Writing Your Psychology Research Paper

This primer explains how to write clear, compelling, well-organized research papers.

From picking a promising topic, to finding and digesting the pertinent literature, to developing a thesis, to outlining and presenting ideas, to editing for clarity and concision — each step is broken down and illustrated with examples. In addition, a bonus chapter discusses how to combat procrastination. You will learn that the best writing is done in chunks over long periods of time and that writing is a skill that improves with practice. By following the advice in this book, you can not only get through dreaded writing assignments, but also become a more proficient writer.

This book is part of APA's Concise Guides to Conducting Behavioral, Health, and Social Science Research series. Aimed at undergraduate students in research methods courses or others with a lab or research project, each book describes a key stage in the research process. Collectively, these books provide a solid grounding in research from start to finish.

Scott A. Baldwin, PhD, received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Memphis in 2006. He completed his predoctoral clinical internship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Psychiatry. He's an associate professor of psychology at Brigham Young University and a licensed psychologist in Utah. Dr. Baldwin's research focuses on research design, statistical, and measurement issues in psychotherapy and health research. He has published more than 50 articles and has focused his recent efforts on demonstrating the use of advanced statistical methods in psychological research. He teaches courses on statistics, measurement, research design, and psychotherapy.