Sections of an Empirical Report: Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, and Method

This chapter is the first of two devoted to the most common form of writing in psychology: the empirical journal article. The present chapter takes up the first half of the task: title page, abstract, Introduction, and Methods. The emphasis is on aspects of these components that often go astray in student papers. With respect to the Introduction, possible problems include an insufficiently informative review of previous research, failure to identify the gaps in knowledge that justify the current study, failure to make clear the hypothesis or questions under study, and failure to provide a helpful overview of how the hypotheses will be tested. With respect to Methods, possible problems include an insufficient characterization of the sample, failure to discuss methods of recruitment and participation rate, and inclusion of either too little or too much procedural detail.