Resources

Course handouts

• How to Read a Scientific ArticleThe Week 1 skill: read strategically, not front-to-back. Full guide with the three-pass method (PDF version).
• The Absolute DosThe moves that make writing sound like science: argument verbs, template phrases, transitions (PDF version).
• The Absolute NosThe nine errors that cost points every single semester, with the fixes built in (PDF version).
• Writing the Psychology PaperThe Harvard Writing Center's guide, reformatted for this course: the two paper types, what counts as evidence, and the conventions (original PDF).
• APA Manuscript RubricYour formatting checklist, and my evaluation checklist. Same document.
• Model Literature Review: Neff (2023)Self-compassion: Theory, method, research, and intervention (Annual Review of Psychology) — a professional narrative review by the field's founder.
• Anatomy of a Master's OpeningA guided, annotated dissection of how Neff (2023) sets up her review — six moves to steal for your own introduction.

The complete APA Style materials collection (guides, workbook, practice quizzes) lives on Canvas.

Finding literature

PsycINFO (via the SJNY library databases) is your primary tool — it indexes the psychological literature properly and lets you filter to peer-reviewed sources. Google Scholar is the fast second opinion: use "Cited by" to trail a seminal paper forward in time, and the reference lists of recent papers to trail backward. When you hit a paywall, check the library first, then the author's own website — most researchers post their PDFs.

Rule of thumb from Week 2 onward: if an article matters to your argument, you need the full text, not the abstract. Abstracts are advertisements.

Finding measures

PsycTESTS (also via the library) indexes published psychological instruments with their psychometric evidence. Otherwise: the Method sections of the studies in your synthesis matrix already name the scales your literature uses — follow those citations to the original scale-development article, which reports the reliability and validity evidence your Method section must cite.

Statistics and power

G*Power (free: download from HHU Düsseldorf) computes the sample size your proposed study needs — you'll use it in Week 10. For choosing the right test, start from your design: group comparisons point to t tests or ANOVA; associations between continuous variables point to correlation or regression. Bring the confusions to your weekly meeting; that's what it's for.

Writing and APA style

The official APA Style site answers most formatting questions, and the Purdue OWL is the best free walkthrough of citations and references. For the craft itself, your five course readings are the canon.