Psych 315: Guide to Writing the Paper

1. Organize your essay well. Think about the best way to organize your essay before you write. Start by deciding what are the most important things to say on your topic. Cover the topic as fully as you can in the limited space that you have. Do not just list a number of unrelated facts. Present your material so that it easy for your readers to understand. Don't expect them to fill in missing assumptions. Provide a clear line of thought for the reader to follow. You may want to use headings to label different sections of your paper, which will make your organization easy for the reader to see.
   
   
2. Support your claims. Wherever possible, include your own independent thoughts and conclusions, but be sure they are well supported. Don't just state your opinion on an issue. Explain your reasons for believing it. Provide an argument that will persuade your readers that your conclusion is right.
   
   
3. Consider how your readers will interpret it. Think about what your readers don't know. Don't assume they know everything you know. Explain things in a way that will make sense to them, given their background. If you can, have someone else read it and give you feedback.
   
   
4. Some sources are better than others. The required reading may include sources that will be very useful for your topic, but the majority of each essay should be based on a variety of sources above and beyond the required reading. If you are looking for information on scientific findings, you should rely mainly on papers in scientific journals and books written by researchers. Articles in newspapaers and news magazines and on websites are often less accurate in reporting scientific results.
   
   
5. Stay within your word limit. The paper should not be more than 1200 words. Make the best use of those 1200 words that you can, so that you fit in as much information as possible in a way that is easy to read and understandable.
   
   
6. Give appropriate credit. Include references for all the sources that you use in writing your paper. You should have a reference list at the end of your paper giving all the sources you used, with enough information about each to make it easy to find it in the library or online. Also, there should be short references within the text showing the source for each piece of information that you present. The peer-reviewed research articles that you use as sources will provide examples of how references should be used. If you have any doubts about how to format your references, you can follow the APA Publication Manual. You can include figures, but if they are taken from another source or modeled after figures in another source, you must include the appropriate reference. It is very important to avoid plagiarism. See this website for guidelines.
   
   
7. Hand it in on time. Submit your paper electronically at the Spark site for this class. Plan ahead to anticipate technical problems, and don't ask for an extension just because your computer broke down at the last minute. If you have any problem submitting the paper through Spark, e-mail a copy to psy315@psych.umass.edu before the deadline, and then submit a copy through Spark as soon as you can.
   

If you follow these guidelines, you will make it easier for us to grade your paper quickly.

• Include your name, Spire number, and e-mail address at the beginning or end of the paper.
• Include your name as part of the filename.
• Separate paragraphs by a blank line.
• Turn in your paper as a PDF file, RTF file, plain text file, or Microsoft Word file. If you are turning in a Microsoft Word file, please use ".doc" format rather than ".docx" format.

Psych 315: Cognitive Psychology Kyle Cave Psychology Dept. U. Mass.