Your committee members will be able to (a) return your drafts to you more quickly, (b) attend to the substance of your paper, and (c) provide comments that will improve the content and presentation of your ideas if they do not have to take time to correct stylistic errors and other small but time-consuming details. I recommend that you check your paper very carefully for each item listed below one at a time.
Structure
___ Your first paragraph (or first few paragraphs) should (a) describe the general topic you will be addressing, (b) provide some evidence of the topic’s importance, and (c) narrow the focus to your particular issue and argument.
___ This introductory paragraph should be followed by a paragraph describing the plan of your paper; that is, listing the topics you will cover, in the order you will cover them. This paragraph enables your readers to anticipate the transitions you will make throughout your paper.
___ Follow the order of points in your “plan” paragraph in the body of the paper.
___ Even though you have provided the reader with a plan, you should still provide transition or introductory sentences when moving from one topic to another. In the example below, the writer is moving from a discussion of how patient personality factors influence their adherence to treatment recommendations to a discussion of how the treatment itself influences adherence:
“Although most research on patients who leave treatment against medical advice has focused on patient personality variables, a few researchers have examined how characteristics of the treatment itself influences adherence.”
___ Literature reviews should conclude with an integrative discussion; however, do not just repeat the conclusions of the research you have already described. Describe in a concise manner what we know (in general terms), what we do not know, what problems there are with the research, and so forth. This is where you must exercise your critical faculties in evaluating the evidence you have reviewed above. One of the best articles on just how to do this is: Bem, D. J. (1995). Writing a review article for Psychological Bulletin, Psychological Bulletin, 118, 172-177. Please download the full text from PsycARTICLES using the library databases.
Specific advice for research projects
___ If you are writing the introduction to a research project, your review of the literature relating to your project should conclude with a statement of what you will be studying and in what population, how you will study it, and what your hypotheses are (in narrative form; i.e., in complete sentences). Hypotheses are stated in conceptual terms, not in terms of specific measures (unless your research project is about a specific measure); that is, “I hypothesize that female adolescents will be less depressed after a course of group therapy than male adolescents,” not “female adolescents will have lower scores on the BDI than males.” It should be clear to the reader, after having read your introduction, why you are doing the project in your particular way and why you hold the expectations you do.
___ It can be helpful, after a narrative description of your hypotheses, to restate them in a numbered list.
___ Your proposal should contain a detailed statement that explains the ways in which your study is unique and how it will further past research on the topic.
___ Your proposal should also include an “Analyses” section, wherein you state how you will analyze your data in order to test your hypotheses. You must be specific here and describe what statistical techniques you will use with what data to test which hypotheses.
“In order to test whether there is a difference in outcomes between the two treatment groups, independent samples t tests will be calculated on the depression, anxiety, and somatization subscale scores of the Brief Symptom Inventory.”
Paragraphs
___ Focus on one point per paragraph; do not address multiple points in one paragraph (one exception is in the paragraph describing the plan of your paper, when you list the points you will discuss in your paper, in the order in which you will discuss them).
___ In general, begin paragraphs with an introductory sentence (also called a topic sentence), and move from the general to the specific within the paragraph:
“Recently, research has focused on gender differences in the effectiveness of group therapy with adolescents. Jones and Jones (1998) addressed this issue in a study of mixed and gender-separated groups at an urban juvenile detention center.
___ When describing an empirical study, it is not necessary to provide details such as the number of participants in each group (N or n) or the results of statistical calculations (e.g., p values, correlation coefficients). The exception is where such details are part of the reason for reviewing the research. For example, if you are describing and critiquing a study because, although it is often cited in the literature, the sample size was very small and did not reflect ethnic or gender diversity, it would be appropriate to include details of the sample size and the ethnic and gender composition (n).
References cited in the paper
___ All substantive assertions should have a reference citation, or should be clearly identified as speculation.
___ Citations include authors’ last names and date of paper or book. Use an ampersand (&) within parentheses; use “and” outside of parentheses. Use a comma to separate authors’ names if more than two are listed for a paper.
“According to some recent research (Smith & Jones, 1998)”
“According to Smith and Jones (1998)”
___ If multiple papers are listed within a parentheses, list them in alphabetical order, not in chronological order. Separate these citations with semi-colons.
“According to some recent research (Adams & Bryars, 1996; Cardew & Cage, 1995; Scelsi, 1997)”
___ After citing a paper with three or more authors the first time, in subsequent citations use the first author’s name and “et al.”. Note that there is no period after et; there is a period after al.; and there is a comma after et al.
First citation: “Smith, Jones, and Thomas (1996) reported that”
Subsequent citations: “As noted above, recent research (Smith et al., 1996) has demonstrated that”
___ If you quote directly from a reference, you must give the page number of the quote (in addition to the standard reference information):
Smith & Smith (1998) said, “An example of your writing may be your first contact with another person, and mistakes in grammar and disorganized ideas may prejudice that person’s assessment of your capabilities” (p. 35).
___ Avoid starting sentences with “In a study by Smith and Jones (1995)” Instead, begin the sentence with the authors’ names: “Smith and Jones (1995) reported that…” If you are describing general issues or conclusions (rather than reviewing one particular study or the work of one particular researcher), an even more compelling way to relate the findings of previous researchers is to state the result and have a citation at the end of a sentence. This style encourages you to integrate the findings from different studies in your literature review.
Example: Kvaal (1998) found that writing well is important for psychology graduate students.
Better: Writing well is important for psychology graduate students (Kvaal, 1998; Meyers, 1997).
Reference section at end of paper
___ All references cited in the paper must be in the reference list at the end of the paper. They must be cited accurately, with the same authors in the same order, and with the same date.
___ All references in the reference list must be cited in the paper.
Review the following example for the format of citations for articles and books:
Smith, J. S., Jones, A. B., & Johnson, C. (1997). The influence of APA style on readers’ mood. Journal of Completely Normal Psychology, 13, 113-123.
Smith, J. S., & Johnson, C. (1996). How to keep your readers alert and happy. Schaumburg, IL: Roosevelt Press.
___ If there are more than six authors, list the first six followed by “et al.”
___ See the Publication Manual for details on how to reference chapters and edited volumes, but note that you must provide the pages of the chapter you are citing (these are not italicized).
___ The reference list should be single spaced within each citation, double spaced between citations.
___ The first line of each reference should be flush left; subsequent lines should be indented.
___ References should be in alphabetical order. If there are multiple papers by the same author or authors, list them in chronological order (earliest papers first).
___ Use issue numbers after volume numbers only when each issue of the particular journal starts at page 1. Most journal citations do not require the use of issue numbers.
___ Italicize book titles, journal titles, and journal volume numbers (italics continue under the comma after the volume number).
___ Only the first word of the title of the article or book is capitalized (except for proper nouns and the first word after a semicolon).
___ Put spaces between author’s initials.
___ If you are unsure about how to cite a particular reference, look it up in the APA’s Publication Manual!
Miscellaneous
___ USE A SPELLCHECKER, repeatedly while you are writing your drafts and definitely before submitting a draft. A spellchecker will miss words used inappropriately, so also PROOFREAD. Have someone else proofread as well.
___ Anthropomorphism: Do not attribute human activities to non-humans. For example, “This research hypothesized that” Research (or studies, or results) show, demonstrate, indicate, or reveal. Stick to these terms and you will be on safe ground. Alternatively, if you refer to “researchers” (or refer to them by name) you can use a wider range of verbs. Researchers (or “Jones and Smith”) hypothesize, develop, say, propose, and so forth.
___ Do not use contractions. Correct: “Do not use contractions.” Incorrect: “Don’t use contractions.”
___ Who/that. If you are referring to people, use who.
Incorrect: “Clients that miss their first sessions”
Correct: “Clients who miss their first sessions”
___ Do not use slashes, such as “and/or, he/she.” You can easily avoid the use of he/she (and potential gender bias) by using plural forms.
Incorrect: A child’s self-esteem is high when his/her parents frequently express affection.
Incorrect: A child’s self-esteem is high when his parents frequently express affection.
Correct: Children’s self-esteem is high when their parents frequently express affection.
___ Use the active, not the passive voice. Use of “I” is permitted, even encouraged
Passive: “In this paper it will be demonstrated that”
Active: “In this paper I will demonstrate that”
Passive: “The utility of self-report forms has been demonstrated in a series of studies”
Active: “Smith and Jones (1996, 1998) demonstrated the utility of self-report forms in a series of studies.”
___ Use quotes judiciously; that is, only when they express something so succinctly or uniquely that you couldn’t possibility paraphrase it. In others words, hardly ever. This goes double for clinical reports and case studies; quotes from patients are usually appropriate only if they are a critical example of a symptom of a serious disorder or document risk of harm to self or others. Extensive use of quotes suggests intellectual laziness (or padding).
___ Use headings and subheadings to enhance the organizational structure of a manuscript. See the APA Publication Manual for proper style.
___ Abbreviations: On initial use of the term, spell it out and include the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, use the abbreviation.
Statistics
___ Italicize F, t, N, n, M, SD, p.
___ Put spaces before and after equal signs and greater or less than signs: F(3, 115) = 3.14, p < .01.
Numerals/numbers
___ In general, if a number is less than 10, spell it out (“There were nine clients”); if greater than or equal to 10, use a numeral (“There were 11 clients”). However, if there are series of numbers pertaining to the same items, and at least one is greater than or equal to 10, use numerals for all of them (“There were two groups of patients, one of 9 patients and one of 13 patients”).
___ Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence.
___ Use the percent sign, unless the percent is at the beginning of a sentence. (“The sample was 50% European American.”)
This checklist was written by Dr. Steven Kvaal while he was sitting on his front porch.