The title and abstract prepare the reader for what the report about

These are our instructions to you as a student. Some of this information will end up in your final report but not necessarily all of it. DO NOT copy anything from here word for word – that would be plagiarism.

1. Structural: questions based on the spelling of the word

2. Phonemic: questions based on the sound of the word

2.    Reading comprehension task

Step 2

An important part of conducting research is reading the literature to find out what other people have found and theorised on the topic. Normally, you would do this before designing and conducting the experiment, however, the semester timeframe makes that impossible. Having said that, while this is shown here as Step 3, you could start doing this early in the semester. It can be time consuming so the sooner you start the better.

In the School of Psychology we follow the conventions used in the majority of English-speaking psychological publications, the APA style. The definitive book, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th edition) is, however, far too detailed for beginning students in psychology, so we use the Field (2012) writing guide. It generally follows the APA style, but makes exceptions where it is considered more appropriate for an undergraduate report. Be warned - we put considerable emphasis on correct presentation of your report including formatting, writing and even punctuation. Your written work is a measure of your professionalism so learning to pay attention to these details is valuable. The detailed instructions are below. 

Sections of your report

Title

The best title is one that communicates to the reader the central finding of the report. Try to include the variables and also make sure it makes sense. The title has a 12-word limit.

Abstract

The abstract is a summary of the entire report. As the marking guide states, it must include the area, hypotheses, method, results and conclusions. Use between 150 and 250 words and only one paragraph.

Introduction

Method

Results

Download the results document from Stream and use the data from all the participants. Note that tables and graphs have very specific formatting of both content and labels that you must follow.

Make sure the data in the results section clearly show whether or not the hypotheses were supported, but this should not be explicitly stated. So just DESCRIBE the findings, but not the hypotheses. The explicit comparison of results with hypotheses happens at the start of the discussion section. Another point to note is that you should place your table and graph in the results section and not at the end of the report as shown in Field (2012).

2.   A short paragraph that highlights important information from that table in relation to

      the first aim and hypothesis of the research.

      your graph.

4.   A short paragraph that highlights patterns or elements in the graph in relation to the

Discussion

Your first paragraph should have clear statements as to whether or not your hypotheses were supported. Next address each one in more detail, showing which results were as predicted and which were not, linking this to the theory and past research from the introduction (skipping this section is the most common error that students make, so be sure you do it!). If you have unexpected findings, as in your hypotheses were not fully supported, then you need to suggest a reason why - possibly a different theory or alternatively a flaw in your research design.

References

Other writing tips

Word limits

There is no word limit for this assignment other than the abstract (150-250 words) and title (12 words). However, each section should be brief and to the point. It is important for you to learn to express yourself succinctly in experimental reports; unnecessary or waffling writing is unlikely to get you more marks and may even lose you marks.

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