A GUIDE TO WRITING A PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY

Table of contents

• How to Write a Psychology Essay for University Classes
• Types of Psychology Essay
• Psychology Essay Structure
• Tips for Writing a Psychology Paper
• Conclusion

How to Write a Psychology Essay for University Classes

Even if you don’t major in psychology or a related field, there’s a good chance that you will take at least one, entry-level psychology course. In fact, ‘Psych 101’is often sought out as an undergraduate elective that isn’t too challenging. In addition to this, many education and business degrees require a psych course. This means that you will likely encounter psychology essay writing at least once. This guide will help you along the way.

Types of Psychology Essay

When people refer to psychology essays, they are thinking of papers that fall into one of two categories. The first category consists of academic papers. These are psychology essays, research papers, and term papers written on the subject of psychology or other related topics.

The second refers to admissions essays for psychology programs. For example, you might write a psychology essay to gain admission into a graduate degree program in that field.

Psychology essay research may be based on previously published works or on research the student is conducting.

Psychology Essay Structure

A psychology essay for lower-level courses will use the standard introduction, thesis, body, conclusion structure. However, if you write a psych paper based on your own research or as a review or critique of published literature, the structure will change slightly. In that case, you’ll start with the introduction with a hook and some background information. Then you will tell the reader the specific focus of your paper. 

After that, you will present the research question if you are doing qualitative research. If you are focusing on quantitative research, you will pose a hypothesis. This will be followed by a literature review. Finally, your conclusion will offer a recap of the introduction. It is imperative that your conclusion does not add any new information or questions.

Tips for Writing a Psychology Paper

The most important tip for writing a psychology paper is to carefully choose your research sources. Unfortunately, there is an overabundance of outdated and patently false information available. Verify your facts carefully.

The next tip is to ensure your paper is focused. It’s very easy to allow the scope of your paper to become too broad. When this happens, you will often end up with a paper that lacks depth.

Conclusion

Use the tips above to help you construct an academically sound psychology paper. Then, if you need further assistance, feel free to contact us for help with research, writing, editing, and proofreading.