Deck 4: Writing in Psychology

Question 1

In APA format,the abstract of an article must be

A) less than 50 words
B) less than 80 words
C) less than 100 words
D) less than 120 words

Answer 1

D

Question 2

You should write your research report so that it can be understood by

A) the general, educated public
B) fellow undergraduate psychology students
C) a friend
D) a discourse community

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which one of the following is not a part of a research paper?

A) abstract
B) discussion
C) bibliography
D) authors and their affiliations

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The thesis of an argument is

A) a big book
B) a proposition that is supported by the argument
C) a piece of writing in APA format
D) another name for a Master's defense

Question 5

What is meant by the term "invisible college"?

A) a college that offers extension or correspondence courses
B) a group of scientists who communicate among themselves about research in a particular area of science
C) a panel of judges who evaluate the worth of colleges and universities
D) a panel of judges who evaluate the worth of research report

Question 6

Which of the following terms illustrates sexist language?

A) letter carrier
B) personnel
C) sewer grate
D) manpower

Question 7

A group of people who share common goals,a public forum,common knowledge,and a specialized language is called

A) a discourse community
B) an invisible college
C) an archival journal
D) an ACC

Question 8

Pleasingness of style is ____ in a research paper

A) unprofessional
B) nice if you can do it
C) one of the goals of writing
D) distracting

Question 9

Which of the following are the most important elements of good report writing?

A) passive voice, clarity, brevity
B) active voice, informal tone, clarity, brevity
C) active voice, clarity, brevity
D) clarity, brevity, pleasingness of style

Question 10

Which one of the following titles illustrates the most clear and explanatory title for a table?

A) Mean Performance Scores of College Students as a Function of Major
B) Relation Between College Majors and Performance
C) Table Representing College Majors and Performance Data
D) Mean Performance Scores on Three Tests With Psychology, Physics, and English Majors

Question 11

In APA format,the margins are

A) 0.5"
B) 1"
C) 1.25"
D) 1.5"

Question 12

APA style now requires the use of participants instead of subjects

A) when describing humans
B) everywhere we used to say subjects
C) when describing humans, except in describing statistics
D) everywhere except in the methods and results sections

Question 13

The introduction section of a research paper contains

A) the research design, procedures, and description of subjects and measures
B) the literature review and hypotheses
C) the statisitics and data analysis procedures
D) the research design, tables and figures, and literature review

Question 14

Saying exactly what you mean to say as directly as possible is an example of which writing goal?

A) Clarity
B) Brevity
C) Felicity
D) An argument

Question 15

Which one of the following is the correct order of parts of an APA style document?

A) Figure Captions, Tables, Discussion, Results
B) Results, Discussion, Figure Captions, Tables
C) Results, Figure Captions, Tables, Discussion
D) Results, Discussion, Tables, Figure Captions

Question 16

Familiarity with APA format

A) Makes reading and writing professional literature more convenient
B) Is important for submitting an empirical report to a psychological journal
C) Is important for submitting a review article to a psychological journal
D) All of the above

Question 17

The goal of scientific writing is to

A) let the data speak for themselves
B) inform
C) persuade
D) Both b and c are true.

Question 18

Which one of the following is not a part of the introduction to a research paper?

A) Statement of the problem
B) Statement of the hypothesis or hypotheses
C) An in-depth history of the problem
D) Statement of the expected results

Question 19

An abstract summarizes the

A) theory behind the research
B) relevant literature
C) problem, method, results, and conclusions
D) data collection and analysis procedures

Question 20

An argument in a research paper is

A) to be avoided
B) regrettable, but sometimes unavoidable
C) a set of reasons in support of a position
D) an educated guess as to the outcome of the experiment

Question 21

A reference to a journal that has appeared online should

A) never include the issue number
B) include the DOI if it is available
C) not include the title
D) include the name of the publishing company

Question 22

Tables in a research report should

A) duplicate the text
B) be color coded
C) supplement the text
D) include only a summary of the data, e.g., means and standard deviations

Question 23

When an editor has received all the reviews on an article,the editor

A) accepts the paper
B) accepts the paper pending revisions
C) rejects the paper
D) any of the above

Question 24

Scientific literature that falls outside the peer review process

A) cannot be cited in APA format
B) is generally harder to obtain
C) is called gray literature
D) is called peerless literature

Question 25

If you only know of Smith's 1998 work by reading it in Jones' 1999 paper,you

A) can't cite Smith
B) cite Jones (1999)
C) cite Smith (1998)
D) cite Smith (1998, as cited by Jones, 1999)

Question 26

When documenting a research paper,the researcher should do all of the following except

A) give credit to ideas that are other people's
B) show where important ideas fit into a larger framework
C) provide the reader with information about the theory, methods, and data discussed
D) document statements that are common knowledge

Question 27

Which one of the following is not a part of the methods section of a research report?

A) description of subjects
B) description of the materials used in the study
C) description of the design of the study
D) statement of the expected results of the study

Question 28

The reference list should include

A) all the sources you used in your research, even if you didn't cite it in the paper
B) only those sources you cited in the paper
C) only those sources that you quoted in the paper
D) only sources that are available in printed form in a library

Question 29

When you write a paper in APA style,you should report your methods in

A) the past tense
B) the present tense
C) the past perfect tense
D) any of the above

Question 30

When documenting a research report,it is important to

A) include both primary and secondary sources of ideas
B) document statements that are common knowledge
C) document information about the theory, method, and data that the writer discusses
D) provide the reader with sources for wider reading on the subject

Question 31

Which one of the following is not a part of a reference?

A) date of publication
B) title of article or book
C) author's college or university affiliation
D) name of author(s)

Question 32

Which one of the following entries correctly follows the APA style?

A) Smith, Lea. Introduction to the language arts. Leonard-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1998.
B) Smith, L. (1998). Introduction to the language arts. Leonard-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
C) Smith, L. Introduction to the language arts. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Leonard-Hall, 1998.
D) Smith, Lea. (1998). Introduction to the language arts. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Leonard-Hall.

Question 33

Which one of the following is the correct APA style of documenting the authors of a work cited in the text of a paper?

A) McBurney and Middleton (1999) found that...
B) McBurney & Middleton (1999) found that...
C) McBurney et al. (1999) found that...
D) (McBurney and Middleton 1999) found that...

Question 34

The methods section of a research paper contains

A) the research design, procedures, and description of subjects and measures
B) the literature review and hypotheses
C) the definition of terms, literature review, and data analysis procedures
D) the research design, tables and figures, and literature review

Question 35

Figures in a research report should

A) appear before the references
B) be color coded
C) not have page numbers on them
D) be hand drawn, preferably by the author

Question 36

When you write a paper in APA style,you should report your results in

A) the present tense
B) the past perfect tense
C) the past tense
D) any of the above

Question 37

In APA format,the reference section of an article

A) Is in alphabetical order
B) Starts on a new page
C) Uses a five-space hanging indent
D) All of the above

Question 38

The discussion part of a research paper

A) interprets the data and relates them to the hypothesis or hypotheses
B) describes the subjects, apparatus, design and procedures
C) tells what the researcher did in the experiment
D) discusses the relevant literature and states what the study will contribute to the understanding of the problem

Question 39

After identifying an appropriate journal to which to submit a paper,the researcher should

A) select two alternative publication sources
B) contact the journal editor
C) examine recent issues of the journal
D) set the date for publication

Question 40

The first step in preparing a research report for publication is to

A) determine the journal most likely to publish it
B) develop an outline of its content
C) write the abstract and introduction
D) write query letters to several journal editors

Question 41

Identify a research report from a journal that deals with a topic in which you are interested or have some knowledge.Read the report through the results section but do not read the discussion or conclusion section.Write a discussion section of your own.After you have completed your discussion section,submit it to your instructor or classmates for a critical review.Compare your discussion to the discussion in the report.What do you conclude?

Question 42

A key element to a good oral presentation of a research study is

A) brevity
B) a well-written abstract
C) presenting good visual aids
D) presenting posters

Question 43

Write down the parts of a research proposal.You would like to know whether playing violent video games as a child is related to the amount of jail time served as an adult.How would each step relate to your research question?

Question 44

Select a research topic of limited scope and write a hypothetical research report.Include the following: a statement of the problem; brief review of the literature; methods section; and data analysis section.Since this is a hypothetical study,you are not expected to actually collect the data or produce any results or conclusions.therefore,the sections dealing with results and conclusions will be missing from your paper.Do a brief review of the literature and limit your review and statement of the problem to two or three typewritten pages.Be brief and concise and pay special attention to the continuity of ideas.Use your mastery of the content of previous chapters from the textbook to present an adequate and correct methodology for doing the research project.Include a reference section.This project suggests a writing task of the scope of a short term paper.

Question 45

An oral presentation at a scientific meeting

A) contains all of the same parts as a research paper
B) is often very long
C) consists of scientists reading the papers that they've written out loud
D) is generally harder to understand than a written journal article.

Question 46

List the parts of a scientific article in APA style,and describe the contents of each.

Question 47

Put the following information into APA style references:
· Mary Ellen Smith,a professor at Dartmouth College,wrote a book entitled "The Understanding of Psychology." It was published by the Fullcourt Press,3500 Forbes Avenue,Pittsburgh,PA 15213 on the 10th of March,2003.
· Andy P.Joker and Bruce A.Riddler wrote a book chapter called "Knowns and Unknowns of Anti-Social Behavior" in 1972.It was published that same year in the Handbook of Interpersonal Relations,which was edited by A.D.Penguin,on pages 719-740.The book was published in Boston by Big City Press.
· In his article,"Revenge as Motivation",Bruce Wayne provides a brief history of the role that anger has played in motivating pro-social behavior.It is found on pages 25-42 of volume 2 of the Gotham Journal of Psychology,which was published in 1963.
· Write a reference for your text book.

Question 48

____ have become popular ways of presenting research at scientific meetings

A) Blogs
B) Posters
C) Journal articles
D) Books

Question 49

If you were to make an oral presentation at a national psychological convention,how would it be different from a scientific paper?