If you did not read an article yourself, but you read ABOUT the article in someone
else's work,
you must give credit to the paper where you read ABOUT the article.
For example: If you read about Freud's work on interpreting dreams in a 1994 article by
Reve, you
list Freud's work as cited in Reve:
Freud (1900, as cited in Reve, 1994) thought dreams were highly meaningful.
Reve's article is what goes in your reference section, not Freud's work, unless you read
Freud's
work firsthand.
Avoid using many "as cited in" references--it is lazy, and means you are relying on
other people to
read, interpret and report about the work correctly. It is better to read the source yourself, if at all
possible,
and draw your own conclusions.
Ampersands/"And"
Use ampersands (&) inside parenthetical quotations and in the reference section. Use
"and" when
the citation is not within parentheses.
Right: Carini and Rodgers (1996) discovered the cure for dyslexia.
Right: Rats like swimming better than sex (Whisker & Flipper, 1995).
Wrong: Laurel & Hardy's 1994 paper has had a huge impact on the field.
Wrong: Phone numbers are harder to forget than zodiac signs (Anderson and
Hintzman,
1996).
Repetitive citations
If you have just cited a reference in the previous sentence, you often don't need to
provide the
complete reference again in subsequent sentences, IF IT IS ABSOLUTELY CLEAR WHERE
THE
INFORMATION CAME FROM. However, I'd rather have you err on the side of citing things too
much
than too little.
Example:
Wyden and Smith's (1996) paper on mudslinging addresses issues of negative campaigning.
Wyden and Smith [no need to put date again, IF there are no intervening articles and IF there
are no
other articles by Wyden and Smith in this paper] found that mudslinging hurts rather than helps
voter
turnout. Furthermore, their work shows absolutely no effect of retracting negative ads late in the
campaign.
What to do between paragraphs
Don't skip an extra line. You may have to turn off some automatic feature of your
wordprocessing
program to avoid skipping the extra lines. Do start new paragraphs by indenting.
Agreement of nouns and pronouns
If a noun is singular, the pronoun that stands for it is also singular. If a noun is plural,
the pronoun
is plural. This agreement also holds for possessive pronouns.
Right: Subjects were given their experimental credit and thanked.
Right: Each subject filled out his or her questionnaire and then left the building.
Wrong: If a student cohabitates with a gerbil, they are more likely to start liking
cardboard.
Sometimes, there is a temptation to use "they" or "their" with a singular noun of undisclosed
gender (e.g.
"participant") in order to avoid using sexist language. It's still wrong, but so is sexist language.
You can be
both inclusive and grammatically correct--consult the APA manual for ways to avoid sexist
language (pp.
50-51 and 54-56).
Right: Each participant was then instructed to tear off the top page of the packet.
Wrong: Each participant was then instructed to tear off the top page of their
packet.
Avoid specific names that will mean nothing to readers at other universities, or readers
without
specialized knowledge.
Right: Data were collected in a popular student bar.
Wrong: Data were collected at the Drunken Duck.
(Note correct use of data in the plural!)
Right: Participants were students enrolled in a psychology research methods class.
Wrong: Participants were Psychology 303 students.
Numbers
See the APA manual, pages 99-105 for a complete guide to usage. There are MANY
exceptions to
the following rule:
Use numerals for numbers 10 and greater; use words for numbers nine and lower.
Note that you never start a sentence with a numeral, even if the number is 10 or greater.
Ex: Twenty-nine years is a long time for anyone to live.
It's/Its
"It's" is a contraction of "it is." If you cannot substitute "it is" in the place of "it's," you
are
probably misusing it.
Right: It's the natural thing to do, baby.
Wrong: It's plastic top was broken. [It is plastic top was broken? NOT!]
"Its" is the possessive form of "it," a singular pronoun.
Right: We saw the car right after the cat jumped in its way.
Wrong: We think its never going to happen again. [We think it is never going to
happen
again]
Random, Randomly, Skewed, Significant
These words have special, narrow meanings in psychology papers that are different from their meaning in everyday conversation. If you talk
about a "random sample," it means that each element of the population had an
equal chance of being selected as part of the sample. Think about it: If you
used a sample made up solely of your friends, would it constitute a truly
random sample of U of O students? (Probably not,
unless you were friends with every U of
O student. A sample of friends is more likely a sample of convenience than
a random sample). "Skewed" refers to an asymmetric (as in not normal and not like a
bell curve) distribution of scores. It is generally NOT the right term to
describe data that are biased due to some flaw in the research design.
"Significant" (as in "significant results") is
reserved for STATISTICALLY significant findings, not just results that you
think are worth noting.
Last but not least: SPELLCHECK and PROOFREAD! Better yet, after you have spellchecked and proofread, give your paper to someone else to read -- a friend who is a good writer, or perhaps someone at Academic Learning Services.