PSY6309Writing

Tom Staffordt.stafford@shef.ac.uk

Structure of writing session on the MSc

• Lecture Today!• ‘Lab’, which is optional, 1000-1200 on

Tuesday 4th of November. At this time I will see people individually, if they want.

• Exercises– Writing task– Plagiarism declaration

Today’s Aims

1. Plagiarism : Discuss what it is, why understanding it is important and how you can find out more if you feel you need to.

2. Writing Well : Discuss what it is, why it is important and how you can develop your writing.

3. Think about if you want to meet for one-on-one consultation about writing.

4. Submitting declaration on plagiarism and collusion.

Writing

• Understanding academic writing is like understanding a foreign culture.

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is stealing other people’s work– “cut and paste” of words, unacknowledged use of

ideas or data.– Can be intentional or unintentional.– You are responsible for understanding what is and

isn’t plagiarism.

Plagiarism is bad for you

• It’s cheating, which is immoral.• It means you haven’t understood what you’re

saying.• It means you haven’t adjusted what you’re

saying for your particular audience.

Plagiarism & Collusion aren’t…

• When you develop ideas in a group.• When you cite or credit a source.

Referencing

• When to reference : "acknowledgement; attribution; tracing; validation; protection against accusations of misconduct; and tangential substantive commentary" (Johnston, 2008)

• Citation styles: APA 6th

Johnston, R (2008). “cf. ibid., op. cit., MLA, APA et al.”Times Higher Education, 18 September 2008. Available online http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=403641 accessed 14/10/08.

Want to know more…?• UoS Student Guidance on Unfair Means

– https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/exams/plagiarism

• MOLE > Library - Information Skills > Information Skills Tutorials

– Library tutorial on understanding plagiarism

– Self-help Quizzes

• Ask!

Penalties for plagiarism

• You can be failed on individual pieces of work, whole modules, or even expelled from the University.

• The Psychology Department has a plagiarism procedure (available in the handbook, or upon request)

Writing Well

• Writing for thinking and writing for communicating

• Writing well involves consideration for your readers– Avoiding the ‘curse of knowledge’

• Writing well is hard

How to write

“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's trousers to the seat of one's chair”– Kingsley Amis

Exercise• To write a summary of

Chance, Z., Norton, M. I., Gino, F., & Ariely, D. (2011). Temporal view of the costs and benefits of self-deception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(Supplement 3), 15655-15659.

• To submit it via Turnitin on MOLE• To sign an return the ‘Initial Declaration on

Plagiarism and Collusion’– [handout]

• Deadline: 4th of November, 9am; declaration to my pigeon hole in department foyer

‘Turn it in’ = submit.ac.uk

• Automatic plagiarism detection service• Compulsory for submission of work• Always detects some copying• For the exercise you will be able to see how

much material is marked as copied, and able to submit multiple copies of the assignment

Questions

• T.stafford@shef.ac.uk

Summary/Précis

• n. A concise or abridged statement; an abstract, a summary; (also) the action or practice of writing this.

Omit needless words

• Strunk & White’s Elements of Style

• “This report by Roberts and Pashler gives a thorough review explaining the many flaws of using a good fit”

• “This report by Roberts and Pashler gives a thorough review explaining the many flaws of using a good fit”

• “This report by Roberts and Pashler gives a thorough review explaining the many flaws of using a good fit”

• “Roberts and Pashler thoroughly review the many flaws of the good fit method”

“Style: towards clarity and grace”Joseph M Williams, University of Chicago

Press

• Keep like parts together

• "The article argues that the use of plotting data predicted by a theory against experimental data as a way of testing a theory is not valid"

• "The article argues that the use of plotting data predicted by a theory against experimental data as a way of testing a theory is not valid"

• "The article argues that the use of plotting data predicted by a theory against experimental data as a way of testing a theory is not valid"

• "The article argues that it is not valid to test a theory by ..."

2. Keep parts together

• ‘China, so that it could expand and widen its influence and importance among the Eastern European nations, in 1955 began in a quietly orchestrated way a diplomatic offensive directed against Soviet Union’

• ‘China, so that it could expand and widen its influence and importance among the Eastern European nations, in 1955 began in a quietly orchestrated way a diplomatic offensive directed against Soviet Union’

• ‘In 1955, China began to orchestrate a quiet diplomatic offensive against the Soviet Union to expand its influence in Eastern Europe’

Strunk & White ‘Use definite, specific, concrete language’

• A period of unfavourable weather set it• It rained ever day for a week

Be specific

• “People don’t care about deforestation, they care about trees being cut down”

• Hard in science, but do it when you can

Be specific about reference

• “The article makes some basic points”– What are they?

• “a good fit is done by adjusting the parameters”– Of what?

• “A good fit is added”– To what?

• “throughout psychology”– Across disciplines, across time, ??

Be clear about voice

• You?• The authors?• Defenders of this theory?

Good habits

• Overview– Define– State intention

• Structure according to logic of argument

Paragraphs

• First sentence– summarise– introduce characters

• Support– comments, evidence, definitions

• Link– implications, connections

Whole piece structure

• How many ideas in an article?• Orientation of reader• Planning

– keyword– topic– sentence (paragraphs)

Keyword outline

• Social Implications of Internet.– Introduction– History of Internet.– Positive Implications.– Negative Implications.– Prognosis for the Future.– Conclusions.

Topic outline

• What is internet, how long has it been here?– Why might we expect it to have any social implications?

• Positive benefits– Increased access to information.– Reduces isolation.– Contact with others that share similar interests.

• Etc

Sentence outline

• What is the Internet and how long has it been here?

• Why might we expect the Internet to have any social implications?

• What are the positive benefits of the Internet?– The Internet offers increased access to information.– It can reduce isolation, allowing people to communicate

with others.– It facilitates contact with others that share similar

interests.• Etc