Help for Psychology Students

Last update: 3 November 2009,
by Maureen Bell

On this page I've included links to material which may help you with essayand report writing. Additional resources are available from the School of Psychology

Writing and Citing - (includes links to style guides for listing references, and a warning about plagiarism)

Statistics Terminology

Report Writing

Tips on Writing Exam Essays

Finding Book Reviews

Writing and Citing

The Library has a general Style Guides page, as well as a detailed introduction to the Author-date (Harvard) referencing system. We also have a range of printed style guides including copies of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Click here to see a list from the Library's catalogue. It's not comprehensive, so you'll need to search by individual authors and titles if the book you want isn't included in the list.

The university has a special site which provides detailed advice and help on how to avoid plagiarism

APA Style and Writing
Resources from AmoebaWeb at Vanguard University of Southern California.

APA Style Resources
Here are some links to American Psychological Association style guides and help sheets on the internet.

A Guide to Harvard Referencing (Leeds Metropolitan University)
The Harvard or author-date system of referencing is described here. It is one of the commonly used systems, but there are several versions which differ slightly from one another.

Harvard Style examples
From Monash University.

Psychology Writing Center Writing Guides
The Psychology Writing Center at the University of Washington provides "over 20 guides to writing scientific papers, using APA citation format, writing personal statements for graduate school, taking essay exams, and avoiding plagiarism."

Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals also referred to as the Vancouver Guidelines.

Vancouver Style examples
From Monash University.

Statistics Terminology and Concepts

The Internet Glossary of Statistical Terms
A well set out glossary with illustrations.

StatNotes: Online Textbook
PA 765 Statnotes: An Online Textbook, by G. David Garson, who is Professor of Public Administration, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina State University.

StatSoft Electronic Statistics Textbook
As the name suggests this text is provided courtesy of the StatSoft Company

Finding Book Reviews

I would suggest that if you're at the Library you try the printed Book Review Index in the Reference Collection first, as it may well provide what you want without the need for searching multiple databases.
It's in the Reference collection on level 3, and its call number is Reference 011.05 B724

Tips on Writing Exam Esays

Below are links to pages which have notes and advice on exam essay writing.

Taking Essay Tests
From the Writing Center at the George Mason University in Virginia.

Essay exam study skills in college and university
From Indiana University. There are links to further reources at the bottom of the page. This document is also available in .pdf format

You may also find chapters of interest in some of our examinations study guides.

Writing Practical Reports

Writing practical reports is different from writing essays, and below are some links which explain the structure and style of report writing. You'll find a number of books on this subject listed in the library catalogue

Writing Guides - Reports
From the University of Sydney School of Psychology.

Writing Reports
From the University of Nottingham School of Psychology