at the top of the page.  This is all that is required despite the fact that you will write your conclusion within this section.  Your conclusion does not need a main heading or a subheading.

References

Please reference everything that you have used.  Please follow APA guidelines on referencing.  The current edition is the 6th edition and shows you how to reference every single source possible, from books and journal articles to Facebook posts and magazine clippings.   Referencing is very important in a psychology report so please adhere to the APA guidelines.  Very important: make sure they are alphabetical!

Note: the reference section also requires a main heading saying References on a separate page at the top left of the page.

Appendix

All raw data should be here.  You should also have your questionnaire here, including any consent and debrief forms.  Each item should be titled Appendix A, B C and so on, and you must use this throughout your report when you are referring to an item.   This may also be where you put any transcribed data or anything else that you may be asked to keep a hold of.

Note: the appendix section also requires the main heading Appendix at the top left of the page.  Place this on a separate page

Ethics

This short section is not required in a research report.  However, I thought I would include it at the end of this blog because I want you to become familiar with what psychological ethics are and what it means.  In psychology, we cannot cause harm to other humans or animals, and we must always allow our participants the right to withdraw from our research at any time.  In addition, we must also ask them for their consent before we conduct research, followed by a debrief of what the study was investigating.  It is ok to use harmless deception, but please ask your tutor about this.  Furthermore, if you are working with children, it is likely that you may need PVG checks and you will 100% have to ask the parent or guardian for their permission.  There is more to this than what I have written so please do familiarise yourself with this.

Final comments

I hope to have covered the basics of writing a psychology report.   I am sorry that I cannot cover any more than this.  Psychology reports are very unique and detailed, and it is simply beyond the scope of this blog to go any further.  I will give you some tips now which you should try and adopt each and every time you write in psychology.  It is good practice to use these tips because you will lose marks at university if you do not adhere to them regularly.

Tips

- place a running head on your document (see YouTube)
- use either Arial or Times New Roman size 12 for main text
- title page should be size 14
- make sure all graphs are labelled and numbered correctly
- graphs are called figures; tables are called tables 
- active or passive voice is generally acceptable providing it is academic and not chatty
- reference your work in accordance with APA 6th edition guidelines
- stay within your word limit (check with your tutor if you have 10% allowance either way) 
- write your abstract last
- do not start sentences with numbers (i.e. 16). Always say the number (sixteen).
- references should be alphabetical
- write numbers with text (i.e. one) until you reach the number 10, which is digits thereafter. 
- do not use contractions in academic writing (don't, won't, can't). Its too chatty 
- try and limit the use of I and We in academic writing.
- use as little quotations as possible (1 per essay max) 
- rule of thumb: at least 1 reference per paragraph
- paragraphs should generally come after about 6 or 7 lines
- new paragraphs require an indentation at the beginning
- use double line spacing throughout your work
- your reference list should be 'hanging' - see YouTube on how to hang references
- page numbers should be at the top right corner
- try and use words such as 'in addition' or 'furthermore' when making points
- paragraphs should flow into the next with linking sentences and words
- learn psychological jargon (variables, hypothesis, counterbalancing etc.)
- in academic writing, never use the term etc. I just done it above but this is not academic lol
- when making a point, back it up with a reference
- two spaces are required after full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and colons
- the people we include in our research, our sample, are participants (not subjects)
- if we are investigating animals, then we refer to them as subjects
- follow everything I have shown you in this blog and you will improve your grade


Best wishes and good luck

David

Writing a Psychology Essay

Welcome!

I assume that you have arrived at this blog because you would like some advice on how to write in psychology?  Either that or someone has sent you the link to show you the page.  Whichever it is, I would like to let you know that I can help you! This blog will be as short and simple as possible and will aim to cover the key aspects of academic writing that is expected on a psychology degree.   The main area of writing I will cover in this particular blog is essay writing.  I hope to cover aspects of essay writing that you may have never been informed about before - I know (sighs), lecturers don't always tell us everything.  Our lecturers like us to go away and learn it all ourselves.  Sometimes they don't even give us an essay plan.  Actually, the last time I was given an essay plan was when I was at college in 2013.  At university, it is very rare now because they simply expect us to know it all, which usually we don't lol!  Anyway, I hope to cover 90% of the main issues that your tutor may or may not introduce you to.  This blog will walk you through it and help you.  Moreover, I will also introduce you to some of the most important aspects of the American Psychological Association 6th edition guidelines (APA) which all psychology academics across the world must adhere to.   Lastly, I hope you benefit from what I have written and that I don't confuse you too much!

About me

I assume that you already guessed that I would not of course be writing this blog if I did not have any previous knowledge of this subject.   So, to briefly introduce myself I would like to inform you that I am currently a 3rd year BSc Psychology student at the University of Stirling, Scotland.  I am writing this blog during my studies and by no means am I suggesting that I know everything about the subject, because I most certainly don't, especially when SPSS and statistics are involved lol! Anyway, I have over the years obtained some important knowledge and tips which may help prospective students who are just starting out on their academic venture to succeed in this subject.   Therefore, I assume that you will either be a student who is at school or college level and are intending on studying psychology at university level, or you are already in first or second year at university.    For now, this is all you have to know about me.  The only other thing which I assume you may want to know is that I do have previous experience of obtaining high 2:1 and 1:1 grades in this subject for numerous assignments.   I hope this gives you some reassurance that I know what I am discussing.   Anyway, lets move on to the purpose of this blog: essay writing.

The psychology essay

In education, lecturers like to give the poor unfortunate students like us essays.  How long are they? Normally, a standard academic essay will range from around 1000 words to 3000 words, though this can vary somewhat depending on which area of psychology you are writing for..   What is the purpose of an essay? To put it simply, an essay is your chance to examine a particular topic area and express your argument about it.   In psychology, we are expected to try and make a clear argument about a topic so that the reader knows which side of the fence you are on.   As an example, a typical essay will usually ask you to discuss a topic, evaluate a topic or compare and contrast a topic.   There are more ways in which questions can be presented, but these are some common examples.  Importantly, we must also learn to be able to do this as concisely as possible, and please remember to stay on track!  Learning how to do this is simply a skill that you will master throughout your studies.

Read the question, understand the question and think about what it means!

When given an essay question, the most important part, even before you put finger to keyboard, is to carefully read the question.  What is the question asking? Once you have established what the question is asking and what topic area you have been told to examine, you should thoroughly read about it.  By reading about the topic area before you begin writing, you will gain an in-depth understanding of the topic and will make writing the essay much easier.  I used to write and read simultaneously but after I realised that my marks were never improving, I stopped doing it.   I would like to let you know at this stage that the best resources for reading around a topic area come from books and journal articles, not blogs such as this or Facebook, for instance.   The simple reason for this is because blogs like this are not academic, that is all.  I will come back to this later when I discuss referencing.   So, assuming that you have gained some knowledge about the subject and have read some books, its time to start the fun part:  creating an essay!

Essay planning and structure

For an essay to be successful, it is important that we create a plan and structure.  At this stage, keep your essay question at hand and carefully think about what it is asking.  Have a look at all your notes and materials which you will be using and begin to make an essay plan.  How do I make an essay plan and how do I know if my essay structure is ok?  Simply speaking, structuring and planning an essay is a task which may depend on the particular essay question.   As a generic essay structure, please allow me to show you one below which may enlighten you as to what we are talking about.  Under each subsection are pointers which may help you structure a 2500 word essay.  Please note that this type of essay structure can be moulded and shaped for numerous essay topics.  This may take some creativity, however.

The following section is now an essay structure

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Standard essay question: discuss and evaluate the cognitive, medical and psychodynamic theories/approaches of depression and decide which one is best (2500 word limit).

Introduction  (100-150 words)

Lets begin!

Please introduce the reader to what you are about to discuss in your essay.  The reader wants to know what your essay will address and what will be discussed.  The reader also wants to see that you have introduced key research which will be discussed and that you are offering an evaluation within your essay.   Please see below for a typical example of an introduction which favours the cognitive approach.

Example introduction:

The aim of this essay is to discuss and evaluate the cognitive, medical and psychodynamic approaches to depression.   Based on the research consulted and the theories discussed, the author argues that the best approach for explaining the cause of depression is the cognitive approach.   However, it is also important that based on the evaluation provided within this essay that other authors may argue otherwise.   For example, there is substantial evidence available which suggests that the medical and psychodynamic approaches may be better, though in this particular case it is reasonable to conclude that the cognitive approach is favourable over these.     

Middle section (should consist of numerous paragraphs and will take up most of essay)

Paragraph 1 (100 words or less)

Paragraph 1 is where you will make your first main point in your essay, and in psychology this typically begins with a standard definition of what you are discussing.   For example, if your essay is on depression, you should define depression and what it is.   If it is on long-term memory, you should define human memory and long-term memory.   If it is on intelligence, then you must define what this is.  Your definition should be about 100 words or less.   You must then use linking phrases to try and get this to flow to the next paragraph.

Paragraph 2 (200-300 words)

Paragraph 2 is where the essay really begins.  This is where you now start discussing some knowledge and understanding of the topic area of which you have been asked to write about, such as key approaches/theories.  Why not begin by discussing the psychodynamic approach and what it says about depression?  Can you corroborate your discussion with some research?  Are there any research studies available on this topic?  Are there any statistics on your topic?  Are there any opinions from authors or medical experts for example?  Aim to provide 300 words of knowledge and understanding here with supportive research.

Paragraph 3 (200-300 words)

As above, paragraph 3 is another opportunity to further elaborate your topic.  This paragraph may discuss the topic area from a different angle.   For example, if you have been asked to discuss theories, then this paragraph should be used to discuss the next approach, which may be the cognitive approach to depression.  What is the cognitive approach in psychology and what does it say about depression.  Again, please provide supporting evidence for this in the forms of reputable sources.

Paragraph 4 (200-300 words)

Again, paragraph 4 is simply another opportunity for you to further elaborate your topic.  For this essay question, you should now use this paragraph as an opportunity to lastly discuss the final approach/theory, which in this case is the medical approach.  Again, please provide supporting evidence for this in the form of reputable sources such as journal articles and books.

OK. You will be glad to know that we are now half way through our essay!  However, we are not out of the woods yet.  The following part of the essay is the most important, and will transform your essay from a C or B into an A.  This is the part of the essay that many students fail to address: CRITICAL EVALUATION

Paragraph 5 (200-300 words)

This paragraph should be used to EVALUATE paragraph 2.  In paragraph 2, you discussed the psychodynamic approach.  This means that you should be awarded some marks for knowledge and understanding for this.   However, you have yet to gain your other precious marks for evaluation.  To obtain these marks, you must now evaluate what you said in paragraph 2.   So, go back and read it again and work out what is good about it, what is bad about it, are there any flaws with the theory? Are there any positive aspects about it? Are there any flaws with any of the research you cited in this paragraph? What may be a better approach? If you can do this as concisely as possible and can support what you are evaluating with research, you will be fine.

Here is an example of a typical evaluation:

Jones (1989) argued that the psychodynamic approach to depression, as previously discussed, was good because it took into account the role of the unconscious mind.   However, other researchers such as Smith and Peterson (2004) have argued otherwise and have instead suggested that it is very difficult to determine how much the unconscious mind is involved in depression, as there are no psychological tests to precisely determine this.   Much of the evidence for unconscious experiences is largely based on questionnaire results, interview responses and also personal accounts.  Therefore, we cannot know statistically whether the accounts of these people are true or false.

Paragraph 6 (200-300 words)

This paragraph should reflect the nature of paragraph 5 and should be used to evaluate the contents of paragraph 3.  Basically, you now have to evaluate the cognitive approach in explaining depression (i.e. what is good about it and what is bad about it).

Paragraph 7 (200-300 words)

Again, this paragraph should reflect the nature of paragraph 5 and should be used to evaluate the contents of paragraph 4.  The contents of paragraph 4 were built around the medical approach.  Therefore, you must now tell the reader what is good and what is bad about it for explaining depression.

Let me now introduce you to some news: you are almost finished your essay!!

Conclusion (200-400 words)

Before I discuss the conclusion, let me begin by stating something really, really important: you MUST NOT introduce any more new information in here.  All you want to discuss in your conclusion is what you have discussed throughout your essay in each of the paragraphs above.  For example, the essay is on depression, not schizophrenia or intelligence.  Now that I have told you this, lets discuss the conclusion.

The conclusion is now your time to wrap up what you have written.  Importantly, it is time to express to the reader what your argument is and why you like it best.  If you like the cognitive approach best, then it is time to explain why this is the case.  You should refer back to the contents of your knowledge and understanding here and express why you like it.  However, you must also express why other authors may not like it.  This is where you now express some key evaluation, as discussed in paragraph 6.  Once you have done this, repeat to the author that despite the fact there are other opinions and views on this, you still favour the cognitive approach - IMPORTANT: try not be on the fence.  In psychology, we have to let the reader know what and why we favour a particular argument.   Once you have done all this, you should end up with something like this:

Example conclusion:

In conclusion, the author argues that the cognitive approach is the best approach in explaining depression.  This approach is best because of.....This approach was regarded by (name researcher or author here) as being the best because...However, it is also important that other researchers (name researcher or author) have argued that other approaches may be better.  The reasons for this were....
Nonetheless, the author of this paper argues that the cognitive approach is the best because...
A future paper may consider other research and may look at other approaches..

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You have now reached the end and have planned your essay.   However, we cannot submit it yet without making sure our references are correct!

As previously discussed, the American Psychological Association sets out very fine guidelines for students, lecturers, psychologists and researchers that we must all adhere to.   Let me now show you the way they would like us to reference.    If we get this correct, we will be able to take our grade from a very high B into an A category.   Even if you have a great evaluation, we still have to show that we can cite (reference) correctly.   For the purpose of this blog, I am going to show you how to cite books and journal articles only, as these are the two main sources of information which I encourage you to use.  I am also going to keep this extremely simple and use only one or two authors.   Referencing with multiple authors is something which I encourage you to look at on your own accord.   Simply type in APA 6th edition on google and find their section on references.  You will find that when referencing multiple authors in APA that we sometimes use phrases such as 'et al.' or 'and colleagues'.  This is something that I encourage you to have a look at on your own accord.   However, I will show you the basics to get you started!

When referencing in the text of your essay at the end of your paragraph, you should use brackets at the end of a sentence with the researchers last names and dates (Smith & Jackson, 2017).    Note that a small ampersand has been used when the reference is within brackets.   However, if you are discussing a topic and would like to let the reader know that Smith and Jackson (2017) found this style of referencing better, it really makes no difference.  It all depends on your writing style and what sort of paragraph you are writing.   Both are adequate according to APA and it is good to mix and match.  Try some at the end and try some within the text! It shows diversity!

So, lets assume that we used research by Smith and Jackson (2017) in our essay.  Lets also assume that we found their research online and it was in the form of a journal article.   We must, therefore, also place their names at the end of our essay in what is known as the reference section.   The reference section is where we keep an on-going tab of all the sources we have used in our essay.  It is different from a bibliography because references are only the sources that we have used to help support our argument in our essay.  A bibliography is a complete list of sources which we used that may or may not have been cited within the text.  This could be huge, so APA style tells us that references are sufficient.

Here is an example of a reference section at the end of our essay:

References (bold)

Smith, K., & Jackson, L. (2017). The Cognitive Approach to Depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 4, 191 - 196

(Note that the authors last names and the initials of their first names are included followed by the publication date.  The date is in brackets followed by a small full stop.  Then, the journal title is presented followed by the journal name.  Note that the name of the journal and volume number, which is 4 in this case, is italicised.  After this, we type the page numbers of the article).

Thompson, L. (1999). The Comprehensive Students Guide to Referencing. London: Oxford University Press

(Note that the authors last names and the initials of their first names are included followed by the publication date.  The date is in brackets followed by a small full stop.  Then, the book title is italicised.  After this, the location is entered, followed by the publisher.  Page numbers are not required for books unless you have quoted something.

Alphabetical order

References should always be in alphabetical order in our reference section.  There have been numerous times in the past where I have lost key marks for having one out of place.  There is a function in Microsoft Word which will do this for you, so please try and locate this. 

Other general APA formatting issues

When we write our essay, there are a few pernickety APA formatting issues which we must adhere to.  Let me introduce you to some of these below.  There are more, but these are the most common.  Be assured, they are easily missed.  Even if you can do the main ones in your essay you will be improving.  The main ones are bold below

- we must use size 12, Times New Roman font for our essay (excluding title page)
- title page we use size 14 font
- we must learn how to add a running header on each page
- we must have page numbers
- we must use two spaces after each sentence
- we must press tab at the beginning of a new paragraph
- we must include a separate title page
- references must be alphabetical (as discussed above)
- references at the end should also hang (there is a function for this in Microsoft Word)
- ampersands must be used within brackets instead of the word and
- numbers must be written (e.g. three, until we reach the number 10, 11, 12 etc.).
- 1.5/double line spacing throughout your essay
- no contractions are allowed (i.e. don't, cant) please say the full word instead.

These issues are something that should tailor your grade even further and I highly encourage you to apply them.  If you struggle with applying these, such as the running head, I encourage you to seek some advice on this online.  It is not entirely essential until you reach third or fourth year in psychology to apply all of this, but the sooner you begin the sooner your grades will climb.  There are some great videos on YouTube which show you how to apply a running header in your essay!

General advice/tips

Firstly, you have to learn to write academically and there is no better way than to read academic articles and see how other researchers have done it.   Try using google scholar or psych web and simply type in a topic and see what comes up.   Access a journal article and read it from start to finish.   Familiarise yourself with the psychological jargon that is used in academic papers.   Also, when we write our essays we don't actually use headings such as introduction, conclusion etc.  The only time we actually ever use headings in psychology is when writing lab reports, but this is a completely different ball game for now. 

Additionally, it is very important in psychology that we don't use quotations.   They generally suggest that one quotation is enough in a psychology essay, but I would personally refrain from using any quotes at all.   To put it bluntly, psychology quotations are generally not necessary and I am sure you can use your imagination to effectively paraphrase what has been said instead.   

Also, I want you to learn how to use linking phrases.   Normally, it is not wise to end a paragraph and move onto the next one without a linking phrase.  Please try and do what I have done in this paragraph and use words such as "additionally" or "moreover" when moving through your essay.  Again, this is simply a skill that you will master the more you practice.

Furthermore, we should also avoid being chatty in our essays.   For an essay to be successful, it must sound academic and not chatty.   If your essay is chatty, you will be asked to change it.   In fact, you may risk failing the essay completely if it is too chatty.    I have included an example below of what we can expect and what is forbidden.  This example also includes the use of "I" which is also forbidden in psychology papers.   When referring to yourself in a paper, always say 'the author' or 'the researcher' for example.   The use of I in an academic psychology essay is strictly forbidden according to APA guidelines.   The reason for this is because in psychology, we must write the paper in a very formal academic way.   Please always remember this and if you are unsure, have a look below at the examples. 

Academic example:

This paper has examined the topic of depression and has concluded that there is substantial research evidence available in support of the cognitive approach in explaining the origin of depression.  The author concludes that the cognitive approach is favourable over the medical and psychodynamic approach.

Chatty example:

Depression? Yeah. I think it is one of those illnesses, isn't it.  Its so stigmatised, yet we just cant seem to work out what causes it.  I reckon the cognitive approach is probably best for this one, but hey, it really is a difficult one!

The end

Thank you for taking your time to read this.  I hope that what I have provided gives you a better insight into writing essays in psychology and what we can expect.  In psychology, we are typically assessed through essay writing, lab report writing and end-of-term examinations.  This blog has only covered a very small fraction of what can be expected in psychology and would take me at least the equivalent time or more to create a blog on lab reports.   Therefore, I will not be discussing lab reports on this occasion, although I do intend on creating a blog on this too in the near future.  Please forgive me for any silly spelling or grammar mistakes as this is only a blog and not an academic piece of work, and also please forgive me if I have failed to cover something that you may have benefited from.  Nonetheless, I do hope to have covered some issues that are very common which may help you.  Remember, to get an A in psychology your essay has to critically address the topic in a logical manner.  Your essay must flow from start to finish, demonstrate a deep understanding of the topic and also demonstrate that you know how to critically analyse, which we discussed previously in the evaluation section.   If you have any particular questions, please feel free to contact me at david-swan@live.co.uk.  It has been a pleasure, and good luck. 

Best wishes

Dave.