the psychology essay writing

the psychology essay writing

Effective Strategies for Writing Psychology Essays

1. Introduction to Psychology Essay Writing

Where topic areas are clearly driven by the way in which different educational systems divide content, it is possible to structure a cohesive approach to the writing of essays. Unfortunately, most topics in psychology “aren’t like that.” They draw from the knowledge and experience of so many different areas. So, how do you write an effective psychology essay? How do you get beyond that sinking feeling that nothing is really happening? In your paper, we trace the evolutionary steps that you need to take in order to make your writing more meaningful and the point of your paper more easily grasped by your tutors. We list and describe several methodologies that we have found to be particularly effective for essay writing when the topic is steeped in psychology.

The origins of psychology, as with most types of scientific knowledge, can exist in the most practical of human needs. Philosophy and physiology have played instrumental roles in the development and many of the theoretical perspectives of psychology, as have notions of the social and physical worlds that we all inhabit. As a result, the eclectic nature of psychology makes the creation of writing that little bit more difficult. It is as though the topic under scrutiny is almost the common denominator of so many areas of knowledge and understanding. This broadness, or open-ended structure, can make the writing of a psychology essay a very disjointed and unpleasant experience for many students.

2. Key Components of a Well-Written Psychology Essay

– Introduce the argument you have already presented once again You now have the conclusion to write after finishing the body paragraphs. Your conclusion should restate both your main argument and your opinion. The body of evidence provided throughout the entire essay’s body should be reflected on, since the conclusion represents the writer’s final thoughts. Do not add any new information or sources to the conclusion, as it should be concise and to the point. Give an overall conclusion to the entire paragraph that will address the topic, task, and thesis.

– Explain your evidence provided You can then explain your evidence after providing evidence. For all paragraphs, explanation is key to ensuring that evidence is fully supported. Introduce the academic content you use and demonstrate how it supports your main points. Ensure that you proficiently cover all angles and delve deeply into the many topic areas.

– Explain your main argument and provide supporting evidence Your three body paragraphs should provide evidence to support your main argument. It should include evidence gathered from credible sources such as books and journal articles. Furthermore, it should include specific information provided relevant to your main argument that will help strengthen your essay’s content. The transition from body paragraph to body paragraph should demonstrate logical connections, and transitions should occur using final sentences from the previous paragraphs and the first sentences of the following paragraphs. At the end of your third body paragraph, you should have first provided evidence for your main argument and proceeded to explain it.

– Introduce the main argument and prepare to explain Your introduction should begin with a hook to keep the reader engaged and encourage them to read through the paragraph. You can include a direct quote, a piece of research, or an example of a situation related to your argument. Your main argument should then be introduced, followed by a brief overview of your essay’s body. This brief overview will help guide the reader as they read through your essay. You can finally write your body paragraphs after finishing the introduction.

– Take the time to reflect on the topic Beginning to write an essay without properly processing the topic (prompt, rules, etc.) will only result in an unorganized piece. Beginning with a thorough understanding of the topic will help guide the writing process and allow it to flow more smoothly. Reflecting on the topic will also help you identify the task you need to complete through your essay. Once you’ve completed this step, it’s time to plan and write the introduction.

There are several important components to consider when finishing a well-written psychology essay. However, it is often overlooked by some learners. You may already be familiar with how to organize an essay; however, you must then apply it to the specifics of psychology research. Furthermore, if you have one focus area, one essay should have a structure that is appropriate for that focus. If the essay is for a school class, it is generally suggested to follow typical guidelines such as the standard five-paragraph structure with one paragraph as the introduction, three body paragraphs, and one summary of the conclusion. Each component of the essay has its requirements, but some parts are specifically psychological research needs. When composing a psychology essay, think about the following components.

3. Research and Citation Techniques in Psychology Essays

Citation formatting. At least since 1952, the American Psychological Association (APA) has published the Publication Manual. The APA manual has since gone through several editions updating the manual of style outlined in that original 1952 edition. APA style has an important role to play in research in the field, providing guidelines for naming different parts of psychology essays including the methods sections, the research results, and the number of citations that are required in the works referenced section of their papers. Since APA style is standard in Psychology courses, it is imperative that students use the APA manual as reference for any ambiguities in data presentation, citation format, or suggested best practices. Students should recognize that following APA style enhances clarity and the goal of making their work easier to comprehend.

Library resources. Despite the popularity of internet-based information resources, far more journal articles and book chapters are copyrighted and published as part of subscription databases. In recognition of this, most university libraries provide students with easy and extensive access to these databases as well as the full range of news and commerce-oriented databases such as Lexis-Nexis. In addition, most libraries often subscribe to a wide range of specialized resources containing graduate student theses and psychology student research papers. Due to the challenges of making the transition to a more specialized approach to research, you are encouraged to develop a working knowledge of the many different databases relating to psychology and take every advantage of the full range of research services provided by your university library to help you access these valuable resources.

4. Structuring and Organizing Your Psychology Essay

What you have in the planned structure is the skeleton of a coherent plan of action to be proposed in answer to the essay title. It will be apparent from this scheme that the direct answering of the essay question will constitute the concluding paragraphs of the essay and that the arguments that precede this section will constitute the evidence in support of your final conclusions. The strength of this essay plan is that you have a theoretical model of a psychological issue with empirical support, and significant weaknesses that indicate why the approach may not be a wholly satisfactory model of development. Not every branch of experimental psychology or applied research will match this pattern exactly. Factors other than cognitive or learning constructions may be a more adequate guide to developmental change, but the basic point is that the planned essay is a concise and coherent account of a particular model of psychological construct (the development of self) that rate to us and an account of what research then suggests about the likely implementation of that model. Remember that good essays will build a counterbalancing case in reviewing evidence, sketches of rival models, and digging deeply into evidence that appears to hit your intended model of psychological change around its critical points.

In the context of writing psychology essays, the plan is important in structuring and organizing thoughts, and creating a framework to which you can adhere, and which will help you to remember strengths and weaknesses in the argument. Prior to commencing the actual construction of your essay, it is important that you plan in detail your essay’s structure. The planning of an essay and deciding upon an overall scheme or structure for an essay depends upon attention to the precise wording of the essay question. For example, the essay question “How far has the learning approach been successful in understanding children aged between 4 and 10?” is concerned with an assessment of the behaviorist, or learning, approach in the field of developmental psychology in understanding cognitive and emotional growth in the preschool and primary school period. Such an essay betrays its context (developmental psychology), its unit of approach (cognition and emotion), its approach (behaviorism), and the main evidence presented (experimental findings on modifying behavior in different social and developmental contexts) as a series of more or less cohesive arguments that work through to a final evaluation of the research and any weaknesses in conceptual perspective introduced by the learning approach.

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid in Psychology Essay Writing

Generally, we all want and hope to submit a paper that is both top-notch and sure of a good grade. Unfortunately, few students can produce such papers. It is always a good idea to ask an experienced co-worker or a friend to revise the paper. In conclusion, a psychology essay is like any other essay. However, you could help yourself by getting a lot of information and not relying on your knowledge alone.

– Failing to provide a clear answer to the thesis question. – Fail to provide a literature review that’s appropriate to the paper’s scope and topic area. – Synthesizing the literature, failing to simply review what it says. – Use too casually or over-rely on the first person. – Ignoring the importance of well thought-out transitions between the paragraphs. – Failing to maintain a proper style of academic writing by not using any jargon specific to the field. – Failure to use critical or logical thinking when planning the structure of the paper. – Looking for bibliographies from sources not valid or not relevant to the question at hand. – Failing to stick to the word count. – Failing psychological theories and related fields to introduce ways people use them in other contexts.

There are several mistakes students make when writing psychology papers, some of these mistakes include: