Skip to Main Content

Writing a Psychology Paper: Writing Your Paper

Content by Sue Collins, Maintained by Ana Van Gulick

Writing Your Paper

Consider making an appointment with the Global Communications Center if you want or need help with your written paper.  Their fundamental objective is to help make your ideas clear, organized and rhetorically effective.

Writing Your Paper

Some people like to write from an outline, some just like to start writing after some thought. In any case, give yourself enough time before the deadline so that you can

  • concentrate on getting your ideas down on paper, without worrying that much about punctuation, spelling, etc.
  • put the draft aside, then come back and refine and/or revise the content
  • polish the paper, paying attention to spelling, punctuation, grammar

While online spell checkers and grammar checkers are extremely helpful, they can not catch all typographical or grammatical errors. You need to read your paper carefully to catch all errors. Dictionaries can help with spelling, and, of course, with definitions, so that you use words correctly. The following may help:

Don't forget citation style.  There are many types of formats-make sure you know which you should be using. There are many types of formats-make sure you know which you should be using.  For Psychology, the APA Style Manual is usually the required format: