The Title of This Report:
Centered and Double-Spaced
Your O. Name
University of Texas at Dallas
Running Head: Same as at the Top of Each Page
Course Number
Semester
(in lieu of address)
e-mail address
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ABSTRACT
The Abstract should briefly state the topic or problem. Then tell briefly what you did,
followed by your results. Briefly indicate what it means—what kind of interpretation you give the
results. (Note that you should only report a result in the Abstract if it is statistically significant.)
Only in extraordinary cases should you include references in the Abstract. And leave all the precise
details for the body of the text. The Abstract was originally the summary at the end of the article,
and then someone had the bright idea to move it to the beginning so that the reader would have a
quick overview before deciding to read the whole article.
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INTRODUCTION
The Introduction need not have a heading (such as the one above), but it does start a new
page—in this case page 3, since the title page and the page for the Abstract are pages 1 and 2.
(You can tell your wordprocessor not to put a number on the title page.) Note also that everything
in the manuscript is double-spaced: the title information, the Abstract, the body of the text, the
references, the tables—everything. If your wordprocessor will produce italics, it's ok to use them.
Start the Introduction with a statement of the problem you are working on. Try to avoid dull
openings such as "This article is about ...", but if your inspiration fails you may have to fall back on
something like that. Try to grab the reader's attention at the start (while remaining within the
bounds of good taste) and then review briefly the present state of our knowlege about the topic
(usually by describing previous studies). For example, let us imagine that you are investigating the
difference in memory between poetry and prose. You might start with something like the
following:
People often find poetry easier to memorize than prose. It is easy to imagine that the
rhythmic structure and rhyme of poetry provide a cognitive framework that is not present in
prose, and that that framework facilitates memory encoding and retrieval. Some indication of
the memorability of poetry comes from Ballard (1913), who had his students memorize highly
structured poems. Not only did the students remember the poems well, but when tested on
successive days their recall of the poems became better and better. This is in contrast to the
usual result in memory for verbal materials, where memory performance declines over time
(Ebbinghaus, 1885/1998).
Then go on to say what you are going to do here. Note that the Introduction does three
things: (1) it introduces the general problem; (2) it reviews background evidence from previous
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studies and formulates a specific problem for investigation; and (3) it describes how the present
study will address the issues raised. In other words, the Introduction sets up the experiment by
posing a problem, describing our current state of knowledge concerning that problem, and making a
case for extending that knowledge by means of the proposed experiment. It also indicates the main
choices that you made in designing the experiment, and tells why you made them.
METHOD
The Method section follows the Introduction. There will necessarily be some overlap
between the general overview you give of your experiment in the Introduction and the detailed
description in the Method. The rule to follow in deciding the level of detail to include in the
Method section is that there needs to be sufficient information so that someone else could replicate
the experiment. Generally you will divide the Method section into subsections describing the
participants, the stimuli, the procedure, etc. There is no set order for the subsections, nor do you
always need the same ones. For example, some subsections from our hypothetical prose/poetry
study might look like this:
Participants. Twenty-four students at the University of Texas at Dallas participated as
part of a class exercise in experimental psychology. They were assigned randomly to the two
groups that received the poetry or the prose condition.
Materials. We selected excerpts from the Prologue of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
(Hieatt & Hieatt, 1964). Each excerpt was the beginning of the description of one of the
characters, such as the Reeve, the Wife of Bath, the Knight, etc. In the poetry condition I
made minor alterations in spelling and wording to preserve the rhythm and rhyme for a
modern reader. The prose condition simply presented the translation in Hieatt and Hieatt.
Excerpts varied between 9 and 13 lines in length, depending on the position of the target line.
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Target positions fell between lines 3 to 6. Following the target line the excerpt continued for 6
or 7 lines, finishing with either a rhyme or the completion of a sentence. The delay between
target and test was filled with 60-70 syllables.
Test items were either repetitions of target lines (T), or similar lures with the word
order changed (S), or different lures with the meaning changed (D). S lures were constructed
by changing the word order but preserving the rhyme and rhythm in the poetry. Examples
are shown in Table 1.
The excerpts were contained in a booklet. There were 12 trials in the experiment, four
trials each tested with T, S, or D test items, in random order. For each trial there was one
excerpt on a single page, followed by a blank page, followed by a page with the test item.
Accompanying the test item was a six-point response scale going from "Very Sure Same,"
through "Sure Same," "Same," "Different," "Sure Different," to "Very Sure Different."
Participants checked off their response on the scale.
Procedure. Participants served in group sessions. The experimenter gave each
participant a booklet of which the first page contained the instructions, including a sample
trial with a test item and the response scale. The instructions told participants that any line in
the excerpt could be tested, and that they should wait until the experimenter's signal to turn
the page. The experimenter initiated each trial by clapping his hands, and the participants
turned the page and read the appropriate excerpt. After 45 sec the experimenter clapped his
hands again and the participants turned to the blank page. After 2 sec there was another
hand clap and the participants turned to the test page for that excerpt and responded. After
another 10 sec the experimenter initiated the next trial. The 12 trials took approximately 12
min to complete.
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Data Analysis. We calculated Areas under the Memory Operating Characteristic
(MOC) from the six-point confidence-level scale for each test-item type for each participant,
as an estimate of unbiased proportion correct where chance is 0.50 (Swets, 1973). Area scores
as well as proportions of "same" judgments (at all confidence levels) were subjected to
analysis of variance (ANOVA).
(Don’t include a Data Analysis section if your data analysis is very straightforward, such as
proportion correct or time to do the task.)
Write your Method section after you have run a couple of subjects, while the sequence of
events is fresh in your mind. The Procedure section presents the scenario for what happens in your
experiment. In developing the paper, write the Method section first, followed by the Results (when
you get them). Then write the Introduction and Discussion, and last, the Abstract. Modern word
processors make it easy to write each section separately, and then put it all together at the end.
The order in which you say things in your Method section can affect how smoothly and
efficiently you present your story. Try different orders. In this example it seemed to work well to
start with Participants, and go to Materials and Procedure—some pieces of information could be
presented early and then not have to be stated again (such as random assignment to groups). But
with other experiments it might make more sense to start with Procedure and go from there. Only
rarely will you need a Data Analysis section; if you are simply running an ANOVA or correlation
on your data you won't need one.
Note that the use of passive voice verbs is rare (except in the Data Analysis section, where
they are unlikely to cause ambiguity). Generally, use past tense, unless you are referring to a wellestablished fact or observation (as in the first couple sentences of the Introduction).
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Refer to tables and figures as indicated above. The table itself, with its caption at the start,
appears at the end of the manuscript, following the References, on a separate page. Figures (graphs)
are handled the same way, and the figures appear after the tables at the end of the manuscript,
preceded by a separate page listing the figure captions. (Notice that All the Principle Words of a
Table Caption are Capitalized, while those of a Figure caption are not—the present author has no
idea why.) When the reference to a figure is in parentheses (as in the sample Results section
below), it is abbreviated “Fig.”.
Note that virtually everything not under experimental control is randomized: participant
assignment to groups, target position within excerpt, order of trials, etc. An alternative technique
for avoiding confounds, especially in within-groups designs, is counterbalancing. In that case, for
example, different groups of participants performing all of the conditions of the experiment might
do those condtions in different orders (so that order is not confounded with condtion). With the
prose and poetry conditions described here, that means that in a within-groups (repeated measures)
design all the participants would perform both conditions. Half of them (randomly assigned) would
perform the conditions in the poetry-prose order, and the other half would perform them in the
prose-poetry order. That means there would have to be two forms of the test, each of which had 12
passages (making 24 passages in all). Let’s call them A and B. Half the participants in each ordercondition combination (again randomly assigned) would use form A for the poetry condition and
form B for prose, and the other half would use B for poetry and A for prose.
Numerals. In passing, let us take note of some conventions for the use of numerals. Use
numerals for numbers larger than ten, and for numbers followed by a quantity (such as "15 inches,"
"30 sec"). Never begin a sentence with a numeral (thus: "Twenty participants served in the
experiment for course credit.").
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Abbreviations. When you are going to use a particular label for a condition or procedure
repeatedly, you may wish to introduce an abbreviation (as for T, S, and D above, or ANOVA
below). In that case, spell out the label the first time, and pair it with the abbreviation. Then use the
abbreviation thereafter. (If it has been a while since you used the abbreviation, you may wish to
refresh the reader's memory by including the definition again along with the abbreviation.)
References. The reference section at the end provides examples of various types of
bibliographic entries. Note certain conventions for citations in the text. (1) When you are discussing
the same citation within a paragraph, you can continue to refer to it with the author's name(s)
without the date. (This is often better than using pronouns like "they" which can be ambiguous.) Of
course, if omitting the date leads to ambiguity (because there are several references for that one
author), then include the date. (2) Where there are three or more authors, list all of them in the
initial citation, and then use "et al." (for et alia—and the others) thereafter. (3) When you want to
cite an author you have not consulted directly, indicate that in your citation by giving that authors
name with the reference to the source you actually consulted. For example, if you did not consult
Aristotle directly, but only through Ebbinghaus, then use the following form of citation: (Aristotle,
as cited in Ebbinghaus, 1885/1998). Include only the latter item in your references. In particular,
never cite directly a source that you have not personally consulted.
RESULTS
The Results section should be as brief as possible: leave explanations of the results to the
Discussion. For this class, please include a table or figure showing the results, and refer to it in your
text. State the qualitative result in words, and refer as well to the table or figure. Report the results
of an appropriate statistical test as in the example, giving the value of the test statistic with its
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degrees of freedom and the alpha level. If the result is not significant, just put "n.s." or "p>.05" in
place of the alpha level.
The poetry group performed better than the prose group (see Fig. 1), F(1,11) = 7.56, p
< .05.
If you are using a more elaborate ANOVA design, state the design (how many levels of
each independent variable, with their labels and stating which involve between- and within-groups
comparisons) and then account for all of the statistical tests. When you have listed the significant
effects (as in the example above, with F, df, and alpha level), and the remaining effects are not
significant, just say “There were no other significant effects;” that is, you don’t have to give all the
details for the nonsignificant ones. For example, you might have a Results section that says:
I analyzed the data by means of a 2 training levels X 2 test conditions analysis of
variance (ANOVA) where both factors involved between-groups comparisons. The
performance in the intensive training group was superior to that in the brief training group,
F(1,23) = 8.94, p < .05. And the training level X test condition interaction was significant,
F(1,23) = 6.43, p < .05 (see Fig. 2). No other results were significant.
DISCUSSION
In the Discussion first restate the results, one at a time, and say what each one means.
Explain each result, and relate it to your expectations as stated in the Introduction. (This may be
very simple if you only have one result.) If you didn't get a significant result, you can discuss why
the experiment may not have come out as expected. Make a checklist of issues raised in the
Introduction, and wrap up each issue in the Discussion. It often seems natural to end the Discussion
with an indication of directions for future research, though that is not obligatory.
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REFERENCES
Ballard, P. B. (1913). Oblivescence and reminisicence. British Journal of Psychology Monograph
Supplement, 1, whole nr. 7.
Dowling, W. J., Tillmann, B., & Smith-Berry, S. (2001). Memory improves for poetry and music,
but not for prose. Paper presented to the Psychonomic Society, Orlando, Florida, November.
Ebbinghaus, (1885/1998). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology. R. H. Wozniak
(trans.) Bristol, UK: Thoemmes Press.
Hieatt, A. K., & Hieatt, C. (Eds.) (1964). Chaucer: Canterbury Tales. New York: Bantam Books.
Sachs, J. (1967). Recognition memory for syntactic and semantic aspects of connected discourse.
Perception & Psychophysics, 2, 437-442.
Swets, J. A. (1973). The relative operating characteristic in psychology. Science, 182, 990-100.
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Table 1
Examples of Target Lines and Test Items in the Experiment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Poetry
T
And he was clad in coat and hood of green.
S
The coat and hood he wore were all of green.
D
The coat and hood he wore were not of green.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Prose
T
The yeoman was dressed in a coat and hood of green.
S
In a coat and hood of green the yeoman was dressed.
D
The yeoman was not dressed in a coat and hood of green.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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FIGURE CAPTION
Fig. 1. Area scores for recognition of poetry (N=12) or prose (N=12).