How to Write a Psychology Essay
The first thing that you should do after being assigned a psychology essay is choose the topic you want to write about. The topic should be narrow and specific, so that you don’t loose focus in the process and can provide enough information to support your thesis. What to do next? Find out right now!
What Is Psychology?
Knowing the answer to this question is essential for writing a successful psychology essay – it gives you ideas on what to write about and how to prove your point. As you’ve probably learned earlier, psychology is a science that studies human mind and the way it works, as well as how it reacts to the changes in the environment. Psychology is a well-researched field of studies and students working on essays usually have no problem finding suitable sources for their writing.
However, the variety of sources can be viewed as a drawback, since it can be hard to find exactly the right publications that match your requirements. Plus, there are many pseudo-scientific publications that only pretend to be credible and trustworthy. These sources can be normally found online and should be avoided at all costs. Look for academic publications, journal articles, and other reputable sources for your essay.
Introduction
The introduction is the first logical step in any psychology essay. It may be the shortest part of the essay, consisting of just up to 5 sentences, but it’s one of the most important ones. The introduction is so essential for the success of your work that many scholars recommend writing the introduction after you finish the paper and know for a fact what it’s about. The crucial aspect of an introduction is, of course, the thesis statement, that determines the narrative of your whole work.
Body
As many students have already found out, a psychology essay is in many ways similar to an expository essay – in both cases you need to explain a particular topic. The structure of a psychology essay also isn’t unique: the body of the essay should consist of paragraphs, each devoted to a separate idea. Every idea needs to be firmly connected to the thesis statement of the essay. In general your essay should have between 3 and 8 paragraphs. Each paragraph needs to include the following information:
- An introductory sentence presenting the idea behind the paragraph;
- The evidence supporting the idea – these can be quotes, references, or simply facts;
- A short conclusion and a sentence that serves as a transition to the next paragraph.
In order to write a coherent and persuasive psychology essay, you need to be completely familiar with the topic you’re writing about. If you don’t understand the full topic or some concept you’re dealing with, you may need to do some additional reading until you can finally say that you know what you’re writing about. Only then will you be able to present your thoughts on the matter in the way that will convince and impress the readers.
Conclusion
The job of the conclusion in an essay is to summarize everything that has been said, but you can’t simply copy and paste your introduction or list your paragraph ideas. Start your conclusion by retelling the thesis statement using your own words. Then remind the readers about the ways you supported the thesis statement throughout the work. You can also give the readers something to think about by presenting a broader concept at the end of your essay that is still connected to the topic. Don’t forget to ask for college essay help in our order page.
