You have now read about how to write articles for publication in psychology and you are ready to prepare for the final exam. The exam is most likely not some multiple-choice delight to be administered at a cramped desk in a college classroom. Rather it is the actual task of writing articles for publication. This final chapter summarizes 50 of the main tips to be distilled from the chapters of this book. Some of the authors suggesting each tip are listed in parentheses in alphabetical order.

GENERAL TIPS

1. Ask yourself whether your ideas are interesting to you, and why they would be interesting to other people (Tesser): All of us read articles that leave us gasping for breath: How could anyone find the work interesting other than the author? You are more likely to avoid the embarrassment of proposing boring ideas if you ask yourself why others and not just you should be interested in the ideas you have to offer.

2. Realize that new ideas are often difficult to get accepted (Sternberg, Tesser): The more your ideas depart from mainstream ways of thinking, the harder it probably will be to get your ideas accepted. Thus, the more the ideas depart from the mainstream, the more effort you have to devote in your article to convincing people that what you have to say is worth listening to.

3. […]