Psychology Student Writer's Manual

To the Student This second edition ofThe Psychology Student Writer's Manualcontains 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 KoKoch, Russell is the author of 'Psychology Student Writer's Manual', published 2001 under ISBN 9780130413826 and ISBN 0130413828.