Cover: A Guide to Writing in Psychology with 2020 APA Update, 1st Edition by Stephen Bernhardt; Nancy Sommers

A Guide to Writing in Psychology with 2020 APA Update

First Edition  ©2020 Stephen Bernhardt; Nancy Sommers Formats: E-book

Authors

  • Headshot of Stephen A. Bernhardt

    Stephen A. Bernhardt

    Stephen A. Bernhardt is Professor of English and the Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Chair in Writing at the University of Delaware, where he teaches composition, grammar, and technical writing. His professional interests include computers in composition/distance education, writing across the curriculum, professional and technical communication, and visual rhetoric. He has also taught at New Mexico State University and at Southern Illinois University. The author of many journal articles and technical reports, Bernhardt is also the author of Writing at Work (1997) and coeditor of Expanding Literacies: English Teaching and the New Workplace (1998). Bernhardt designed the research plan and reworked content for Writers Help.


  • Headshot of Nancy Sommers

    Nancy Sommers

    Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard's Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard's WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles “Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers” and “Responding to Student Writing” are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition. Recently she has been exploring different audiences through publishing in popular media. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and editor of Tiny Teaching Stories on Macmillan Learning's Bits Blog.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Guide to Writing in Psychology
Thinking like a psychologist
Psychological science
Questions psychologists ask
Scientific ethics in psychology studies

Researching psychology
Finding sources in psychology
Psychology databases
Primary and secondary sources

Reading a psychology research study
The basic structure of a psychology article
Choosing your sources in psychology literature
Reading your sources actively
Detecting bias in your sources
Checklists for evaluating sources
Evaluating all sources
Evaluating sources found on the web
Drawing on expert opinion

The process of writing papers and projects in psychology
Considering your purpose
Understanding your audience and their needs
Checklist for assessing the writing situation
Considering the “So what?” question
Organizing and drafting
Revising and editing
Editing
Four approaches to revising thesis statements

Writing conventions in psychology
Sentence structure
Word choice

Integrating, citing, and documenting sources in psychology
Avoiding plagiarism and recognizing intellectual property
Quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources
In-text citations in APA style
Reference section in APA style
Presenting data in APA style
APA manuscript format

Genres of writing in psychology
Annotated bibliography
Abstract
Literature review
Research proposal
Institutional review board (IRB) application
Research paper
Lab report
Case study
Response paper
Poster presentation

Glossary of vocabulary in psychology
Practice activities
Practice activity: Planning a research study
Practice activity: Questions psychologists can answer
Practice activity: Evaluating online information
Practice activity: Locating and evaluating sources
Practice activity: Reading and evaluating research studies
Practice activity: Understanding results statements
Practice activity: Editing in APA style 1
Practice activity: Editing in APA style 2
Practice activity: Citing sources in APA style
Practice activity: Formatting citations in APA style 1
Practice activity: Formatting citations in APA style 2
Practice activity: In-text citations in APA style
Practice activity: Displaying data in a table in APA style
Answers to selected activities

Sample student writing: Psychology
Case study: Child Observation Project
Empirical research study: The Influence of Sex and Learning on Taste Sensitivity
Lab report: Reaction Times for Detection of Objects in Two Visual Search Tasks
Literature review: Always Out of Their Seats (and Fighting): Why Are Boys Diagnosed With ADHD More Often Than Girls?
Research proposal: Emotion-Induced Blindness and N400 Component

More help with documentation: APA style
APA-style reference list: Additional examples

Editing strategies

Subject-verb agreement
Pronoun agreement, reference, and case
Strong verbs
Sentence fragments
Run-on sentences
Distracting shifts
Parallel structure
Clear, uncluttered sentences
Sentence emphasis
Commas
Apostrophes
Quotation marks

Product Updates

A Guide to Professional Writing, part of the Writer’s Help Guidebook Series, offers writing and research support for students writing in the discipline. This compact yet comprehensive guidebook provides the value students want with the essential instruction they need to get their writing tasks completed successfully. Students will find advice on how to think, read, research, design and write papers, projects and presentations like a professional writer.

Coverage includes the following topics, all focused on the specific needs of professional writers:

  • Writing process
  • Conventions in the discipline
  • Integrating and evaluating sources
  • Documentation style required in the discipline--with plenty of models
  • Sample student writing

Looking for instructor resources like Test Banks, Lecture Slides, and Clicker Questions? Request access to Achieve to explore the full suite of instructor resources.

ISBN:9781319370329

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