How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays. Paul Dickerson
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so far.
Wiggins and Potter (2003) show how displays of food preferences can be examined in terms of what the talk might do or accomplish, for example in terms of giving and receiving compliments appropriately.
These ideas form another sort of critique. This may fit with Billig’s work. This is at a greater level of specificity and may exemplify an approach or perspective (in this case, that of Discursive Psychology).
Greenwald, McGee and Schwartz (1998) developed the implicit attitude measure to address the fact that people might attempt to conceal their ‘real’ attitudes.
This may be relevant if it can be used within an argumentative essay concerning how attitudes have been understood. Care would have to be taken to ensure that the essay does not slide into a discussion of how attitudes have been measured, and that instead all that is included informs our thinking about how attitudes have been understood.
Elliot, Armitage and Baughan (2007) found that self-reported behaviour could be found to differ from observations of the person’s behaviour.
This may be relevant to the essay title but runs the risk of getting into how attitudes are measured. It may be best to place this information on one side for now to see if and how it can really inform an argumentative essay concerning how attitudes have been understood.
Wicker (1969) questioned whether attitudes were in fact a useful construct.
This might be useful earlier on in your notes or essay planning as it raises a general questioning of attitudes as a construct. This might open up the different ways in which that construct has been developed. While chronology is not king, the fact that this is a relatively early critique does support the idea of considering this point earlier on. Again, it is important to keep your notes focused on evaluating how attitudes have been understood, rather than getting side-tracked into whether attitudes predict behaviour or not.
Thoughts arising from these reflections on the notes
There is some potential critique here – such as the work of Billig – but more is needed on what is being critiqued. The notes, essay plan and essay itself would all be stronger if there was supporting material for different perspectives to inform a genuine debate. It would be good to organise the material by perhaps moving from less radical to more radical and fundamental critique as the essay develops. To achieve this, more material supporting different perspectives on attitudes is needed. Drawing on a mixture of broader theoretical perspectives and specific empirical data would work well. It is easy to get lost in the vast array of research into attitudes – the material has to support ideas and arguments regarding how attitudes have been understood. Forming a sense of how the essay is to be structured around the debate between different understandings of attitudes informs what is searched for, what ideas and findings are drawn on, and how they in turn are used in addressing the essay title.
Reflection on the chapter: Painting with finite colours
Imagine the two great artists John Constable and Vincent van Gogh painting whatever you can see from where you are right now. You don’t have to know their work at all well to realise that where Constable will bring out a realistic, finely detailed and romanticised interpretation of the scene, van Gogh’s interpretation will be highly expressive, his strokes of vividly contrasting colours conveying a sense of the dynamic emotional intensity of the artist. The amazing thing is that the scene and even the pallet of colours can be the same, yet each artist will produce something absolutely unique and unquestionably their own.
When we are writing essays, we have a specific topical focus and a finite range of relevant resources, but through our interrogation of these and our reflection on how to apply the ideas and arguments which arise to our essay, we can create something quite distinct, perhaps even beautiful. This is not suggesting that we make it ours by doing something odd or unexpected in our essay. For some time, I felt I had to read different and unexpected resources to make my essays unique. This can underestimate the relevance of reading that has been recommended for a very good reason. Really good essays have a sense of being the author’s own when we see a clarity of thought – a mind at work in the writing. The foundation of this is bringing our questioning engagement with the essay title to the reading, note-taking and planning of our essays. Our essays are probably unlikely to form exhibitions in major galleries around the world, but in their own, small way they can develop and demonstrate a well-formed clarity of thought that has a beauty all of its own.
Take away points from this chapter
Resources are there to support your thinking not replace it.
Forget the short cuts. Cutting and pasting (or copying) is not a great idea, no matter how much you tell yourself that you will rework it later.
Active engagement with your developing argument from the beginning will empower your essays.
Thinking about your essay title should inform your search strategy and note-taking.
There should be a creative tension between the essay title, the resources and your thinking.
Actively interrogating the resources that you use, while still learning from them, builds the resources for a strong, critical essay.
Your essay will convey a sense of scholarly engagement if that is present from the start.
Linking to other chapters
Some of the issues raised in this chapter are explored in more detail elsewhere. This chapter has touched on a lot of issues that are addressed in much more detail in subsequent chapters. A recurrent focus in this chapter is the importance of keeping the specific essay title in mind in reading, searching for resources, note-taking and planning for your essay. Chapter 4 examines how to address the essay title in writing and editing your essay. This chapter has also argued that all of our preparatory essay work should be informed by thinking about how we might structure our essays. Chapter 5 provides a detailed examination of how we can ensure that our finished essays are well structured and smoothly interconnected. A key idea within this chapter was the importance of interrogating what we read in terms of relevant detail and argumentative, or evaluative, points. Chapters 6 and 7 respectively address how we can ensure that our written essays demonstrate effective evaluation and convey appropriate, clear and dynamic description. The sense of argumentative thinking that this chapter has suggested should be present in searching for resources and taking notes reaches its clearest expression in a well-crafted conclusion, and support and guidance in achieving this is given in Chapter 8. Finally, the issue of citing and referencing material which is touched on here is fully addressed in Chapter 9. Writing an essay can feel like a chore, but it is also a privilege. This is the opportunity for your intelligent engagement with the issues. Seize it – don’t waste it.
Chapter 3 Set it up – how to write an effective introduction
They blew out a breath and did the thing all heroes must do – they took that terrifying first step. (Neill, 2016, p. 32)
Introductions can be tough. Let me restart that. I want to introduce this topic properly. If you struggle with introductions, whatever else you are, you are not alone. When we think of our essay – especially if we are thinking of each essay task we need to do (complete the reading, write the introduction, etc.) – we often see the introduction as one of the first bits of actual essay writing. No wonder we sometimes stop