PSYC 308 Dr. Mitchell
Detailed Instructions for structure of paper for the Illegal Immigration study
The paper will follow precisely the structure of a research report in APA style. There are several
sources including the APA manual and Appendix A in your text (please read it carefully!). I
recommend reading some examples of studies to see how this is done.
Other sources listed on the syllabus:
(start with the syllabus “requirements for ”…I won’t reiterate this)
http://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/308/308.htm#Requirements_for_project_report:
see also: GUIDE FOR WRITING RESEARCH REPORTS
http://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/632/guide.htm
see also: sources
Sources attached to this syllabus:
Greek Alphabet
Kerlinger definitions of theory and other key terms
Tips for writing a paper (ARC Nancy Bates)
Questions to critique an experimental report
Guide for writing the report
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
Using APA format for manuscripts
APA Style.org (tips on style)
Effect and affect...know the difference!!!!
The components of the report are:
Title:
Make sure it describes a correlational study and does not allude to causation;
Something such as “attitudes toward illegal immigration: observed relationships between
perceived threat, in-group identification and reactions to the migration of illegal immigration
across the southern border of the U.S.” – make up your own.
(do not include terms such as “effects of” which implies an experimental study)
Abstract: (see instructions on writing an abstract.)
To include a brief mention of the:
purpose of the study,(“to investigate….”)
method: what was done (“thirty participants completed a questionnaire on…”
results: “attitudes toward illegal immigration were (not) related to ….strength of identification
as an American or level of perceived threat…”
implications: (you figure this out )
Introduction:
Start with the problem statement: about the social, economic issues surrounding the migration
of Illegal immigrants (about a half page).
Then bring in the theory (social identity from Tajfel et al…most of the references are within one
step of the article I gave out). You need to make the case here for why social identify theory
could explain the hypothesized relationships (H1 (alt) perceptions of threat will be positively
related to attitudes toward illegal immigration (stating that higher perceptions of threat will be
associated with negative attitudes…) and H2 (alt) that national identity (high social identity) will
be associated with more negative attitudes…)
Show how social identity will operate in this context (U.S. illegal immigration).
Be sure to end the intro with the two hypotheses (or additional ones if you think gender or
other vars will be a factor).
Method/procedure:
Participants: (I gave you the language last night) here. “Participants were…..thirty individuals
solicited (say how you got them…it’s in the IRB proposal). Indicate how many male/female,
racial composition
Procedure: materials (measures)
Describe the three measures and demographics in the questionnaire.
How you recoded certain items, then averaged the items for each scale.
Don’t forget to indicate the higher score indicates a more negative attitude towards
immigration, more highly identifying with oneself as an American (nat id), and more concerned
about illegal immigrants as a threat.
Results:
Describe the three measures (that’s your table of descriptive, Table 1) and then describe the
correlations among the three variables with regard to the strength and significance (see text for
how to report descriptive and correlations….in the end of each chapter).
Indicate those r s that were/were not significant indicating whether or not each hypothesis was
supported/not supported. (this is your correlations table, Table 2).
Discussion: summarize the findings and discuss why (if hypotheses are supported ..social id
theory can explain the relationship), if not, provide some explanation why it wasn’t supported.
End with a paragraph summarizing the findings and conclusion.
References: use APA STYLE! In the body and reference section. Do not quote unless there is a
need to say verbatim what the author said. Do not plagiarize!