1500essay （Psychology: The Science of Behaviour ）
Essay Writing Skills
Dr Amy Harrison
Writing an Essay
Start with a plan
Look carefully at the question and brain storm all aspects. For example, if it asks you to describe and evaluate something, brainstorm using a mind map BOTH aspects of the question
Whilst you may be able to pass by just describing, you will access higher marks by also evaluating
Evaluating
This can involve you showing through your academic writing several skills:-
An understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the research you have described
Seligman et al., (2005) showed that positive psychology interventions can increase subjective happiness. However, one limitation of this research might be that the strength of the increase in happiness varied across interventions, suggesting that some interventions may be more effective than others.
Evaluating
An understanding of potential confounding factors of the research you are using to support your point (you’ve all been really good at this in class!)
Think about potential sources of bias, whether the data was collected at one time point, or longitudinally, was there a control/placebo group, was the sample size small, was it limited to a certain population in a specific geographical region, how were the participants recruited etc
So you can say ‘however, these findings might be limited by potential gender bias in the study as the participants were female only which may reduce the generalizability of the findings
Structure
Using your plan, develop a structure for the essay
You will need a beginning, a middle and an ending
Beginning: introduce the topic covered, define key terms and set out for the reader what you are about to tell them in the main body of the essay
Structure
Middle: Discuss the main points to be addressed in the essay. Remember, you will often be arguing two sides, so present both sides of the story in this section
Here, you can try using this structure to make sure you answer the question set throughout (for example: ‘is there a set point for happiness?):-
Make a point (e.g.: Set point theory argues that….)
Provide evidence to support your point (e.g. x et al., (2013) carried out a study on 100 female volunteers and found that….
Evaluate the evidence and say how your point answers the question (e.g.: Unfortunately this study may have been biased because it included only women and the findings may not generalise to men. However, the research does contribute to the argument that a set-point for happiness may exist.
Structure
End: Let the reader know you are wrapping up your work by saying, ‘to conclude,’ ‘in summary,’ ‘in conclusion
Summarise or conclude how the research supporting the points you have made answer the question. It may help to stick to one piece of research from each side of the argument. You may want to make a brief suggestion about what future research might want to look at if you have identified a gap in current understanding
Language
Please avoid words like ‘prove,’ ‘proven’ and use ‘suggests,’ ‘indicates’ ‘supports’ or ‘shows’
Be tentative – use words like ‘may,’ ‘possibly,’ ‘could’ and ‘might’
Key Mistakes to Avoid
Not answering the question set and going off track
Not defining key terms
Not evaluating or explaining your points/research clearly
Poor structure – not beginning, middle and end and no conclusions
Introducing new information into the concluding paragraph
Not proof reading the work so that avoidable errors are left in
Trying to make too many points and getting side tracked or exceeding the word limit
Not referencing or citing your sources correctly
Using non peer reviewed sources such as Wikipedia
Referencing – APA Style
This means in the essay’s main body, you need to provide the authors and the date (e.g. Seligman and Lewis, 2001)
At the end, provide a reference list in alphabetical order
Journal articles should be presented like this:-
Anderson, A. K. (2005). Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 154, 258–281. (essentially:- Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume number(issue number), page numbers.
Textbooks should be presented like this:-
Chow, T. W., & Cummings, J. L. (2000). The amygdala and Alzheimer’s disease. In J. P. Aggleton (Ed.), The amygdala: A functional analysis (pp. 656–680). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. (essentially:- Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Location: Publisher.
Websites accessed should be presented like this:-
American Psychological Association. (2008). HIV Office on Psychology Education (HOPE). Retrieved June 24, 2008, from http://www.apa.org/pi/aids/hope.html (essentially:- Author, A. A. (year). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, website.)
Referencing
Have a look at the APA tutorial:- http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx
This university website also has a really comprehensive overview:- http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/apa-referencing-guide
However, the main thing is to ALWAYS cite (acknowledge) your sources in the text - include the page numbers where you have quoted directly from someone and put the quotation in quotation marks “…” AND always list your sources in the reference section at the end (this is not included in the word count)
Journal articles from the British Psychological Society journals e.g. Journal of Clinical Psychology follow this referencing system,