Spectroscopic amplitudes play an important role in nuclear capture reactions. These amplitudes are shown to include both single-particle and polarization effects: the former through their spatial dependence and the latter through their normalization (the spectroscopic factors). Coupled-channels equations are developed for the spectroscopic amplitudes. These equations serve as a convenient starting point for the derivation of several approximations: Hartree, Hartree-Fock and two different single-particle models. The single-particle models include antisymmetry in different ways, but both miss many-body effects. Therefore, cross sections calculated with either of these models need to be multiplied by the spectroscopic factor.

no figures; replaced by version accepted for publication by PRC; modified version includes some changes to wording and notation, updated references