Article

Article

In Darley, J. M., Zanna, M. P., & Roediger III, H. L. (Eds) (2002). The Compleat Academic: A
Career Guide. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Writing the Empirical Journal Article
Daryl J. Bem
Cornell University
Planning it
Which Article Should You Write 2
Analyzing Data 2
Reporting the Findings 3
How Should You Write? 3
For Whom Should You Write? 4
Writing It
The Shape of An Article 4
The Introduction 5
The Opening Statements 5
Examples of Examples 7
The Literature Review 7
Citations 8
Criticizing Previous Work 8
Ending the Introduction 8
The Method Section 9
The Results Section 10
Setting the Stage 10
Presenting the Findings 11
Figures and Tables 12
On Statistics 12
The Discussion Section 13
The Title and Abstract 14
Rewriting It
Some Matters of Style
Omit Needless Words 17
Avoid Metacomments on the Writing 18
Use Repetition and Parallel Construction 19
Jargon 20
Voice and Self-Reference 20
Tense 21
Avoid Language Bias 21
Research Participants 21
Sex and Gender 21
Racial and Ethnic Identity 22
Sexual Orientation 22
Disabilities 23
Common Errors of Grammar and Usage 23
Compared with versus Compared to 23
Data 23
Different from versus Different than 23
None. No One 24
Since versus Because 24
That versus Which 24
While versus Although, But, Whereas 24
Publishing It
References

2

4

15
17

24
26

Writing the Empirical Journal Article

2

You have conducted a study and analyzed the data. Now it is time to write.
To publish. To tell the world what you have learned. The purpose of this article is
to enhance the chances that some journal editor will let you do so.
If you are new to this enterprise, you may find it helpful to consult two additional sources of information. For detailed information on the proper format of a
journal article, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2001) and recent articles in the journal to which you plan to submit...

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