How to Write a Research Report for Psychology

Online references can make your research paper easier, since all your references are accessible right on your computer.

College research papers are long and tedious, but if you want a degree they are a necessary evil. Psychology papers usually require you to use credible references like primary research articles from scientific journals, and these references can be hard to read and understand. The key to writing a good research paper as painlessly as possible is to start reading early and plan the structure of your paper before you begin writing.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Official American Psychological Association (APA) writing style guide
• Class syllabus
• Research paper instructions from your teacher

1. Read your class syllabus as soon as you get it. Write down the due dates of any research papers you will have to write this semester.

2. Select a topic, a thesis, and a tentative title for your research paper as soon as you can. Many teachers require you to submit your topic for approval before you start writing, so make sure your teacher likes your idea before you start researching.

3. Gather several references that relate to your topic. These can be books, journal papers, research from your school's online databases or websites you find online. Teachers will usually let you know what they consider acceptable or unacceptable references (for example, Wikipedia is almost never allowed as a college reference). If your teacher does not specify what kind of references you should use, ask him or her to at least clarify what references you should stay away from.

4. Read through your references. Highlight important sections you will use for your research paper or take notes on where to find these sections again.

5. Make an outline for your paper. At a minimum your report should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, plus a reference page. Depending on the required length of your paper, you will want about two to four sections in your body. Start by introducing your topic, and use your thesis to tell your audience why you are writing about this topic. Move into explaining your topic in your body. For example, the first part of your report after the introduction could be the history of this subject. Then you could write about how this thing has changed over time. Then you could finish up your body by explaining modern uses for this topic. Finish up with your conclusion, telling the reader about future uses for this topic or things that still make this topic a mystery.

6. Begin writing your paper, using your outline as a guide. Format your paper so that it meets APA guidelines.This means you should have one-inch margins, double-spaced lines on 8.5 x 11-inch paper, and use 10- to 12-point Times New Roman font.

7. Make citations anywhere you use someone else's ideas in your paper. Psychology papers will require you to use APA citation styles. When you you use someone's idea, put the last name of the author and the date of the publication where you got the idea in parentheses after the quote or paraphrase. For example, you quote Dr. Messner from a 1999 article, so after his idea write.

8. Use the official APA manual to cite your references correctly on your references page at the back of your report. Every time you used someone else's idea in your paper, it requires a short reference next to it in the report and then a full reference on the reference page. A basic example for a full citation on the references page would be an article written by James Messner in 1999, entitled "About the Hippocampus." If this article was published in the first issue of the second volume of Science Today Journal, and you got it from your school's online database, the correct APA citation would be: Messner, J. (1999). About the hippocampus. Science Today Journal, 2(1), p. 23-25. Retrieved on (date) from the Science Direct database.

9. Proofread your report once you have written it. Make sure to fix any grammar or punctuation errors, especially spelling.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are in high school or continuing education instead of a traditional college course, this article is still a great guide for you to use to write a psychology research report.

• A psychology report written in APA style can be very basic or it can have additional components like a title page, a running head, and an abstract. If these are required in your report, your teacher will make sure you understand them before you are asked to write a report using them. If you have any questions about the APA format, reference the official APA guide.

References

• Long Island University: APA Citation Style
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: APA Formatting and Style Guide
• APA: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ®, Sixth Edition

Resources

• That College Kid: How to Create a Successful Outline