Table of Contents
Preface viii
Acknowledgments xi
1 Writing Professionally 1
How Does Professional Writing Differ From Other Kinds of Writing? 2
Using APA Style 3
Making a Credible Argument 5
Different Types of Communication 6
Effective Communication 8
Establishing Good Writing Habits 9
Ethical Writing 10
2 Elements of Style 15
Recognizing the Importance of Good Grammar and Style 16
Choosing Effective Wording 17
Using Inclusive and Appropriate Language 19
Deciding on the Use of Technical Language 20
Avoiding Common Problems 21
Verb Forms 24
Spelling 25
Specific Word Use 25
3 The Introduction Section 32
Introducing the Topic 33
Different Approaches to Starting the Introduction 34
How to Begin 38
Reviewing the Literature 38
Introducing Your Research: Generating a Hypothesis 40
4 The Method Section 43
Participants and Subjects 44
Materials and Apparatus 52
Procedure 56
Design 58
5 Communicating Statistics 59
Why Do We Use Statistics? 60
What Point Are You Trying to Make? 61
Understanding Your Numbers 63
Helping Readers Understand Your Statistics 65
Differentiating Results and Interpretations 68
6 The Results Section 69
Your Hypothesis 70
Deciding What to Present 71
APA Style and Presentation of Your Results 74
Creating Tables 77
Creating Figures 82
The Connection Between the Text and the Tables and Figures 87
The Difference Between Results and Discussion Sections 87
Some Final Points About Presenting Results 88
7 The Discussion Section 91
Summarizing Your Results 92
Connecting Different Aspects of Your Results 94
Dealing With Nonsignificant Results 95
Comparing Your Results With Those of Others 96
Stating the Importance and Implications of Your Results 97
Acknowledging the Limitations of Your Study 98
8 References: Citations in the Text and the Reference List 100
Citing References in the Text 101
Order of Citations in the Reference List 105
Using Your Word-Processing Program to Create the Citation 105
Examples of How Different Types of References Should Be Laid Out 106
9 Final Touches: The Abstract and Formatting Details 114
The Abstract 115
Formatting Your Manuscript 116
10 Creating Poster Presentations 135
Differentiating Visual and Written Communication 135
Reducing the Amount of Information 136
Visual Style 137
Your Behavior: The Ethic of a Poster Session 142
Creating Your Poster Using PowerPoint® 144
11 Giving Oral Presentations 152
The Difference Between Oral and Written English 152
Adapting APA Style to Oral Presentations 156
Preparing for Your Talk 157
Creating Graphics for Your Presentation 159
Giving the Presentation 160
12 Sharing Your Work Electronically 163
New Capabilities in Electronic Sharing 164
Using a Word Processor to Create Manuscripts for the Internet 165
Advantages of Internet Publishing Software 167
Publishing Your Poster on the Web 169
Uploading Your Manuscript to the Internet 169
Revisiting the Concept of Plagiarism 170
Appendix A: Example of APA-Style Manuscript with
Common Errors 171
Appendix B: Corrected APA-Style Manuscript 179
References 188
Name Index 195
Subject Index 198
