Checklist for psychology papers

Content

Have you:

read the task carefully and responded to each part of it? understood the criteria and addressed each component?

had someone else read your paper (i.e., a learning advisor at Student Learning Support or a friend) to make sure what you have written is clear?

Flow

Check that:

the paper is well structured overall and within individual sections the arguments are clear and well supported

paragraphs are linked to one another and include clear topic sentences the structure of paragraphs and sentences is varied and interesting

concise, precise, and appropriate language has been used throughout the paper

Language and Grammar

Have you:

used precise, clear, and concise words? used only relevant examples?

used a scientific/academic tone?

used 3rd person phrases (i.e., avoided using pronouns such as I, we, you when possible)? used non-discriminatory language

avoided passive voice when it is unclear who did what (e.g., it was found) and avoided using this when it is unclear what it refers to?

used appropriate tenses throughout the paper?

avoided redundant phrases such as unnecessary qualifiers (e.g. somewhat, rather, mostly and for the most part)?

avoided dangling constructions (e.g., … if all the participants had answered all the questions affirmatively, not just the first five) [the first five participants or answers?]? looked at every pronoun and checked that each one refers correctly back to a noun? used plural verbs with plural subjects and singular verbs with singular subjects?

used spell check and grammar check but have not relied solely on these. checked your use of punctuation and capital letters throughout the paper?

presented tables and figures correctly, with all parts labelled, and referred to each table or figure in the text?

succinctly paraphrased any secondary material?

made sure all references are complete and all in-text citations appear in the reference list (and vice versa)?

TIP: Keep a list of common mistakes, and use Word’s Find and Replace to find and fix them.