Psychology expert kendra cherry is an author and educator with over a decade experience helping students make sense of psychology. She is the author of the everything psychology book 2nd edition and she has published thousands of articles on diverse topics in psychology including personality, social behavior, child therapy, research methods, and much more. The purpose of an introduction in a psychology paper is to justify the reasons for writing about your topic. Your goal in this section is to introduce the topic to the reader, provide an overview of previous research on the topic and identify your own hypothesis. Once you have located an article, look at the reference section to locate other studies cited in the article.

As you take notes from these articles, be sure to write down where you found the information. A simple note detailing the author 39 s name, journal and date of publication can help you keep track of sources and avoid plagiarism. This is often one of the most boring and onerous steps, so students have a tendency to skip outlining and go straight to writing. Creating an outline of might seem tedious, but it can be an enormous time saver down the road and will make the writing process much easier. Stary by looking over the notes you made during the research process and consider how you want to present all of your ideas and research. once you are ready to write your introduction: your first task is to provide a brief description of the research question. What is the experiment or study attempting to demonstrate? what phenomena are you studying? provide a brief history of your topic and explain how it relates to your current research.

As you are introducing your topic, consider what makes it important? why should it matter to your reader? the goal of your introduction is not only to let your reader know what your paper is about, but also to justify why it is important for them to learn more about. If your paper tackles a controversial subject and is focused on resolving the issue, it is important to summarize both sides of the controversy in a fair and impartial way. The second task of your introduction is to provide a well rounded summary of previous research that is relevant to your topic. So, before you begin to write this summary, it is important to thoroughly research your topic. Finding appropriate sources amid thousands of journal articles can be a daunting task, but there are a number of steps you can take to simplify your research.

If you have completed the initial steps of researching and keeping detailed notes, writing your introduction will come much easier. It is important to give the reader a good overview of the historical context of the issue you are writing about, but do not feel like you have to give an exhaustive review of the subject. You might describe the findings of previous research and then explain how the current study differs or expands upon earlier research. Once you have summarized the previous research, explain areas where the research is lacking or potentially flawed. What is missing from previous studies on your topic? what research questions have yet to be answered? your own hypothesis should lead from these questions. At the end of your introduction, offer your hypothesis and describe what you expected to find in your experiment or study. Maintain a working bibliography with all of the sources you might use in your final paper.

Use a copy of the apa style manual to ensure that your introduction and references are in proper apa format. the american psychological association format is a specific writing style that 39 s used to cite references within the social sciences. High school and college students, as well as career professionals, often use apa format when writing research papers or literature reviews. Even though apa style specifically refers to the formatting of content, not the content itself, according to the university of north alabama, there are some general guidelines you should follow when writing an introduction for an apa paper.

Start your introduction with an explanation of the problem and state the purpose of your paper. the apa format requires that you clearly and concisely let your readers know what they can expect from your report. Explain the significance of the study, including any relevant background information to support your claims, and discuss the rationale behind your research, suggests david caprette, biochemistry professor at rice university. For example, if your paper is about the effects media violence has on children, start your introduction by explaining how studies have shown that violence on tv can lead to aggression or addictive behavior in children. Use the first person point of view and active voice for your apa introduction and throughout the rest of your paper, recommends the purdue university online writing lab. Clearly articulate your side or stance on the argument so that there 39 s no question in the reader 39 s mind where you stand. Using the previous example, you might develop a thesis, such as, children who spend several hours a day watching violent acts on tv, such as fighting or killing, become desensitized to aggressive behavior and think it 39 s an acceptable way to resolve conflicts.

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Place your thesis statement near the end of your introduction, so it leads into the body of your paper. Write your apa paper in the past tense, unless you 39 re referring to common knowledge or established proven facts. If you include an abstract with your paper, put your introduction on a separate page after the abstract the body of your paper should follow the introduction.

Remove any information from your introduction that doesn 39 t help readers follow your argument or better understand your point of view. Students should adapt this format to their specific topic and research question. the introduction can have four paragraphs instead of five of course, it must have a plan of the essay. student papers must be double spaced. Today in the united states, a remarkable social experiment is under way: the development of a truly multicultural society. In california, for example, 90 percent of the immigrants settling in los angeles are so called visible minorities from the third world.

The constant flow of new arrivals adds to the large communities of laotians, cambodian, mexicans, koreans, chinese, guatemalans, iranians, armenians and others who already live there. Eighty one languages, only a small proportion of which are european, are spoken in the elementary school system of the city. The increasing ethnic and racial diversity of the country is associated with the government policies. Washingtons immigration policy between 1965 and 1990 is the principal factor in the nations growing diversity today.

The federal governments support for diversity is visible in legislation that requires school districts to offer bilingual education and which provides funding for it it can also be seen in other laws that ban discrimination on the basis of race or national origin and that encourage employers to hire minority workers. Ethnic and cultural diversity will be an even more significant feature of life in the united states of the 21st century. Immigration and population trends persist, the total population of so called other races i.e. Nonwhite, nonblack will rise from its present level of approximately 8.5 million to 19.5 million by the year 2025, this increase in numbers, because of the much slower rates of population growth among whites and blacks will also mean an increase in the percentage of the population represented by other racial groups. In 1990, other races represented 3.5 % of the total population of the united states in 2025, according to government projections, they will make up 6.5 % of the population. Its supporters point to the countrys history as a nation of immigrants and argue that cultural diversity has always been a source of strength for american society. They feel that it will inevitably encourage the maintenance of social groups not interested in becoming part of the larger national community.

The existence of such groups, according to the opponents of multiculturalism and diversity, could over time lead to social disruption and the ultimate disintegration of u.s. To see the potential dangers of promoting cultural diversity, they argue, we need only look at what used to be yugoslavia, where a multi cultural society has been torn apart by ethnic hostility. The topic of this research paper is the controversy over ethnic and cultural diversity in the united states. The research question is, how can the problems associated with diversity be addressed? the paper will address the following subtopics: 1. How to set up an apa research paper.the purpose of an introduction in a psychology paper is. Research proposal guidelines: apa style 2 research paper guidelines understanding the process that undergirds principles of research is a primary objectiveresearch paper introduction example apa style students are searching: write my paper for me more than ever before.