Brief Guide to Writing the Psychology Paper

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Like any other scientific paper, any research topic in psychology that a student writes on is meant to inform readers of a new concept or idea. Granted, there is a need for an academic psychologist to observe clarity and brevity when writing. This means reducing the use of descriptive language, jargon, and complex sentence structure.

To be a good psychology writer, you need to simplify complex psychology research questions so people outside your area of expertise can easily comprehend them. When you are writing an essay, say on social psychology research topics, you are aiming to convey factual knowledge through research. To make your ideas understandable for all types of research papers, expect every word in the research text to be read literally. So, how do you write psychology papers that readers will understand?

Draft Your Research in the Form of a Story

Essentially, when you are writing an essay in psychology, you are telling a story. Oftentimes, students feel the need to up their language to the level of the psychology professor, forgetting that they are writing for an audience outside the class. While there is a level of formality that you should observe, your primary goal should be to communicate with people and not show how smart you are.

Towards that end, below are some psychology research questions to consider when drafting your paper:

·       The introduction: Why is the research topic in psychology essential? How are the psychology research questions you are raising been handled in the past? What is your thesis?

·       Body: What evidence supports your thesis? Are there contrary answers to your psychology research questions, and what is your response to that? At the body, any type of research papers in psychology, past research should be discussed as well as alternate opinions, without citing the source on every sentence.

·       Conclusion and Discussion: What is the solution? Are there any more psychology research questions that arise? In this section, always go back to the psychology research questions you raised in the introduction and discuss their implications in everyday life.

Avoid Describing Past Research In Detail

A common mistake that psychologists make when learning how to write a good essay is to describe past research in detail. Instead, you only need to borrow a point or two to help you tell your story. In most cases, a research topic in psychology comes dense with so much reference to other studies and papers. A good topic example for a psychology paper is one that omits directly quoting the source and instead citing the source after distilling the idea. From the example ideas on studymoose.com, most psychology papers do not repeat words or phrases unless in a bid to make a point clear. Therefore, be careful when quoting other studies.

When citing sources in psychology writing, always use APA citation style. This style exists for a reason, and once you get used to it, you will find it easy to follow. The easiest way to learn the style is to buy the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual which is updated every few years.

Simple Writing Conventions

Before you consider the simple conventions below, consult your instructor on writing expectations. Otherwise, these conventions will help you flesh out your ideas.

·       Maintain a good flow without surprises: Your readers will expect you to hold on to one idea from the beginning to the end without major surprises or new ideas cropping up in the middle of your work. To do this, create an outline before you start tackling the topic.

·       Avoid direct quotation: Instead of directly quoting your sources, you can just describe the main idea and then cite your source. You can, for instance, say; the self-esteem of adolescents can be attributed to peer evaluations and performance in class. This sounds better and flows with your research compared to.

·       Avoid bias-language, always refer to people as they refer to themselves. You can learn more about this by reading the APA Publication Guide. 

·       Avoid jargon and wordiness.

·       Break your work into headings and subheadings. Use lists where applicable.

·       Write a clear title for all types of research papers.

·       If you ever use the first-person language, it should refer to the authors of the paper and not your readers or people in general.

·       Use the active voice.

·       Refer to research ‘participants’ and not ‘subjects’.

·       The word data is the plural form of datum (always say, the data were… instead of the data was…)

Conclusion

The conventions above do not have to make you feel restricted in how you write your research paper. Once you choose a topic, say one of social psychology research topics, you need to write naturally in a way that you communicate with people. Instead of a few long sentences, use many short sentences. This way, important details will not be masked by unnecessary words. Your writing should be in a clear, effective and engaging format.