Psychology research paper
August 27, 2014 - Posted to Assignment types and subjects
Your psychology research paper
Why do people write psychology research papers?
- Your studies dictate it.
This can be the most difficult to do in terms of motivation. Nobody wants to be told what to do or how to do it. The upside of this being that you have a lot guidelines to follow, instructions to listen to and advice to take.
- It´s important or groundbreaking within the field.
This psychology paper might be part of your work or professional development and so you will need to break into the research and refute something. Doing something like this as part of your paper may mean controversy within the field you have chosen, or your superior has given you. This is exciting work, and you’re probably motivated, generally, to start it. Even if you’re not motivated now, you will be when you see it all coming together, which it will if you plan well.
Different papers
Psychology can be a difficult field to address when writing your research paper and how to write a psychology research paper totally depends on the kind of paper you are writing. During your studies there could be many different papers you are expected to write and they will therefore all have different requirements.
A case study
Usually centered around abnormal psychology, case studies are a detailed history of a client that you are studying. It will provide the reader with the client’s problem, a diagnosis, intervention, describe the different approaches you might use to treat your client, carry out treatment and explain its results.
A Critique
This is exactly what it says: A critique of an article in Psychology. This type of paper will break down and analyze each section of a paper written before you. Thinking about a standard paper in psychology, one that follows all of the procedural rules, a drawing of comparisons between this and the paper you have chosen will be carried out.
Lab Report
This paper will aim to describe an experiment, in a lot of detail. It will include; an introduction that provides the reader with information pertaining to the background research, a hypothesis, results of the experiment and a discussion which interprets your results and suggests further research and limitations you have experienced.
Although these different papers have different objectives, your own research paper on psychology will have to follow some standard guidelines:
- Include a references page that details every source you have cited in your paper.
- Include appendices to show supporting information.
- Always stick to the correct formatting. This should be given to you in the form of a handbook before you begin.
- Never display personal opinions as fact. Of course, including personal opinions is required but the facts and/or evidence you give should be from reliable sources.
- Use a variety of different sources. Not only will it make your references look better but more importantly it will make your paper richer. So use online publications, journals, books, magazines, websites and even media clips.
