Don't Get Psyched About Psychological Report Writing

Your hands are shaking, and I can see fear inI'm telling you that in a questionnaire study you
your eyes… Congratulations! You haveshould mention the response rate; in an
just joined the "The Painful Report Writing Club".observational study, say what the behavior
Do you really think that I'm going to let you stayactually looked like; in a cognitive experiment, say
there for long? I'm here, signed, sealed, delivered,whether the participants enjoyed the task, found
to help you with report writing.it difficult etc. Good report writing means simply
What is it that makes you uncertain? You don'tdoing your job accurately. Can you turn your
have to be a writing genius to be successful inradio down a little bit? I can't even hear myself.
report writing. It can be done with the help ofWhat are we talking about? Oh, writing a
concrete previous experiences, brainstorms andreport… And our next step in writing a
deep analysis of the psychologist or any otherreport is the Discussion section. Remember the
person, academic or not, connected somehow toobservations done in your Results part? Well, it's
the problem. Good report writing contains fourtime to talk about them. Speaking of psychology,
parts: Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion.do you want to talk about them?
One thing you do need for writing a report is aGood report writing assumes that you answer
sufficient reason. Wait a minute… are youthe specific questions, which are posed at the end
still sitting in your "Painful Report Writing Club"? Iof the Introduction; then you work back to more
thought I told you to come out of there. Go andgeneral issues. When writing a report, you should
look for your topic. Found one? Good, now youalso introduce ideas, or cite papers, that have not
can treat yourself with sweets and start workingalready been mentioned in the Introduction.
on the first part - the Introduction.And now it's time for some general help on
Successful report writing depends a lot on thewriting a report. First of all it's about your style.
Introduction. This is where you set your point andNice shoes! But I'm talking about the way you
present the researches that were made on thiswrite. Keep your sentences short. Like I do it.
topic. Make sure you've outlined the method thatSee? This way it's easier to deal with punctuation
you are going to use in your report writing. Onein report writing.
more advice on writing a report: your topic hasStick to the scientific writing style. Why are you
already been investigated. You need to give aputting these glasses on? All I meant was that in
reply on those questions that are still unanswered.successful report writing you don't have use
This is the area of your research.metaphors, alliterations, parallel structuring,
What are you eating? Oh, sweets… I see.oxymoron and where are you going? I thought
I'm here helping you with report writing, and youI'm helping you with report writing, and not
don't even want to share a piece…confusing you.
Thanks. And now back to our report writing.My advice on writing a report is that you take
Want to know, which part is the easiest in writingcare of your grammar. It really does help to
a report? It's the Method section. The golden ruleknow some technical grammatical terms, both to
is to study the Method sections, and provide themake it easier to look up correct usage, and also
same amount of detail as recently publishedbecause you can't really think about writing unless
articles.you know some words to describe what you are
Next part in our successful report writing is thedoing.
Results section. Fred Durst said, "Results mayWell, I better go now. My favorite show is on in 5
vary". But you are listening to me, hopefully. Andminutes. Hope, I was of some help.