Writing Guidelines
Below are writing guidelines for the Developmental Psychopathology
Lab:
Follow APA style.
Follow the style and author guidelines of the target journal; where
the style of the target journal differs from APA style, follow the style
of the target journal.
Use EndNote or Zotero for reference management.
In empirical papers, include a correlation matrix with descriptive
statistics for your model variables.
Provide and interpret effect sizes (e.g., r s, d s,
betas), and not just statistical significance.
Report numbers to two decimal places; report p -values to
three decimal places.
Per APA style (4.22), “while” and “since” should be reserved
strictly for their temporal meaning; for non-temporal meanings, use
terms such as “whereas” and “because”, respectively.
Per author
guidelines of Child Development (archived at https://perma.cc/7P53-DLVT ), use “relationship” to
describe social bonds between people, not variables; to describe
associations between variables, use “association”, “relation”,
“covariation”, or “correlation”.
Report relevant aspects of reliability
(e.g., internal
consistency , inter-rater ,
test–retest /cross-time
stability
and repeatability )
and validity
(e.g., convergent ,
discriminant ,
incremental ,
criterion-related )
for the measures you are using, including based on evidence from prior
studies and based on estimates in the present study—in particular, those
that are most relevant to the particular population, context, purpose,
etc.
When referring to reliability, validity, or stability, specify the
aspect(s) of reliability/validity/stability you are referring to.
For example, it is important to distinguish between stability of
people’s level on a construct across time, or of the
mean , variance , or
rank-order (individual differences) of a group’s scores
on a construct across time, or the stability of the structure of
a construct or of the strength of an
effect .
Avoid “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those”. They are vague and make
the reader work harder. Replace them with their referent.
Know the difference between a hyphen (-), minus sign (−), en dash
(–), and em dash (—), and use them correctly (see here ;
archived at https://perma.cc/3XQ6-DBNW ).
When submitting a manuscript to a journal, submit any supplemental
appendices as a PDF (not as a Word file).
When submitting a manuscript to a journal, follow the lab’s open science guidelines.
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