Abstract

• Short summary
• "Mini-review" of paper
• Concise
• Let’s reader know what article is about

Introduction

• Gives the background
• Explains
• Previous research
• Theoretical issues
• Rationale/reason for study

Methods

• Very important
• Should allow someone else to replicate your work
• Think about what factors could lead to different results if someone else tried to reproduce your results
• Subject, researchers, equipment, data collection techniques...

Results

• Just the facts; do not interpret your findings
• Textual explanations
• Figures, charts, graphs
• Labeled and captioned
• Put in context
• Interobserver reliability, time budget, transition matrix

Discussion

• Comment on results
• What you expected? Differences? Reasons?
• Comparison to other studies
• Relevance of your findings
• Future research?

References

• Journal article
• APA style
• Author(s), date, article title, journal title, volume #, pages
• Terry, R.L. 1993. Effects of facial transformation on accuracy of recognition. Journal of Social Psychology, 134, 483-492.
• Myers, D.G. & Diener, E. 1996. Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10-19.

Appendix

• Anything else
• Raw data
• Figures not embedded into earlier sections
• Photocopy/printout of first page of referenced article

Figure Captions

• Identify figure
• e.g., "Figure 1", "Figure 2", etc.
• Caption gives reader basic information to understand the figure without reading through the text
• Short, concise, but explanatory
• Identify any acronyms, abbreviations, etc.

Section Lengths

• Abstract
• 100 words or less
• Introduction
• 1-3 paragraphs
• Methods
• 1-2 pages
• Results
• Page or so of text; figures extra
• Discussion
• 1-2 pages
• Reference
• At least one reference
• Appendix
• Photocopy of article page
• Raw data
• Figures if not in earlier sections

Grading

• Sections
• Style
• Grammar, spelling, etc.
• Required elements
• Likert scale
• Unacceptable, poor, satisfactory, very good, excellent

Relative Weighting

• Abstract
• 5%
• Introduction
• 10%
• Methods
• 20%
• Results
• 20%
• Discussion
• 20%
• References
• 5%
• Style
• 10%
• Grammar, spelling, etc.
• 10%
• Required elements
• APA format
• Operational definitions
• Results (3 tests)
• Article front page
• Formatting
• Raw data
• -5% for each one lacking

URL: www.psych.ualberta.ca/~msnyder/p281/assig/sniffyhelp.html
Page created: 3 March 2003 --- Last modified: 3 March 2003