A few tips on writing your
project
Colin Davis
Write an outline
• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
– Materials
– Apparatus
– Participants
– Design
– Procedure
• Results
• Discussion
• References
Title
• Should be short and to the point (not
longer than 15 words)
• Stick to relevant keywords
• Best to avoid puns/jokey titles
• You don’t have to choose the same title as
other people in your group
Abstract
• 100-150 words: no longer!
• Should be self-explanatory and self-contained
• State (briefly) the experimental
question/hypotheses, the method, the main
results, and the conclusion.
• Probably best to wait until you’ve finished writing
the report before writing your abstract (but leave
yourself time).
• Try to make it interesting!
Introduction
• Start broad, and get progressively more specific
• By the end of the introduction, the reader should
understand what the question of interest is, they should
know how previous research has led to (and informed) this
question, and should have a clear idea of what this
research is going to contribute
• Previous literature is relevant only insofar as it contributes
to introducing your research
• Describe your design broadly, but leave the details for the
Design section
Method
• Remember that this section should include
sufficient detail so that the reader could (in
principle) replicate your experiment
• The Design section should clearly describe the
independent and dependent variables, what the
groups were, and how subjects were allocated to
groups
• Procedure section should explain exactly what
happened to the participant during the study (a
chronological account usually works best)
Results
• Hopefully you’ve finished analysing your data now, or
know exactly what you need to do to finish it.
• Your supervisor should be able to give you advice, but
it’s not their job to analyse the data for you.
• Note that there are standard APA formats for tables and
graphs. Look at published articles for examples of how to
present your results: how to format tables, present
graphs, and write up the analyses.
• Sometimes one or two sentences are sufficient to
describe all the detail that would be in a table
• You can assume that your reader has a background with
basic statistics, but if you used an unconventional test,
you’ll need to describe it appropriately
Discussion
• Cut to the chase – start by stating the main results, and
whether they agree with your hypotheses
• If they do, great!
• If they don’t, either a) challenge the interpretability of the
results, or b) suggest alternative hypotheses
• Don’t provide a shopping list of all of the things that
might have been wrong with your experiment
• Make your conclusions clear, and try to say something
about the theoretical (and possibly practical) implications
• Don’t just say, “Further research is required” – suggest
what research you think should be done.
References
• This section should be an easy way to
demonstrate good scholarship (but is also an
easy way to exhibit the opposite).
• The ideal number of references may vary widely
depending on the research area
• Too few suggests that you haven’t read widely
enough
• Too many suggests that you’re more interested
in trying to impress the reader than in being
selective about what’s relevant
• Make sure you follow APA referencing!
Appendices
• Only include material that is necessary
• Lists of stimuli – yes
• SPSS output – no
• Ethics consent forms – no
Selling your ideas
• Your job is not merely to inform – it is to persuade.
• Think about what the contribution of your research
is, and what the story is that you have to tell.
• It’s your job to try to make the reader believe this
story. Think about the target audience.
• Don’t oversell!
• The story you tell may not be the same one that
you started out expecting to tell when the project
began.
• Don’t assume too much knowledge on the part of
your reader.
Longer is not necessarily better
• Try to figure out what you need to say in order to
support your story.
• You want to demonstrate your mastery of the
relevant literature, but that doesn’t mean that
you need to describe every detail of every study
in the field.
• Avoid unnecessary tangents!
• If you find yourself with lots of words left over,
consider whether you’ve really described the
theories and results in sufficient detail.
Write clearly
• Markers are not mind readers!
• Your ideas may be complex, but your
wording doesn’t need to be
• Read it back yourself (aloud)
• Have someone else read it (preferably
someone who knows nothing about the
area). Can they understand what you’re
saying?
Plan your time wisely!
• Your report is worth one-quarter of your
marks for third year, so apportion your
time appropriately
• Try to be as accurate as you can in
estimating how long it will take to complete
each of the components (and how much
time you have available)
• Extra effort that you put in now will pay off
later