Review of Effective writing in psychology: Papers, posters, and presentations.

Reviews the book, Effective writing in psychology: Papers, posters, and presentations, by Bernard C. Beins and Agatha M. Beins (see record 2007-09162-000). This book aims to present its readers with clear guidelines for effective communication in the psychological sciences. The authors focus primarily on written communication in the form of research papers, but also present chapters on poster and oral presentations, Internet publishing, and the preparation of ethics proposals. Beins and Beins provide comprehensive coverage of the scientific writing process, from the generation of research topics to the presentation of ideas and findings via clear, logical, and persuasive writing. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of this book is that it practises what it preaches: It is well organised, informative, and most of all, it succeeds in engaging the reader with its presentation of technical information. Ample use of quotations, anecdotes, jokes, and examples from published research serves to both maintain the reader’s interest in the material and to highlight a key message of the book—that scientific writing need not be dreary. In all, Beins and Beins provide an appropriate balance in their guidance for one’s development of a stimulating and purposeful communication style and the specific formatting requirements necessary to implement it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)