Discipline-Specific Characteristics
for Academic Papers

Psychology

The following are some characteristics of Psychology papers, based on our examination of a PS 306 paper:

• Typically moves from theoretical idea to empirical study
• Develops a solid question and a way to test it
• Relies on primary source material
• Based on original empirical evidence
• Follows APA format manual
• Uses both text and tables but avoids redundancy between the two
• Avoids first person presentation
• Places student's findings in relation to a larger context / research