Explain both the demographic information (total number of participants, age range and mean age, gender breakdown, other relevant descriptions of your sample) and the method of selection (how were participants selected, how were they assigned to conditions if there were multiple conditions, etc.)

Your abstract should be a brief, comprehensive summary of your paper. It should concisely describe the following: the research problem, the participants, the procedure, the major finding, and the conclusions and implications, all in less than 250 words. The abstract is on its own page, following the title page.

INTRODUCTION

Move from the general to the specific.

What is the major issue being investigated? Why is the problem interesting?

What is the theoretical background for your study? That is, what has previous research about this topic shown, and what possible explanations can be found in the literature that might help you predict what the outcome will be? Make sure the articles you cite are relevant to the study at hand and that you explain explicitly how they are linked to your study.

What are the limitations of the previous work (that make further work necessary)?

What knowledge can be gained from the current work?

What is the major question (restated)?

How (broadly stated) will this knowledge be gained? (overview of how you’ll address the research questions – not details)

What are the specific hypotheses being tested?

METHOD

What would the ideal participants look like? Explain both the demographic information (total number of participants, age range and mean age, gender breakdown, other relevant descriptions of your sample) and the method of selection (how were participants selected, how were they assigned to conditions if there were multiple conditions, etc.)

Describe any apparatus or materials that would be used.

How would they be constructed? How would they be used in the experiment?

Summarize each step in the data gathering procedure

RESULTS

How would the raw data be converted for analyses (e.g., scores, proportions, etc.)? If there would be coding, explain the coding scheme.

Present the findings as if you were telling a story.

State the hypothesis or question in conceptual terms: “We ask, first, whether the men or the women are more emotionally expressive.”

State the hypothesis or question in operational terms: “Do the men produce more tears during the showing of the film than the women?”