The Psychology Student Writer's Manual (2nd Edition) - Softcover

To the Student

This second edition of The Psychology Student Writer's Manual contains new information that will help you stay current in the constantly changing worlds of psychology and information technology. Regardless of the continuing stream of new insights that psychological research produces, however, some things remain the same. Successful students, like successful psychologists, for example, will always be competent writers. As students of psychology we observe human behavior. In psychological research we write for three purposes: (1) to record what we observe, (2) to explain what we record, and (3) to defend what we explain. As psychologists we write to contribute to the efforts of other disciplines like sociology, economics, and anthropology, to understand who we are as human beings.

Writing is fundamental not only to communicating, but also to learning itself. When you try to communicate your ideas to others by writing them down, you are faced with the task of refining and clarifying your thoughts, and therefore you learn more about the subject you are writing about than you would otherwise. The Psychology Writer's Manual, therefore, is designed to help you improve your writing and learn psychology. These two objectives are addressed in the three major sections of this book.

The Introduction tells you what psychology is all about. Intended for both first-time and experienced psychology students, the Introduction offers a basic historical orientation and a brief overview of the scope of issues currently addressed by psychologists.

Part One of the book addresses fundamental concerns of all writers, exploring the reasons why we write, describing the writing process itself, and examining those elements of grammar, style, and punctuation that cause the most confusion among writers in general. A vital concern throughout this part, and the rest of the book as well, is the three-way interrelationship among writer, topic, and audience. Our discussion of this relationship aims at building your self-confidence as you clarify your goals. Writing is not a magical process beyond the control of most people. It is instead a series of interconnected skills that any writer can improve with practice, and the end result of this practice is power. Part One of this manual treats the act of writing not as an empty exercise undertaken only to produce a grade but as a powerful learning tool, as well as the primary medium by which psychologists accomplish their goals. Chapter 3 explains the importance of formatting the research paper properly and supplies you with format models for title pages, tables of contents, and so on. Chapter 4 explains how to cite sources and discusses the crucial responsibility of every psychology writer to use source material ethically.

Part Two of this manual is new revised in this second edition. Chapter 5 tells you how to organize your writing process and Chapter 6 introduces you to the fundamentals of library research. Chapter 7 is almost entirely new. It provides a list of internet sites that lead to many other sites that tell you many things you need to know about both writing and psychology. For those of you who are taking or considering taking distance learning courses, this chapter introduces you to the special challenges and opportunities of distance learning.

Each chapter in Part Three explains how to write a paper commonly assigned in psychology courses everywhere. Some assignments are for introductory students and others are for advanced courses.

Your professor may give you a specific paper assignment from one of these chapters. If your professor does not make your assignment specific, you may want to select an assignment and discuss your selection with your instructor before proceeding. We wish you all success as you accept a primary challenge of academic and professional life: to write, and write well.

Jill Scott, Russ Koch, Greg Scott, and Steve Garrison

To the Teacher

This book has been updated and improved to help you deal with two problems commonly faced by teachers of psychology. First, students often need substantial specific direction to produce a good paper. How many times have you assigned papers in your psychology classes and found yourself teaching the class how to write the paper—not only content, but form and grammar as well? This text, which may accompany the primary text you assign in any psychology class or stand on its own, allows you to assign one of the papers explained in Part Three with the knowledge that virtually everything the student needs to know, from grammar to sources of information to citing sources, is here within one book. In addition to many updated examples throughout the text, the second edition features a substantially revised Chapter 7: The Internet and Distance Learning. This chapter helps distance learners to understand the special problems and opportunities of distance learning while providing them with selected internet sites that will lead them to a vast amount of information on both writing and psychology.

This manual provides you with options for paper assignments for both beginning and advanced students. Your introductory courses, for example, might feature assignments from Chapter 8, in which students apply their creative writing efforts to understanding extrasensory perception, sensation, or child development. Students in your advanced courses will find the explicit directions in chapters ten through thirteen most helpful. If you are teaching a distance learning course, this manual is particularly helpful. You may, for example, direct your students to "Conduct a literature review as described in Chapter 9, following directions for format and style provided in Part One of the text."

As you know, writing skill is essential not only to becoming an effective student, but to succeeding professionally as well. This book is written to assist you in leading students toward that success. In addition, a major problem faced by teachers who require written assignments is plagiarism. Although only the most exceptional diligence will eliminate plagiarism entirely, this book will help you to take one of the most effective preventative actions. In an age when whole papers can be downloaded from the Internet, one of the best ways to ensure an original paper is to make your assignment directions very specific. If your direction to students is "Write something on memory," it is relatively easy for a student to find a paper already prepared. If, on the other hand, you provide a very specific list of instructions, such as those in the chapters in this book, students who might otherwise be tempted to submit work that is not their own will find that it does not meet the requirements of the assignment.

We wish you the best in your endeavors and welcome your comments.

Jill Scott, Russ Koch, Greg Scott, and Steve Garrison
Edmond and Norman, Oklahoma