1. Title
Name

2. Introduction
Summarize relevant information from prior research studies
Provide a foundation for the hypotheses of your experiment.
Goal: to convince readers that your research topic is
(a) interesting
(b) important

3. Introduction (Tips)
Make sure it is clear to the reader how information is related to your experimental hypotheses or procedure
Explicitly relate information from various sources to each other and to your proposed research

4. Introduction (Tips)
Make it clear how your study is the next logical step in this line of research
Make it clear that your study improves upon past studies
Highlight the way in which your experiment will extend past research;
for example, you could include a one sentence statement claiming that past research has focused on _____, but left out _____.
You should cite references

5. Methods Provide details about your proposed experiment
Include information about who the participants will be in your experiment.
How many participants will be in your study?
Summarize whether you want a certain number of men or women, a certain number of people from different races, and so on.
How will participants be recruited for your study?
Will participants receive compensation for being in your study (e.g., money, school credit, medication, etc.)?

6. Methods Include information about your independent variables:
the levels of each,
whether they are between or within-participant, and
whether participants will be randomly assigned to levels.

7. Methods
If your experiment has more than one independent variable, which is likely, then include a design statement
(e.g., This will be a 2 Time of Day (morning vs. evening) x 2 Amount of Coffee (1 cup vs. 3 cups) between-participants design”).
Will participants be randomly assigned to conditions?

8. Methods
Include all of the details about what participants will experience in your experiment.
Include enough detail that someone could conduct your experiment
What will be the setting of the experiment (where will it take place)?
If using questionnaires,
What questionnaires will participants complete? Include sample items (make them up if necessary).
What instructions will you give participants?
If you are using questionnaires or procedures that have been used in prior research, be sure to cite the article(s)

9. Statistics
What statistics could be used to analyze data from your particular design (see Chapter 13 in text)

10. Results Anticipated results based on past research
Brief discussion on what the results of your proposed experiment would mean to the field of psychology